Story of a light

The limelight and its first applications on the stage

Abstract

This paper aims to rediscover the origin of the limelight, framed in the relationship between technology and performing arts that is the background to the progress of theatrical scenography. During the nineteenth century the places for performance also served as an exhibition space for modern technologies: many people came into contact with the inventions and the products made available by the Industrial Revolution through theatrical settings. Like other lighting devices, the limelight was initially conceived for purposes other than scenic ones; the Scottish engineer Thomas Drummond created around 1830 a prototype aimed at simplifying the trigonometric pointing necessary for military cartography. Within a few years, however, the Drummond lamp spread to London theatres and later to European ones: its surprisingly white and intense light became a very powerful tool in the hands of the mid-19th-century directors, such as Charles Macready and Charles Kean.