When I shot show photos for RCT’s production of Cuckoo’s Nest, it was once again the shots with dramatic lighting that I prefer. There was a sizable cast, and for many scenes most of them were on stage. That makes it a bit trickier to find a good composition. I like to include many of the players, but the impact of the shot is sometimes lost. Besides, often there are interesting goings-on across the stage. Maybe I need to create a mega-image like Bert Monroy’s fabulous Times Square painting!
For this show, a lot of scenes take place in the daytime with all the “inmates” on stage. The daytime lighting in the facility is white and pretty even. I can do some postprocessing to help draw the attention where it’s desired, but white light is white light.
There are exceptions, and those are where I’m drawn in looking over my images. Dim, blue, nighttime stage lighting. It’s really wonderful for setting a mood and telling a story. Having some decent hardware helps to capture a decent image, and having patient actors who can hold their position helps, too. For some shows, holding a position while I shoot several shots, zoom in or out, make some adjustment, then shoot several more is asking a lot of them. I appreciate that there are seldom hints of complaints.
Some of the lighting is dramatic in its own way. Is a room for electro-shock therapy really dark, really lit so harshly? It doesn’t matter – this is theatre. Lighting is part of the experience like music in a movie. It provides or emphasizes a mood, an emotion. And it translates to photography, an art centered on light, perfectly. I can present this same mood and emotion in a still image using what the lighting director has given us. I love it.
It’s been many years since I saw the Jack Nicholson movie, and I’ve never before seen the stage version. I enjoyed it thoroughly. We are fortunate to have such talented folks here and such a wonderful venue. Theatre is a moment. Each performance is different in subtle or not so subtle ways. When the run is done, it, like a life, is gone and exists just in our memories. Capturing that moment, trying to give it a new and different life, is my pleasure.
