A complete well written Equus concept in which I fully explain the impact of each lighting technique and refer to other parts of the play.
Answers the question:
As a designer, outline how lighting could be developed to
communicate meaning and ideas to an audience in this extract.
Your answer s...
In this scene, as a director, I would use lighting to mirror Shaffer's original intentions. Shaffer
wanted to create a world in which the incomprehensible task of blinding six horses would be
made comprehensible. Therefore I would use elements of expressionistic lighting design to
explore Alan's psychological state. In this scene, Alan is describing his ritual of riding Nugget
secretly to Dysart therefore I would aim to create a tense, cathartic atmosphere but also a
powerful and moving atmosphere which informs the audience of Alan's complete obsession
and ritual with the horses.
At the beginning of scene 20, I would use lighting to create the setting. I would have a
spotlight angled directly above centre stage with a square gobo in to create the square in
which Dysart stands in to watch Alan. This would have a sharp edge to emphasise how
Dysart has a strict idea of what 'normal' is. It would be dimly lit white to emphasise the
clinical nature of their setting. This is specifically relevant given the social and historical time
period of Equus since it was written and performed in the 70s when there was a sense of
austerity due to political turmoil. However, the white shade emphasises how during this term
inpatients were institutionalised long term and were treated with much less sympathy than
today due to a different understanding of mental illness. I would create a circle inside of this
square by having a spotlight positioned to the side of the other spotlight which is angled so
the centre of the beam hits centre stage. This is where Alan's flashbacks occur during the
whole performance. It would be a bright, intense warm white shade with a soft edge to
emphasise how Alan's perception of unacceptable and acceptable behaviour blur into one. I
would hope this lighting has a profound impact on the audience through communicating
Alan's past. This lighting set is relatively expressionistic, therefore, I would have birdie lights
rigged onto the pieces of set, such as Dysart's desk and on the ladders upstage left and right
which not only serve to light up areas of the stage far away from these spotlights but also
add backlighting to Dysart and Alan which would create shadows. These shadows would be
effective to enhance the eerie atmosphere. I would also use lighting to create a set in
Dysart's dream where I would use a golden gel placed in a spotlight from the control room
with a house shaped gobo to create the illusion of a temple on the cyclorama. In this scene I
would also use colour which refers to the mood of the scene. The footlights would be green,
to emphasise his nausea and red to emphasise his blood. These lights would be positioned
beneath him which emphasises how Dysart has a higher status than others since they rely
on him to improve their mental state. However, these colours would mix to create a brown
tinge which is effective at emphasising how Dysart is experiencing confusion in his own
mental journey. This therefore would create an intrigued response from the audience.
When Alan enters into 'Ha ha', I would have the circle spotlight blackout for 10 seconds. Until
another warm white spotlight, angled from above centre stage with a lattice gobo on turns
on. This creates a religious atmosphere since it gives the illusion that Alan is in a
confessional at church, telling his secrets but he is really in a therapy session. To intensify
this religious symbolism, I would have par can lights positioned above upstage left and right
which are angled towards Alan turn on to be a bright yellow. This intense light not only
emphasises the intense presence of horses in Alan's life but the bright colour symbolises
how content they make him. I would also make use of par can lights in the scene where Alan
bumps into his dad at a rock concert. In this scene, I would use neon purple par cans and
intermittent strobe lighting to create a chaotic atmosphere. However, when Alan bumps into
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