PRE-ELECTRICAL STAGE LIGHTING There is a common notion that stage lighting is the youngest of the stage arts, having suddenly been developed since the advent of electricity. Electricity was the final link in a chain of development stretching far into the past. True, stage lighting has come a long way since the dawn of electricity but its foundations were thoroughly established during the three centuries before Edison. Colored light, spotlights, translucencies, and dimming were well known before the incandescent lamp. This paper seeks to identify and explain some of the most prevalent forms and techniques of stage lighting during the pre-electricity era.At the beginning of theatrical activity, light played an important role. The light used in the earliest productions was natural light. The open Greek theatres were built to use directional sunlight and had no need of artificial sources. The Greeks organized their plays to run a course through the day in order to use the different types of light available at different times (Penzel, 3).Although the Romans may have used torches in their theatres, the idea of light being controlled as a visual effect had not yet been discovered. Until the Renaissance, the main purpose of theatre lighting was to permit the audience to see. Most ancient and medieval drama was performed outdoors.By the beginning of the Renaissance, oil lamps, torches, and candles were about all that was available to produce artificial light. The oil lamp had been used since prehistoric times, as had the torch, which may be the oldest of the three. The candle was developed somewhat later, although there is no documentation as to an exact date. It is known that the molded candle was not introduced until the eighteenth century (Encyclopedia Britannica, 23.,226).Although window shutters on playhouses in England were sometimes closed to darken a set and create an effect, Renaissance Italy is probably the birthplace of ...
