The dramatists of ancient Greece, whose plays were performed at all hours of the day, often described the sun, sunrise or rays of sun: "Lovely ray of sun in the city of seven gates" or "as long as this sun shines on you". Yet Greek drama seldom refers to night and darkness. Such references are usually recited by the chorus, and do not often relate to the actual time of the event. Lines like that uttered by the scout in Agamemnon, telling the audience that he is "in the middle of the night watch" are extremely rare.
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A Greek theatre of the second century B.C.
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Greek theatres were usually built with the
stage
facing east and the audience, seated on the east, facing west. This seating arrangement was designed so that spectators were not blinded by the morning sun. For tragedies performed in the late afternoon, the sunset provided a special effect, backlighting the actors and throwing long shadows across the stage, creating an impressive atmosphere of grandeur. Thus any lighting in Greek theatre had more to do with the spatial arrangement (or simply “the design”) of the theatres than anything else, and Greek dramatists for the most part wrote their plays taking into account the fact that they were acted in
broad
daylight.
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The theatre at Epidaurus, forth century B.C
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The Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights on the other hand, often wrote night scenes for dramatic effect, even though these too were acted in
broad
daylight - less bright in the somber English climate than in glaring Greek sun, but daylight nonetheless.
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Shakespeare relied heavily on language to convey atmospheres and times of day to his audience. As Sir Walter Raleigh wrote in his critique of Julius Caesar, talking of the conspiracy scene: "The whole
scene
is heavy with the
scene
of night and the darkness of conspiracy, yet the effect is produced by nothing but the spoken words and gestures of the players".
The majority of Elizabethan performances took place in daylight in open-air public theatres, with only the
stage
occasionally protected by a roof. When
artificial light
sources such as torches and candles appeared in these plays, their function was not to illuminate the
stage
but to signify night. |
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The first
Globe
theatre, right, Engraving by Wenzel Hollo C. 1644
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This was especially common in what was known as 'nocturnals' - plays where such
lighting effects
were an essential dramatic element of the performance.
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| References to the use of actual
stage
lighting do not appear in England until the beginning of the 17th century. |
