Output details

Exosomatic (light) organ: Creating and using an ‘expressive instrument’ for theatre lighting control

Present-day theatre lighting control systems place great emphasis on providing rich and sophisticated ways to create and edit the lighting data that controls the lighting in performance. However, once the lighting has been programmed, replay for the most part comprises pressing the ‘go’ button on cue. Within the professional roles and responsibilities ascribed to lighting personnel, there is no requirement for the operator to be able to make an expressive contribution to the performance.

In the article, Hunt describes a custom-designed and built lighting control interface that, while meeting other theatre lighting requirements, consciously offers its performer-operator an expressive, ‘playable’ instrument, based on a conceptual model of theatre lighting that emphasises the temporal dynamics of light over the static and synoptic. As well as a reformed conceptual model, Hunt’s lighting control offers the operator a range of alternative control interfaces with different expressive potentials, selectable according to the desired aesthetic and dramatic effect. Hunt also describes: the experience of operating the control system in the context of a research-performance; some of the finely-nuanced effects that it enabled; and its impact on the experience of actors and audience members.

Digital performance scholarship has extensively examined the relationship between the performer and a variety of technologies, but not theatre lighting and its operation. Hunt’s investigation points to the performance-making potential of a revised approach to theatre lighting that promotes the creative agency of the operator during the performance itself, effected through a suitably designed ‘playable’ interface.

The referenced performance project was devised to facilitate simultaneous enquiry into two distinct research questions, and outputs related to each have been submitted to REF 2014. Output 3 relates to an investigation into the ramifications of a revised lighting control interface. Output 4 articulates Hunt’s research into the spatial position of the lighting operator.