Lighting as facilitator of the theatrical transaction

The act of writing is firmly embedded within the praxis of the lighting designer. A script is annotated, documents to communicate creative concepts are created and records to facilitate the realised design are carefully crafted. Less formalised writing includes doodles, sketches and drawings to amplify design ideas conveying simply what few words can not. This act of writing, planning, plotting and recording is contrasted by the nature of light, an ephemeral effect that illuminates an object in space at a moment in time and is then gone. This article will examine some of the roles that illumination plays as both storyteller and communicator within a performance, through an examination of the lighting design for Epicentre Theatre Company’s 2014 production of Reginald Rose’s seminal play Twelve Angry Men (1955). The article will examine the role of the lighting to interact with the stage and the actors, as well as in supporting and reinforcing the communication and storytelling within the performance environment.