Elizabethan Theatre Light Essay

Broadway was one of the first forms of entertainment. Before there were television programs, or movies, there was Broadway. Broadway originated in New York in 1750, when actor-manager Walter Murray built a theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street. A musical would show about once every weekend. The shows were very male based, and would commonly show a relationship between young boys and their fathers. Women were slowly integrated into Broadway, and as society changed its point of view on women, so did theatre.

Joseph Swan, English physicist and chemist, is credited for the first primitive lightbulb in 1860. Twenty-years later (1880), Swan and the infamous inventor, Thomas A. Edison, produced the practical lightbulb (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, 3). By 1881, “ Swan’s lighting was first used in the Savoy Theatre, located in London, England, (the home of the Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas). The use of electrical lighting birthed many new inventions including the ellipsoidal reflector spotlight (ERS) by 1933. The mechanics of the ERS, made way for the invention of gobos. “The ERS was built with slots for filters, shutters and objects to cast shapes or block off parts of the stage” (Spoors, 7)). While operating the ERS, demanding stage managers would call for “Go Blackout” cues, and eventually these cues were shortened to the term gobo (“GO BlackOut”), referring to the shutter dropped down in front of the beam. With time, stagehands discovered they could make textures, shapes, and depth, by cutting shapes/pictures into the shutters for the ERS. Today, the common definition for gobos is now “GOes Before Optic”(Spoors, 7) referring to the location of the gobo on lighting instruments. It is amazing how much work, and experimentation involved in the world of

Queen Elizabeth came to be known as one of the greatest rulers of the English empire. Under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, a more efficient government was created. The church was unified, the English empire was expanded, and language, literature, and theater flourished to a greatness that would be impossible for almost any other period of English history, or any other European empire, for that matter, to match. Although there was a great rise in literature,it was theater that catapulted to greatness during Elizabeth's reign. Out of Elizabeth's era came Elizabethan theater. Elizabethan theater has such a variety of topics, that would make it virtually impossible to talk about in ten pages.

cost 1 penny, to sit cost 2 pennies and for a wealthy person to sit

If you were to stage the play on which Casablanca is based, how would you use lighting in your production? Describe one scene from the film and the lighting it uses. Would you change the lighting in any way for a stage production of the scene? Why or why not? Well if i were to do a movie on Casablanca i would not have made the movie black and white, but the way that the film had its lighting was pretty good, but in some parts like in the time period “4:04” before the man stole the other man's wallet they were under a shadow which showed that there was light out, but when it came to the detail of the face, it was not so great. I would have changed this by having some type of light reflectors just so the detail of the main character in that shot can be

Imagine watching the famous plays of William Shakespeare being performed right in front of yours eyes at the amazing Globe Theater. William Shakespeare was part owner of The Globe Theater. The famous Globe Theater was a place where outstanding plays were performed. This theater held people from all over the world to watch performances. In the article “The Elizabeth Era” states that “often the Queen would come to the Globe Theater to watch Shakespeare’s work “(Alchin). The Globe Theater has great significance to British history because of the building structure, the actors, the performances, the fire accident, and its impact on England and its people.

The scenes and props complimented the attire of the performers, blending together create a magnificent display. The scenery was realistic enough to afford the viewer an escape into depths of the show. The setting was beautiful and the structures almost lifelike, excepting the absence of a front screen door. It seems that almost all plays and television shows I have viewed neglect this detail. The stage lighting played a key role in the show by setting the mood of the performance during soulful, pensive songs. In contrast, the lighting proved to be a detriment by overbearing the performance of the artists, in that one’s attention was drawn to the glare of extreme quantities of makeup rather than the actions of the characters. This was most notable during the final portions of the production.

The Light bulb changed the lives of many people; it had a big impact on illuminating the night. The night was always dark until the light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison in 1879 and ever since then, the night has been able to be bright if people wanted it too. The story of the light bulb begins long before Edison patented the first commercially successful bulb in 1879; in 1800 Italian inventor Alessandro Volta developed the first practical method of generating electricity, the voltaic pile, made of alternating discs of zinc and copper, the pile conducted electricity when a copper wire was connected at either ended. An English inventor by the name of Humphrey

Drama, as we know it, originated in ancient Greece approximately 2,500 years ago; Yet, it was not until 1911 that Edison General Electric introduced a “concentrated filament” lamp for use in a lens hood- otherwise known as a spotlight. With the many advancements made in the production of stage lighting, some have the ability to project different colors onto the stage using an array of interchangeable colored lenses. Seeing the

The lighting of any production is the most important part in my thought. the lighting puts you in the mood that you have to be in, in order to fully understand that part of the show and to actually live it like they do. For example, when they were in the park and it was raining, they had their umbrellas, and the background effects of rain made it really seem as if it was raining in the theatre. The lighting was always focused on every part of the stage, especially on those who were the main parts in that scene.

Additionally, indoor performances, primarily requested by courts and nobility, specifically used candles and torches as sources of illumination. Candles were placed at the front of the stage, between the wings leading to the stage, and above both the stage in order to frame the players. Chandeliers were also hung above those in attendance, to create a sense of audience. This marks both the first appearances of footlights in the theatre and, though basic, the beginning of a formulaic structure for lighting a performance space. Issues prevailed, however – there were still no successful methods for specific lighting, unless an actor held the light themselves to illuminate their face, nor were colored lights or gobo devices available. Though lighting was making its way into the theatrical world, it was purely technical, not called upon to be inventive, create illusions or accomplish tasks at this point in time.

Eric Wolfensohn: Pioneer of Twentieth-Century British Theatre Lighting Design. Eric Wolfensohn was part of a small group of British lighting designers That started around the 1940s. In this article, Wolfensohn established a blueprint for the working pattern of the modern freelance lighting designer. He covers all techniques to used in a wide variety of different types of shows. He talks about different eras of lighting and what it would mean at the time to the show, How certain elements can change the audience emotion depending on position, colour and brightness. Discusses how you must blend you design into others to make something whole eg (Making sure lights match costumes on stage). The article will be useful to the question in seeing which

Shakespeare has a difficult task entertaining the rowdy Elizabethan audience, especially during the exposition of the play, which sets up the entire plot. The audience needs to be engaged and invested in the play, otherwise many of the Elizabethan audience would throw food and furniture on stage or vandalize the theatre in response. Shakespeare employs a variety of techniques throughout the exposition of the play in order to do this, by creating tension between characters, introducing scandalous plots and unresolved issues right at the beginning of the play leaving the audience waiting for an answer. This essay will explore Shakespeare’s techniques and methods of engaging his Elizabethan audience.

“In roughly built playhouses and cobblestone inn yards, an extraordinary development took place in England in the 1500s.” (Yancey, 8). At that time, an opportunity combined to produce literature achievement never before witnessed in the history of drama and theater. The renaissance, helped spark this movement by inspiring scientific and artistic creativity throughout the land. Models began writing dramas that portrayed life in both realistic and imaginative ways. This created work later captured the attention of the world that changed the English drama. The many aspects of Elizabethan theater helped to shape the acting and theater world forever.

Imagine if it only cost you one penny to get tickets to a Broadway production. It would almost seem too good to be true! Well, back in the 1600s, in London, you could buy your way into a theater for as little as one penny. This price made it easy for anyone of any class to be able to partake in the festivities. Hence, the reason the theaters became so popular from 1562 to 1642. The theatres were very profitable based on the fact they were so popular in the community. The Elizabethan theatres were viewed as popular entertainment because of their fanciful attributes, their various events, and their several venues.