Note: This piece was originally written in 2006. There has been minor editing to fix some grammar.
Risk is something we must always engage with when creating art. There is no foreknowledge of the efficacy of the project. Collaborative art necessitates a strong and deep trust in the work of one’s collaborators. Sometimes these are people you know well while other times they are people you have met quite recently. Often some combination of these two elements occurs in the same production. Regardless, one must place a total trust in the work of your collaborators. The energy is created through this combination of danger and excitement.
When I worked on Seven Deadly Sins we had no idea until the show was over if it would work. There were so many pieces to fit together with the Orchestra, Opera singers, cabaret dancers, blacksmiths, acrobats, fire dancers, etc. etc. The stage was a ninety foot long by four foot wide catwalk with small end stages on either side. The audience sat arena style sandwiching the runway. We had seating for somewhere around 700 people and it quickly became evident to me that the other side of the audience would become a primary visual element of the overall experience.
As a general rule of thumb, a lighting designer tries to keep the light on the stage and off the audience. Of course rules, as we all know, were made to be broken. So rather than try and hide this very present and potentially massive audience, I chose to make them a feature of the evening. Large colored floodlights were pointed at the seating areas in an attempt to light our audience in various colors and thus take them, literally, on the emotional journey of the opera.
These discussions with my director, Roy Rallo, were quite difficult. Given that we did not have an audience, there was no way to test out this effect prior to the opening. As a result I had to convince someone, who I had never worked with before, that the primary storytelling device we would have with the lighting was an effect we could not test prior to the show opening. Essentially he had to trust me that this was the right course of action to take. I confidently told him it was and silently prayed that I was right.
The final effect was greater than I had anticipated. We were fortunate enough to have a filled to capacity house, so the effect was to be the best it could be. And it worked brilliantly. The faces of the audience were clearly visible from across the space and not only did their personal emotional reactions show but the group looked wonderful in the shifting light. There was an immersive quality to the experience that in some significant way derived from the environmental quality of the lighting.
Had we gone with a traditional lighting style, keeping the lights out of the audience, the effect of the piece would not have been so strong. The shifting backgrounds and the degree of contrast with the fire that we achieved would not have been possible. Without that risk of failure, the best aspect of the lighting for that show would never have been. Without risking failure we can never achieve greatness.
