All theatre begins with darkness, and then someone switches the lights on. That someone is the Lighting Designer, in this production Paule Constable. What she does and how she does it, are critical in
creating the atmosphere in
His Dark Materials .
She describes lighting as the secret language of theatre, which the audience shouldn’t even think about, but which is crucial to shaping its emotional impact. Her biggest challenge is how to use light to make
darkness visible. The work process for Paule Constable begins a long time before the rehearsals, when the Set Designer Giles Cadle has come up with a storyboard showing how the sets and staging will work. She has to devise the best way to light each scene to tell the story.
She also works closely with Sound Designer, Paul Groothuis. See what happens when they work together in the technical rehearsal to create the effect of the
Northern Lights. But lighting can do more than suggest atmosphere, it can also be used to telling effect to propel the action forward. Watch the moment in the technical rehearsal when Lyra throws open a door in Bolvangar to discover the horrifying secret of the
daemon cage, full of dying daemons which have been separated from their children.
For all her preparation Paule Constable has no way of knowing how everything will look until the production reaches the Technical Rehearsal, when she and her 20 strong crew are at their busiest.
