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Tech theater blog 1

I took Puccini’s Turandot in Valencia, 2008 as my analysis sample of the lightning design. 

First I will explain how stage lighting designer works. So as a lighting designer, your job will be to help performers and directors to achieve what they envisioned in the scene in corporations of lighting tools. Before you start to design, usually you need to watch the rehearsal without lighting effects and discuss with the director about what he wants, then you can start doing your job. Then, your will need to write a list about what you need and what you will do called “cue list”. When you have your cue lists, you can start mixing the lighting effects with rehearsals. So as you advancing, use the cue lists as references, deleting and adding new cues all the time to see what’s the best arrangement.

Turandot, a story of a indifferent princess, who would marry the man that could answer all her 3 questions or she would kill him. Foreign princes died for Turandot’s beauty but they kept coming. Exiled Tartar prince Calaf was attracted and he was not afraid of death to try the questions. However, he won this time, but Turandot was so reluctant that Calaf promised if Turandot could find out his name before the dawn, he would be willing to die. As the night passed, Turandot declared that she got the prince’s name, which is Love, and they lived together since then and the play ended.


In this production, the designer used a reflective ground that was like a mirror reflects people on the stage. In the beginning scene, the 3 officers stand in the middle of the stage, dressing whole white, and bright, white light goes from the top, reflecting from the ground. This design, creates a ghost sense on the officers as they read “princess Turandot would marry the person who answers all three questions right, but unfortunately, the prince of Persian did not make, he will be executed as the night fades away”. And then, the curtain behind the officers (which covers the rear stage) was removed, the stage became a scene of the front of the palace. However, the palace was not a palace that was plated by gold or splendid as in the old tales, but it was a palace which everything behinds its gate columns was dark. All this arrangements symbolized that this country is evil for the foreign nobilities who want to marry the princess. Later in the production, in that scene which Calaf was going to answer the questions and he was standing on the stairs of the palace, the emperor was resting on the rear stage on a royal bench, Turandot was questioning in front of the palace gate, the lighting design here is all about leveling the stage. As you can see from the picture, the long hallway of the palace seems endless as the lights reflecting on the ground and stretching up to the back of the stage. Dim lights on the side of the stage address the marble ladders in the center of the stage as the brightest part. Here, the stage has been divided into 3 parts by lighting: 1. Endless back court. 2. Ladders that Calaf standing. 3. People standing aside the ladders who wears same dark color costumes. Obviously the lighting here helped the audience focusing on Calaf, and the princess who wears whole azure right under the dim light.






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sources

http://www.tim-shane.com/Commedia-Dottore.htm https://prezi.com/m/z1b1p24wy6j9/the-stock-characters-of-commedia-dellarte-in-modern-enterta/ https://theatreiblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/il-dottore/
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