Proof Lighting Design

For this production, I had the opportunity to work as an Assistant Lighting Designer, a position where I learned so much more than I expected.

After the first meeting with the Rehearsal Exec team, the Lighting Designer and I met to finalize our concepts for the shows. We went through the script, scene by scene, to identify any lighting direction in the script, as well as important moments. Then the moments were studied in terms of the atmosphere intended, the intensity of the actions, and the significance in relative to the play as a whole. Using those details, we came up with the tones we wanted for the scenes, i.e. cool or warm, the specific areas where the light should focus on, and the minute details to add, so that the play can become more vivid.

For example, for Act 2 Scene 4, the scene is Catherine’s flashback about her father. Using the stage descriptions, we imagined a very cold winter where Robert is sitting in a gloomy space. Moreover, as this scene signifies his mental instability, we want to set a darker tone to the whole scene. Hence, deep blue/indigo was chosen for the selador lights. For other flashback moments, the upward seladors were set to a pale blue color. However, for this scene, in order to maintain the solitude, those seladors were set to violet. The soft gradient between the deep blue and violet enabled the colors to complement each other without breaking the atmosphere of the scene.

After the journey, or even during that time, I always felt a bit of pride in the work that I did. I felt like I was able to create a new universe where the play occurred. Furthermore, I was glad to hear feedbacks from the production team and others because I knew that there are things that I overlooked, and I learnt what else to consider in the future.