Macbeth Lighting Design
Nathan Schroeder
Clayton Community Theatre presented Macbeth in April 2015, for which I received a Theater Mask Award for Outstanding Lighting Design from Arts for Life. Director Nancy Crouse's concept for the play centered on the cauldron and the witches, as a symbol of the temptation all humans are subject to, and so the cauldron was the center of the stage design, and in turn of the lighting.
My lighting design included:
- A backlit opening battle sequence, with the witches in the foreground in green (green turned out to be the witches' featured color when they were working their magic on others)
- Lady Macbeth in the foreground making her evil plans, with the witches in the background in green downlight and lavender uplight (there were three different colors of uplight inside the cauldron)
- Witches influencing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's planning
- Bloody red highlights when Macduff brings the news of Duncan's murder
- Contrasting colors on the sequence of apparitions that appear in the cauldron
- Lady Macbeth, sleepwalking, in sharp-edged light with the doctor and maid in shadow
- Hecate overseeing the final battle
- The final tableau featuring Hecate and the severed head of Macbeth
Portfolio index
Opening battle:
Witches influence Lady Macbeth:
Witches influence Macbeth and Lady Macbeth planning:
Macduff brings news of murder:
Apparitions:
Sleepwalking:
Final battle and final tableau:
