Lighting Analysis

So, I have completed my thoughts about the production of When We Dead Wake by Henrik Ibsen.

Here you are...

Imagine a man and a woman...a husband and a wife who become pregnant with their first child. They go through all the joys of pregnancy and the gestational period, yet after nearly 20 hours of labor the result is not a beautiful, warm, crying child, but a deformed, cold, lifeless and silent child. The realization that the pregnancy resulted in nothing more than death and memories causes a slow, painful, and twisted awakening for those involved, dragged in and looking on...

This play is not about death...it is not about rising from the ashes...it is about awakening...it is about arising from hibernation. The characters in this play are like Rubek’s sculptures and busts: pompous, self-righteous, obstinate, shallow, cold, and lifeless. Only through painfully tedious recognition of their current state are the characters brought to a state of consciousness wherein they may proceed. Ulfheim and Maja’s path is more clear, offering some new adventure to live for, whereas, Rubek and Irena’s path is one they have already trod, offering a familiar re-embarkment toward a state of permanent dormancy.

The light of their world begins like the life of the characters, seemingly lifeless, yet merely dormant with the beauty of a wonderful dream anesthetized. Just as the characters slowly return to a conscious state like a spring thaw after a cold winter, so also, the lighting will infuse the world of the characters with an inviting warmth. Although as with any awakening from a deep sleep it is painfully slow and deceptive. The beauty of their life before hibernation has not gone away, and so it entices them from beyond the cool welcoming mists.

Once the journey beyond the mists has begun, the deceptive beauty of new life overwhelms the space. The lighting begins to cut through the characters and the scenery revealing the truth behind the paths they have chosen. So that by the end of the play, what once seemed like waves of awakening joy, now exists only as cascading waves of death for those unable to embrace the wings of eagles.