hedda gabler
adaptation by jon robin baitz
bay street theatre
huntington theatre company
williamstown theatre festival
ambassador theatre, nyc
directed by nicholas martin
A Study in Contrasts
from LIVE DESIGN: by David Barbour and Ellen Lampert-Gréaux
For sheer contrast, you can't do better than Hedda Gabler and Sexaholix: A Love Story. The former is the latest production of Ibsen's classic about a frustrated young matron who brings down tragedy on herself and her family. The latter is the latest installment of John Leguizamo's onstage autobiography, in which he chronicles a lifetime's worth of dysfunctional romantic relationships, how he found true love, and the joys of parenthood. Both, however, made a splash on Broadway this fall and both featured very different and very accomplished lighting designs by Kevin Adams.
Hedda Gabler, which reached New York after engagements at the Bay Street Theatre of Sag Harbor, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, won appreciative notices for Jon Robin Baitz's colloquial adaptation and Kate Burton's contemporary spin on the title role. In most respects, this is a thoroughly naturalistic Hedda, which becomes clear the moment the curtain rises on Alexander Dodge's sumptuous box set. It comes complete with high walls and a ceiling, which meant that Adams began his work with a limited number of lighting positions to choose from.
"It's all lit from front of house," Adams says, adding that there's "very little lighting from behind the proscenium." Of course, too much frontlight can result in a flat-looking stage picture. However, having recently worked at the Ambassador Theatre--he lit the new musical A Class Act there last season--Adams knew how to take advantage of the theatre's above-average width. "Because it is so wide, I added four [ETC] Source Fours, with [Wybron] scrollers, to the ends of the balcony rail," which helped add definition to the actors' faces and bodies. "Having just done A Class Act, I was certainly able to learn from my mistakes and use the theatre's quirkiness to my advantage," he says. Also, the LD notes, the stage extends past the proscenium, so he added a zone of sidelight that he calls "a psychological space" in which actors can be seen downstage in a more sculptural light.
Dodge also gave Adams a kind of gift in the set design, a large window at stage right that allows for the bold, directional use of natural light effects, created by six Arri 5k fresnels. Adams used these to add a sense of progression to the play and to chart the emotional disintegration of its heroine. Although the action barely covers 24 hours, the play is structured in four acts, and the lighting follows a kind of metaphoric seasonal path. "The first act is a beautiful, airy spring day," says the LD. "Nicky [Martin, the director] wanted the top of the show to be like a drawing room comedy." Sunlight coming through the window is created using R15 (Deep Straw), with R360 (Clearwater), R05 (Rose Tint), and R54 (Special Lavender) to fill out the rest of the look. The combination, he notes, "is very flattering to Kate Burton; it's all star lighting," designed to emphasize her striking looks.
Act II, says Adams, consists of "a long, saturated, summer sunset," with R22 (Deep Amber) coming in through the window. "As the act progresses, it becomes early night and we go from bright and airy to a darker, more shadowy space. That sets up Act III, which is like a little opera. It's the most sparsely lit scene--it's autumnal-looking." This scene climaxes with Hedda burning the only copy of a manuscript by her former lover. "We get down to a single 5k unit lighting her at the fireplace," says the LD. When she opens the door to the fireplace, R18 (Flame) light cuts a path across the ceiling of the set, with R18 also coming through the window to suggest the arrival of dawn. (The light in the fireplace is created by 1kW Mini-10s.)
The final scene is designed to evoke a wintry chill. The scene begins with the curtains covering the window and the room at its darkest. As the scene begins, says Adams, "Kate makes a great entrance in a black velour gown; you can just barely make out her shape. She throws open the curtain and a bright cue pops on. Unlike the other acts, it's a completely cold blue, in Lee 161 [Slate Blue] and R360 and R365 [Tharon Delft Blue], with some R68 [Sky Blue] playing across the walls. It's a completely unrealistic cue, but it signals a shift taking place [in the drama] and it's a beautiful reveal of her in that black gown."
Adams created one other touch that provides a running thread throughout the play. The preset look features a scrim on which the LD says, "I made a light painting. It's a GAM template [GAM 629 Homespun] that I doubled and washed across the scrim and balcony rails. The colors are R68 and R83 [Medium Blue]." The template is a kind of cross-hatch pattern that spreads throughout the production, almost closing in on Hedda. At first, says the designer, "We see a little of it hitting the top of the walls; later the walls are completely covered." It's a clever way of suggesting Hedda's emotional claustrophobia.