stage lighting site - Light & Vision

Home

Light & Vision

Light & Vision

Lighting has a special place among the design components - scenery, costume and make-up - which comprise the visual experience of the theatrical event. It is stage lighting which enables visibility in the theatre, thereby facilitating comprehension of the performance.

The lighting designer has access to powerful tools with which to contribute to the visual interpretation of the play. These tools control the intensity, movement, color and shape of the light, all of which influence the manner in which the spectator will grasp the activity on stage. When the light is brought up, it sparks off in the spectator an extremely complex process of events and responses. This process has physical, biological, physiological and neurological aspects as well as cultural connotations.

Madam Butterfly, The New Israeli Opera

The visual perception of theatre spectacles can be described as a psycho-cultural response which reflects a common cultural background as well as the familiar conventions of the theatre.

In the theatre it is the lighting designer who provides the visual link between what is being performed on-stage and the spectator, while adding his or her interpretation of the action on stage. Thus the function of light in theatre can be defined as enabling the occurrence of a visual process which consists of a sequence of events which begins with reception of stimuli, and culminates with the formulation of an interpretation of the sensual input - a visual perception.

The Visual Process

Processing Visual data

Stage Lighting and visual Perception

Atmosphere and Lighting