LIGHTING ‘METAMORPHOSIS’ -Deconstructing an answer

QUESTION: As a designer, outline your ideas for lighting this extract. Explain and justify how these would help to create an appropriate mood and atmosphere at this point in the play

 Cut ‘n’ Paste this into a word doc and then Highlight/Underline

• RED = references technical vocab,
• GREEN for any pearls of wisdom (LINKS TO Social/Historic/Cultural)
• BLUE = references to MOOD /KEY WORDS from the Question and/or Designer’s Intentions /Aims
• Put a Q in the margin for quotes- count them! (Be aware of how they are used to justify or focus.)

The mood when Mr Samsa starts hurling apples at Gregor is violent and extreme. It’s as if all Mr Samsa’s pent up frustration comes out. As a lighting designer, I would cover the stage in a blood red wash on the line “Apple for you Gregor!”This would symbolise the anger being demonstrated by Mr Samsa. Being an expressionistic play, this symbolistic use of colour is justified. At the point when the apple hits Gregor (It’s sunk in”) I would follow Berkoff’s stage directions and have a strobe light flash on and off quickly- ‘strokes of lightning’. This would catch the family and Gregor in different poses: father triumphant, Mother and Greta distraught, Gregor in agony. It would also have the jumpy, jerky, non-naturalistic feel of a silent movie which would support the 1900s period I feel.

In the next scene, Berkoff puts ‘lights up on the FAMILY.’ In this scene, we see Greta practicing French and father sleeping. As a lighting designer, I would want to convey a more naturalistic mood by using a dim top light in warm yellow to indicate the gas light that would have been used in the 1910s. [See diagram]. I would focus a small profile at ground level onto the down stage right stool and have a flickering red fire effect created by a motorised gobo to create the illusion of a fire. This would link to Berkoff’s idea of total theatre where the audience is using their imagination without the need of an elaborate set. This naturalistic lighting would create an evening mood and a calmer atmosphere several days after the apple throwing.

In this part of the scene, Gregor is absent from the dialogue but there are still references to him when Mrs Samsa asks Greta ‘What’s he doing?’ Berkoff says in his Introduction ‘Gregor is always watching’so I would keep a dim pin spot on Gregor’s room. This would pulse larger then smaller several at the times when the family mentions him and keep reminding the audience of his presence in the scene.

In the last part of this scene, Gregor’s dream, I would want to emphasise the surreal mood that is present. Berkoff describes the family ‘as if under water’ and ‘twisting ‘around in their sleep’. I would use dim footlights coloured blue, which would up-light the facial expressions that the family have. This would have the effect of making facial shadows increase and emphasise the ‘horrified’ expressions Mrs S. is pulling, ‘Father – do something’. Gregor would be lit from the front by a tightly focused spotlight of white light which would gently pulse when he is not speaking. Its low angle also cast large shadows onto the cyclorama upstage – making the actor’s gestures and limbs look larger and more grotesque making this scene quite nightmarish in atmosphere.

What band is this and what number out of 10.

Name 2 things this example does that you didn’t do.