Lighting Theatre Productions in Non-Conventional Spaces: <i>When Women Go Naked and The Village Lamb</i> as Case Study

Abstract

This paper is set to discuss emerging trends in lighting productions in non-conventional space as a disruptive technique in neoslavery discourse. Beyond the core essence of theatre production which is for education, information and entertainment, the paper takes a strong position that what is known today as non-conventional theatre space is as old as drama itself and is still playing major role in most traditional performances. While it is true that lighting a play production in an unconventional theatre space is an emerging trend, such cannot be said about a conventional theatre space that comes with its entire paraphernalia. Since African performances are not just limited to conventional spaces alone, there is a dire need for lighting designers to free themselves from such tradition and devise a functional means of illuminating production in an unlimited space of performance. The methodology adopted in this study is qualitative research method which entails detailed analysis of lighting chats designed for the productions of Obi Pat Nwagbo's When Women Go Naked and John Iwu's The Village Lamb as produced in AE-FUNAI Theatre. The study is anchored on Richard Schechner's Performance Theory that negates existing formality in performance practice. By this, Schechner seems to argue that every activity around us is a performance and the space in which such activity takes place is a non-conventional performance space. Equipped with this, the study reveals that the selected play productions followed a lighting trend of improvisation since they are Afrocentric in textual content and performance outlook, thus made the process of lighting more practicable as it disrupts elements of Eurocentric adherence in terms of hanging, focusing and actual lighting. The paper therefore recommended that in order to achieve a functional approach to lighting production in nonconventional spaces, designers should maintain workable concept devoid of total reliance on established rules.