Written in 1892, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is widely regarded as one of the most important pieces of feminist literature, as well as a classic work of horror fiction. Over the years, it has been adapted into various mediums, from film to audio dramas to stage plays. It was most recently reimagined as an opera by emerging RPS Award winner Dani Howard, with direction from the renowned Amy Lane. Following a critically-acclaimed run at the Copenhagen Opera Festival, it recently arrived in London and played at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre. The show features a lighting design by Charlie Morgan Jones who approached White Light, a d&b solutions company, to supply his lighting fixtures. 

The Yellow Wallpaper focuses on a young woman who involuntarily goes for a ‘rest’ cure  on a rented summer country estate. However, once trapped in a particular room, she becomes obsessed with its yellow wallpaper and begins a slow descent into psychosis. Charlie comments: “The novel was absolutely ground-breaking for its time; dealing with issues of postnatal depression, gaslighting, control and the societal structures which are discriminatory towards women. Sadly, whilst written over a century ago, a lot of its issues are still relevant today. With our production, we’ve tried to recreate this operatically, with a singer, pianist, cellist as well as a dancer who represents the wallpaper itself. It’s a classic chamber opera in that sense and an incredibly fitting way to tell this story”. 

The show began life in Copenhagen, where Charlie worked with Director Amy Lane and Designer Emma Ryott to create a cohesive vision that was as operatic as it was true to the novel. He explains: “The biggest influence for us was to create this feeling of claustrophobia. That’s essentially what’s at the heart of this story – a person feeling trapped – so we had to recreate that for an audience on stage. We decided to keep the space as small as possible but also decided to use light to create the walls in which our protagonist is enclosed. This worked really well as it not only allowed us to create that claustrophobic feel but also allowed the dancer to weave in and out of the space as the influence of the yellow wallpaper grew”.  

This brand-new opera was set to premiere back in 2020, with WL actually supplying the lighting used to record the trailer. However, the pandemic broke which meant the production was delayed until August 2023, when it was finally shared with the world as part of the Copenhagen Opera Festival. As was the case when the show was first meant to be performed, Charlie approached WL once again for his lighting fixtures. He comments: “With this show, it was all about creating that specific feeling of entrapment as opposed to big, bold statements. As such, I wanted to use what I’d class as ‘old-school’ lighting. I drew on the brilliant GLP X4 Bars which were used to create the walls around our main performer and perfectly captured that claustrophobia which we strived for. Similarly, we had a smattering of Encores which we used for all the specials. This show is effectively done in specials with no general covers, which really helps create the sense that this is a room in the late 19^th century. And whilst it is an intimate design in many senses, it’s still an incredibly busy show in that there are 99 lighting cues in just under 50 minutes!”. 

The Yellow Wallpaper arrived in London last month, running at the iconic Sadler’s Wells Theatre. 

Charlie concludes: “This was a brilliant show to work on and I’m incredibly proud of the beautifully profound looks we were able to achieve with limited fixtures. It was a pleasure working with Amy and Emma along with my fantastic Associate Lighting Designer Oliver Hynes. It was also great to work with WL once again, in particular Sam Knight who was extremely helpful throughout the entire process’.  

Photos courtesy of Ida Guldbæk Arentsen.

Credits 

Composer: Dani Howard 
Librettist: Joseph Spence 
Singer: Clare Presland 
Cellist: Midori Jaeger 
Pianist: Berrak Dyer 
Dancer: Valerie Ebuwa 
Director: Amy Lane 
Lighting designer: Charlie Morgan Jones 
Stage designer: Emma Ryott 
Design Associate: Damien Stanton 

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