In producing The Crucible, the primary interest of the director designer team was creating a symbolic world emphasizing the themes of power, death, sexuality, and fear. It was important for this stylistically consistent and structured production to have close coordination between the design elements. This would be a bold, spare and dynamic production without the clutter of realistic props or scenery. Initial collaboration on all production elements was done as a team, with all members contributing equally in all areas.
The image the team responded most strongly to depicted an abstract sculpture of partially transparent white fabric on a conical forms. It was the starkness, layered texture, and sense of illumination in the image that became central to our design work. The surrounding rustic barn-like environment in the image also contributed to ideas for scenic texture and structure.
As with all of the design elements I worked on finding lighting images which were bold, simple, and stripped to their essence. Branch patterns, abstract shapes, and textures formed my response for the barrenness of the act IV jail cell. Images showing the interplay of cool white day light in rustic exteriors and interiors formed my over-all color image for the play. Other images supported a collaborative idea to make visual references to contrasting images of pure white linen and blood.
In the structuring of actor blocking, precise consideration was given to the placement and movement of costumes, props, and scenic pieces. This allowed me to do precise planning for the angle and distribution of light. Lighting would not simply illuminate the stage but transform it altering space, scale, composition, and the movement of time. In a visually powerful moment in the transition into Act III a twenty-eight foot triple cross structure flies in and is illuminated from behind by 15,000 watts of cold white light. This massive image symbolizes the power of the church in the courtroom. It slowly fades, closing in the space, as the court proceedings unravel.
Lighting also functioned to highlight the formations of actors as they moved through structured blocking forming dynamic stage pictures. Light would sometimes boldly highlight a single actor. At other times it would be used more subtly to reinforce character relationships. In act IV Proctor and Elizabeth were blocked seated apart facing toward the audience. This expression of their emotional separation helped to increase the dramatic tension of the scene. The lighting emphasized this strong isolated composition by illuminating the on-stage half of both of their faces while no light connected them visually on the floor.
The conceptual transitions between scenes, created by the director, were an important recurring production element. Here voice and actor movement was used in the scene changes in recurring reference to the power of the women. A planned coordination between the lighting and costumes enhanced many of these moments. In the chant at the end of Act III, illumination from below the floor illuminates the red underskirts beneath the women’s black dresses turning them red. After the forceful end of Abigail’s scene with Proctor in Act II scene 2 she turns upstage, walking into strong backlight that makes her nude form visible through the translucent fabric of her night gown. This transition, developed out of our initial collaborative image research, was the best examples of how light was used as a transformative element within the production.
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| Transition out of Act III | . | |
Index of Production Materials: