Robert Wilson’s The Old Woman (currently at Brooklyn Academy of Music, or BAM, through June 29) features two extraordinary performers, Willem Dafoe, a founding member of The Wooster Group and superstar dancer/actor Mikhail Baryshnikov in an absurdist, vaudevillian tour-de-force based on a short story by Russian avant-garde author Daniil Kharms in which a man finds the dead body of a woman in his room. Vodka-drinking clowns—or are they mirror images of the same man as the reverse corkscrews of their hair might suggest—both are dressed in Chaplinesque black suits and white shirts, Dafoe with a bow tie and Baryshnikov with a long tie. The color in the show comes from the lighting, which also sets the rhythm for the 100-minute piece.
As is his wont, Wilson conceived the concept for the lighting, which was designed by A.J. Weissbard, who has worked frequently with the director since 1994. Concerning the lighting for The Old Woman, Weissbard notes, “The important thing is sensory perception, visual, as well as aural, in the relationships on stage. Composition is a key to telling the story.” The lighting is the major scenic element, often elaborated on the upstage cyc, with only a variety of props and stylized furniture moving on and off the stage.
The rehearsal process began without the text, often in silence, with the actors working out their precise movements and special relationships on stage. “The lighting played a crucial role,” says Weissbard, noting that costumes and make-up were in place as the piece developed. “Every moment on stage is carefully crafted. The level of rigor and precision is very important.”
The award-winning production of The Old Woman premiered at The Manchester Festival in the UK in 2013, following rehearsals in the attic rehearsal space of the opera house in Spoleto, Italy, then later on the main stage for the Spoleto Festival, where it was subsequently performed, before going on to Athens, Milan, Antwerp, and Paris. Wilson has a long history of working in Europe, where it was often economically more feasible to produce his signature-style work, with long technical rehearsals required for the level of precision desired. “This isn’t so easy anymore,” Weissbard concedes, “as without as much state funding in Europe it is harder and harder to get enough time on stage.”
In this case, the time would have been used to ensure the perfect timing of the lighting cues—of which there are approximately 500 in the 100-minute piece; consisting of 280 pre-recorded cues, loops and effects. Both performers are by nature very precise: a necessity in The Old Woman. “The lighting really sets the rhythm, and the sense of speed,” says Weissbard. The show was programmed on an ETC Gio console, which travels with the show, controlling multiple cuelists and video content via Millumin over Art-Net. The show travels with a lighting supervisor/programmer and two followspot operators.
Color is also an essential element in the lighting, with red, green, blue, and white, all bold and saturated, used to change the color of the cyc, the props, and even the hands and faces of the performers, whose white makeup is very specific to react to the light, which is carefully masked to allow just a face, or just one hand, absorb the color. “The lighting, coupled with a great many sound effects, brings these two characters into an absurd world,” explains Weissbard. “The rhythm is very fast, beat…beat…beat…accentuated by bold color choices.”
In addition to the console, the show travels with its own LDDE SpectraConnecT5 35W dimmable fluorescents that are used in conjunction with Philips Strand Iris and Altman focusing cyc units to create smooth, dynamic color with no gaps on the on the upstage cyc. “It is all direct, diffused light on the cyc, not bounce lit, and it is a very complex process to get it working right,” Weissbard points out. Additional dimming fluorescents on the front of the stage create a formal boundary to the playing area, as well as make the blacks on stage seem even blacker by heightening the contrast. Very low-profile LEDs (Soundlight LEDSTRIPLIGHT RGB-W 48 Flood 80W) on the apron provide additional color.
Following its BAM engagement, The Old Woman will continue traveling around the world, including stops in California, (Los Angeles and Berkeley) in November. And Dafoe and Baryshnikov will continue to delight audiences in a piece that combines humor and pathos in a world where the lighting provides an unusual visual impact and reinforces the emotional power of the piece.
Check out this clip of The Old Woman.