Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1980 - 19

bing was then wrapped around the body from both sides so
that the ends of the webbing could join at the O-ring in the
back (see Figures 3-8).

Sound-Controlled
Reflected

Variations
At least four ways to wrap the body were discovered, and
they each provided various supports to back, ribs, etc. The
options seemed almost limitless. The method used is illustrated in Figure 3. Short over-the-shoulder straps were used
to hold the harness up before hook-up, as the harness was
not used for about the first twenty minutes of the show. Other
configurations which eliminated supporting straps did not allow the actor to breathe properly or were otherwise unacceptable. The short shoulder straps were stitched onto the webbing and loops were made for passing the webbing through.
The webbing was then passed through the loops and buckled
with stamped, flat, metal slider buckles. These tongueless attachments required no holes in the 2" webbing. The narrow
shoulder straps supported the webbing and prevented the actor's movements from working the webbing down the torso.
Later the harness was stitched together approximately
three and one-half feet from the ring. This equalized the length
of both sides of the loops around the legs. Equal pressure was
assured on both sides of the actor's body and maximum comfort was obtained. This second loop also prevented the strap
from tightening around the performer's full body and gaining
too much extra harness length. He also flew straighter and his
weight was more evenly carried.
Later another theatre group used the webbing harness for
hanging Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, and found another
wrapping configuration. In hanging a person on stage, a vertical harness is rigged with the ring being very high on the
back. A steel support wire is hooked to the ring when a noose
is put over the head. The weight of the hanging body is collected by the harness and passed up the support wire through
the hook. (The actual noose rope is completely cut from its
line, then reattached with only one or two threads to the rope
of which it is supposedly a part. Then, if the harness hook
should happen to be insecure, and the actor's body weight
passed to the noose, it will immediately separate from the
hanging rope. This precaution is absolutely necessary for the
safety of the performer and the liability of the technician. Remember that if the noose knot happens to be on the side of
the neck, it only takes four pounds of pressure on the rope to
break the neck!)
The harness in both cases worked with no problems. The
actors found it comfortable to wear, the materials were readily
available and inexpensive, and the webbing conformed flat to
the shape of the body.
Whatever the shape of the harness, a solid understanding
of mechanics is necessary to attach the rigging lines to the
harness. The weight collected by the harness should lead toward the carrying line(s) with no mechanical interruption
which will become a shear point. The harness should also collect the bodily weights creating no undue stress upon the
body or discomfort to the wearer.
In attempting to find what anatomical research existed, harness manufacturers alluded to parachutes as the source.
Little solid anatomical basis existed for research. Seemingly
the presumption has been that if the body objected, it was
wrong. Maybe that's one step easier than structural systems
for building&--if structural stress exists, it only collapses.
With a solid knowledge of shear points and tolerance for the
materials being used, the harness maker is apparently safe. D
Tom Corbett is Technical Director at the University of California,
Santa Cruz and is on the Board of the Northern California Section of
USITI. His articles have appeared in Theatre Crafts and Lighting Dimensions.

USITI IFall, 1980

Light

by Jay O. Glerum
and Mary Elizabeth Tallon

A version of this articfe appeared in translation in Actualite de la
Scenographie.--eds.

In early production meetings for The Bacchae at Marquette
University, the director, Andrew Hepburn, stressed the use of
light as a metaphor for the protagonist, Dionysus, and the
chorus of Bacchantes. He spoke in terms of "flaring shafts of
light-vague, silvery light."
Reflected light seemed to offer the best possibilities. Many
trials with various reflecting surfaces indicated that the graininess of some old, stainless steel mirrors would produce the
sharpest of still-indistinct images, and water promised to add
a necessary dynamic quality to the image.
A trough was constructed, 12" wide, by 4%" deep, by 8'
long. The sides were made of a frame of %" pine with a sheet
of %" plywood nailed to the bottom. The box was lined with a
double layer of 4 mil polyethylene clear plastic sheeting,
stapled around the top edges. Sections of stainless steel mirror were laid across the bottom. The trough was then positioned on the stage floor, centered 18" downstage of the
scrim, and filled with 3" of water.
Seven Parelipspheres, five feet apart, were hung on a pipe
which was located 23' above and 7' downstage of the trough
(approximately a 79 0 angle to the floor). (See Figure 1.) Each
instrument was ungelled, the focus narrowed to its limit, and
each was shuttered to the perimeter of the mirrors in the
trough. Because of the distance between the instruments
each made a distinct image on the scrim.
'

J~scrim

1/
)

!-52trough
striP lights

Side View
Light Source,
Trough,
Scrim

------.I

Figure 1

The composite picture was impressive, but too static. And
although manual agitation of the water produced interesting
effects, they were too erratic, too "showy," and therefore, too
distracting.
Theatre Design & Technology

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