How would she describe the job? “I’m helping control the look of the show, but also telling the story. But can you name a lighting designer, still less describe their work?Ĭhilly elegance … Paule Constable created the lighting for the RSC’s Wolf Hall, with Ben Miles as Thomas Cromwell and Lydia Leonard as Anne Boleyn. Many could pick out a set designer or two. A favourite actor or director? Most of us could drop dozens of names. One miracle achieved, a scriptful still to go.Įven if you’re a regular theatregoer, when it comes to the art of lighting design you’re probably, well, in the dark. Illuminated by the glare of her laptop, Constable smiles. Orange melts into rose-gold, then russet. Gradually, the light intensifies yet somehow softens. The objects on stage have a menacing, hulking quality, as if they might be about to spring to life.īeside me, Paule Constable whispers to a technician and there is a flurry of keystrokes. The light is sickly, the colour of insomnia and sodium glare. My eyes adjust: a playground, complete with child’s swing and climbing frame. Combining practical information with aesthetic considerations, Performance Lighting Design is the ideal book for students and practitioners of stage lighting working on the contemporary stage.I n the darkness of the Lyric theatre in Hammersmith, west London, an image shimmers in the distance. Alongside this, Moran introduces new concepts and ways of working includes a section on analysing the finished design and discusses recent research into contemporary lighting practice, addressing emerging trends, particularly for drama. Now fully revised, this second edition of Nick Moran's Performance Lighting Design has been brought up to date to consider advances made in the technology used for lighting design for live performance.

This handbook for professional practice walks you through how to achieve this, from first concept to development of design ideas, planning to realisation and, finally, public performance.

The designer paints with light - revealing form and composing a living picture from collections of objects and bodies in a given space. A practical guide to the art and technique of lighting for the stage, this book explains the complex mixture of craft, collaboration and creativity behind successful lighting design.

Stage lighting design through the ages