The Art of Light on Stage is the first English-language book focusing on the study of lighting design in contemporary theatre and elaborating upon the phenomenological and semiotic aspects of the medium of light – the roles of light as a performer, as the medium of visual perception and as the stimulus for imaginative representation. Taking numerous test-cases of visual (non-verbal) theatre, performative installations, opera productions, dramatic and postdramatic theatre, the author employs innovative methodologies in documentation, analysis, and (re)presentation of new directions the medium of light has taken in contemporary theatre.

Abulafia proposes a pioneering multi-layered approach to a detailed analysis of light and its interaction with other media in the performance. The analysis of the aesthetics, the experience and meaning of light in a performance is followed by an examination of the visual dramaturgy of light, as embodied in five state-of-the-art contemporary postdramatic productions. This new, scholarly – yet practical – approach intends to expand the awareness and enrich the discussion of the various dimensions of light in contemporary theatre by theatre-makers, scholars, students, critics and theatre spectators.

The book is based on Abulafia's PhD study for which Prof. Dr. Barend van Heusden was the promoter and Heiner Goebbles was an academic advisor. For more information about the book, click here.

“This unusual and quite extraordinary book addresses multiple aspects of lighting design. The Art of Light on Stage: Lighting in Contemporary Theatre is most valuable examining and critiquing the lighting for modern postdramatic productions, but its value goes beyond that. It gives us a thorough exploration of the growing academic consideration of the phenomenological and semiotic aspects of the medium of light. Perhaps its most engaging quality is the author’s utter commitment to the possibilities of the aesthetics of light in performance and as performance.

Abulafia decided to take his international practical experience and apply it toward research in the aesthetic and theoretical aspects of lighting. In the process, he received a PhD from the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. He has now turned his dissertation into a wonderful reference volume on the history of lighting in modern theatre.”

(Book review by Prof. Michael Ramsaur, published in: Theatre Design & Technology, USITT, 2016 Spring edition)

The book has been printed in full-colour thanks to the generous support by Robe.