Background reading · The Arts

Light and sound: designing the world of the play

How lighting and sound designers create mood, show time and place, and guide the audience's attention, and how to do it safely at school.

Close your eyes in a theatre and you still know a lot about the play from the sound. Open them in the dark and you see only what the lighting designer chooses. Light and sound are not decoration: they tell the audience where to look, what time it is, and how to feel.

What light can do

Show: light the actors so the audience can see faces. - Focus: a single spotlight pulls every eye to one person. - Mood: warm colours can feel safe or hot; cool blues can feel lonely, cold or like night. - Direction: light from below looks spooky, light from the side looks dramatic, light from above can look lonely. - Change: a slow fade or a sudden blackout marks a transition.

Mixing coloured light

Coloured light doesn't mix like paint. Red, green and blue light mixed together make white. A coloured filter (called a gel) lets through only some colours of light. That is why a blue gel makes a red costume look almost black.

What sound can do

Setting: rain, traffic, birdsong or a school bell tells the audience where they are. - Soundscape: layers of sound that build a whole world, made with voices, bodies, objects or recordings. - Music: can set mood or mark a change. - Silence: sudden quiet can be the most powerful sound of all.

Cues and cue sheets

A cue is a planned change in light or sound. The cue sheet lists each one: its number, the exact moment on stage it happens, and what changes. In a theatre, the stage manager calls 'Standby cue 5… cue 5 go', and the operators press the button.

Designers in Aotearoa

From the 1980s, specialist lighting designers began working in New Zealand theatres. Jeremy Collins, who designed lighting for many plays, operas and musicals, later built up Selecon, a New Zealand company that made stage lights used around the world.

At school, keep it safe: use LED torches and lamps, which stay cool. Never put cellophane on hot bulbs, tape down cables, and leave ladders and hanging lights to adults.

Sources and further reading

Written for Kōkiri Learn students in our own words. Check facts against the sources.

Used in: Stage It: Drama and Devised Theatre