Abstract
Experimental lighting design for the large-scale participatory theatre work ‘Summer. Autumn. Winter. Spring.’ – a combined quartet of performances created and produced by Quarantine between 2014 and 2016, and developed as part of Brookes’ long-term collaboration with the company. The quartet was first performed in its entirety in central Manchester, within the main sound stage and studio of the former Granada Television studios, in March 2016.
The design created an active lighting environment, defined by the output and movements of a purpose-built 10m long motorised floodlight truss. The truss was situated visibly within the performance space itself, and could be physically raised or lowered in performance – providing a progression of shifts in light angle and quality that, in combination and interaction with other design elements and the space of the work as a whole, defined both the journey and aesthetic of the each of the four works, and of the seven-hour durational event that resulted from their combination.
Research questions included:
How might a single large-scale architectural lighting element and source be used to help unify, and also structure a developmental progression across, a quartet of distinct stage works?
What might become additionally possible, within the particular intentions and aesthetic of the proposed theatre work, where that lighting element to made physically mobile?
How might that physical mobility, in addition to more familiar shifts in brightness and colour temperature, allow allusions to seasonal shifts in the qualities of natural daylight?
In what ways might the active or periodic movements of such an element be used to help construct and structure the event of the work as a whole?
The design created an active lighting environment, defined by the output and movements of a purpose-built 10m long motorised floodlight truss. The truss was situated visibly within the performance space itself, and could be physically raised or lowered in performance – providing a progression of shifts in light angle and quality that, in combination and interaction with other design elements and the space of the work as a whole, defined both the journey and aesthetic of the each of the four works, and of the seven-hour durational event that resulted from their combination.
Research questions included:
How might a single large-scale architectural lighting element and source be used to help unify, and also structure a developmental progression across, a quartet of distinct stage works?
What might become additionally possible, within the particular intentions and aesthetic of the proposed theatre work, where that lighting element to made physically mobile?
How might that physical mobility, in addition to more familiar shifts in brightness and colour temperature, allow allusions to seasonal shifts in the qualities of natural daylight?
In what ways might the active or periodic movements of such an element be used to help construct and structure the event of the work as a whole?
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2016 |