We are very pleased to publish this special double issue ‘On Light’ guest edited by Katherine Graham, Scott Palmer and Kelli Zezulka, three eminent scholars and leading practitioners in the field of lighting design. In the past, we have published a number of individual articles dealing with light in theatre and performance in different issues of this journal, including a much-cited article by Scott Palmer, ‘A “Choréographie” of Light and Space: Adolphe Appia and the First Scenographic Turn’ (2015) in our inaugural issue. Here, however, we are offering a special double issue with articles devoted exclusively to light in all its myriad forms and applications across an expanded scenographic field. And, as our guest editors point out in their introduction, we are the first scholarly journal in the English language to do this. So we take a certain pride in being able to promote what has been an extraordinary expansion of the field of light, as a practice and as a subject of scholarly inquiry over the last 20 years. We are sure you will find the articles curated by our guest editors in this special double issue as compelling and engaging as we have.
We have replaced our regular feature ‘Influential Design’ in this issue with a timely interview, conducted by Arnold Aronson, with the director Jay Scheib about his groundbreaking new production of Richard Wagner’s Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival in July 2023. This production, notable for its innovative and uncompromising design, also employs augmented reality (AR) as an element of the scenography. Aronson doesn't shy away from discussing the controversy sparked by this production and its mixed critical reception. But he places this, in his informative introduction to the interview, in the context of the earlier controversies surrounding Wagner’s experimental vision in the nineteenth century and subsequent productions of his works, including Parsifal in the twentieth. Aronson's conversation with Scheib provides us with a fascinating insight into his work as a director, including his use of video and projection, as well as the background to the production in Bayreuth in 2023.
We first encountered Executive Director Francisca Peró and Head of Scenic Design María Fernanda Videla, at Teatro Biobío in Chile, at the Prague Quadrennial (PQ) 2023, where they gave a short presentation about this extraordinary regional theatre, as part of PQ talks. Teatro Biobío is situated 600 kilometers south of the capital Santiago and was built as part of a government initiative to support arts and culture in the regions. It was a fascinating presentation and we wanted to know more, and we were therefore delighted when they accepted our invitation to develop their presentation for the journal. ‘Report From Teatro Biobío (Chile). A Journey from Surviving to Inhabiting’, details the design of the building, inaugurated in 2018, with its imposing and controversial architectural presence in the city, and also touches on the history of performance in the region. The authors also explain the philosophy behind their ongoing engagement with the local community, their creative projects during COVID, their wider national ambitions and their plans for the expansion of their work on the international stage. This is an extraordinarily positive story of the arts flourishing in these dark times.
We have three book reviews in this issue and, as always, we thank our Reviews Associate editors, David Bisaha and Lucy Thornett, for their excellent work in finding reviewers and getting the reviews to us by the deadline. We also, of course, thank the reviewers. After over five years in the role, David is leaving us next summer. His diligence and commitment to making sure we stay abreast of all the latest publications that pertain to the rapidly expanding field of scenography has been exemplary. On behalf of all our readers, we offer David our sincere thanks. David will be a hard act to follow but we will be looking for another associate editor to take over the role early in the New Year to support Lucy and to ensure a smooth transition.
We are preparing a special double issue devoted to the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space (PQ 23) to be published in spring/summer 2024, with a general issue to follow later in the year. We have had a number of interesting proposals for special issues in 2025 and we will be reviewing these in due course. As always, we remain open to your ideas, so please keep them coming. We are grateful as ever to Nick Tatchell for his care and attention to all aspects of the production of the journal. Finally, a huge thank you to Katherine, Scott and Kelli for the work they have put into making this special double issue such an important contribution to the expanding discourse ‘On Light’ in contemporary performance and beyond.
We wish all our readers a peaceful 2024.