Stage lighting is the craft of lighting as it applies to the production of theater, dance and other performance arts. Several different types of stage lighting instruments are used in this discipline. In addition to basic lighting, modern stage lighting can include special effects, such as lasers and fog machines. People who work on stage lighting are referred to as lighting technicians or lighting designers; the equipment used for stage lighting are used in other lighting applications, including corporate events, trade shows, broadcast television, film production, photographic studios, other types of live events. The personnel needed to install and control the equipment cross over into these different areas of "stage lighting" applications; the earliest known form of stage lighting was during the early Grecian theaters. They would build their theatres facing east to west so that in the afternoon they could perform plays and have the natural sunlight hit the actors, but not those seated in the orchestra.

Natural light continued to be utilized when playhouses were built with a large circular opening at the top of the theater. Early Modern English theaters were roofless, allowing natural light to be utilized for lighting the stage; as theaters moved indoors, artificial lighting became a necessity and it was developed as theaters and technology became more advanced. At an unknown date, candlelight was introduced which brought more developments to theatrical lighting across Europe. While Oliver Cromwell was ruling Britain, all stage production was suspended in 1642 and no advancements were made to English theaters. During this theatrical famine, great developments were being made in theaters on the European mainland. Charles II, who would become King Charles II witnessed Italian theatrical methods and brought them back to England when he came to power. New playhouses were built in their large sizes called for more elaborate lighting. After the refurbishing of the theaters, it was found that the "main source of light in Restoration theaters to be chandeliers" which were "concentrated toward the front of the house, over the forestage".

English theatres during this time used dipped candles to light sconces. Dipped candles were made by dipping a wick into hot wax to create a cylindrical candle. Candles needed frequent trimming and relighting regardless of what was happening on-stage because "they dripped hot grease on both the audience and actors". Chandeliers blocked the view of some patrons. There were two different types of Restoration theaters in England: Restoration commercial theaters and Restoration court theaters. Commercial theaters tended to be more "conservative in their lighting, for economic reasons" and therefore used "candle-burning chandeliers" primarily. Court theatres could afford to "use most of the Continental innovations" in their productions. Theaters such as the Drury Lane Theatre and the Covent Garden Theatre were lit by a large central chandelier and had a varying number of smaller stage chandeliers and candle sconces around the walls of the theaters. Two main court theaters, built between 1660 and 1665, were the Hall Theatre.

Chandeliers and sconces seemed to be the primary lighting sources here but other developments were being made at the Hall. By the 1670s, the Hall Theatre started using footlights, between 1670 and 1689 they used candles or lamps, it can be noted that by the end of the 17th century, "French and English stages were similar". There is not much written on theatrical lighting in England at the end of the 17th century and from the little information historians do have, not much changed by the middle of the 18th century. Gas lighting hit the English stage in the early 1800s beginning with the Drury Lane and Covent Garden theaters. In the 1820s, a new type of artificial illumination was developed. In this type of illumination, a gas flame is used to heat a cylinder of quicklime. Upon reaching a certain temperature, the quicklime would begin to incandesce; this illumination could be directed by reflectors and lenses. It took some time from the development of this new Limelight before it found its way into theatrical use, which started around 1837.

Limelight became popular in the 1860s and beyond. Lighting advances made in English theaters during this time frame paved the way for the many lighting advances in the modern theatrical world. Stage lighting has multiple functions, including: Selective visibility: The ability to see what is occurring on stage. Any lighting design will be ineffective if the viewers cannot see the characters, unless this is the explicit intent. Revelation of form: Altering the perception of shapes onstage three-dimensional stage elements. Focus: Directing the audience's attention to an area of the stage or distracting them from another. Mood: Setting the tone of a scene. Harsh red light has a different effect than soft lavender light. Location and time of day: Establishing or altering position in time and space. Blues can suggest night time while red can suggest a sunrise or sunset. Use of mechanical filters to project sky scenes, the Moon, etc. Projection/stage elements: Lighting may be used to project scenery or to act as scenery onstage.

Plot: A lighting event may trigger or advance the action onstage and off. Composition: Lighting may be used to show only the areas of the stage which the designer wants the audience to see, to "paint a picture". Effect: In pop and rock concerts or DJ shows or raves, colored lights and lasers may be used as a visual effect. Ligh

Mary Agnes Stainbank was a South African sculptor. Stainbank born in 1899 on the farm Coedmore in Durban, she was educated at St. Anne's Diocesan College at KwaZulu-Natal, she trained at the Durban School of Art from 1916 to 1921 under John Adams and Alfred Martin, from 1922-24 at the Royal College of Art, under William Rothenstein and Frederick John Wilcoxson. She was awarded a Royal College scholarship in 1925 and studied bronze casting at an engineering firm in London. On her return to South Africa in 1926 she established a sculpture studio – Ezayo - on the Coedmore estate where, between 1926 and 1940, she produced her finest work, she was influenced by Jacob Epstein. Though credited with introducing a modern school of sculpture to South Africa during her early career, she was criticized for her use of avant-garde images, her choice of African subject matter and her use of sharp, angular forms and distortion of limbs to depict her subjects shocked the conservative viewers of the time, who were used to the romantic-realist style of South African artists.

As a result, her sculptures did not appeal to the buying public of the day. Many of her freestanding sculptures were shown during the 1930s at exhibitions organized by the Natal Society of Artists. After service in a military drawing office during World War II she was appointed as head of the sculpture department at the Durban School of Art, where she lectured until 1957. Though her work did not sell, she continued to create sculptures, which were housed in her studio at Coedmore. In the 1980s, a large body of these works went on display at the Old Parliament Buildings in Pietermartzburg; this collection was subsequently transferred to the Voortrekker/Msunduzi Museum in Pietermaritzburg. With the restructuring of that museum, the work was returned to the Stainbank family; the Stainbank collection is regarded as the largest body of work by a single artist in South Africa to have remained intact. The collection is housed at the Mary Stainbank Memorial Gallery at Coedmore, the original Stainbank family estate, where the family settled in the 1880s.

During her career, Stainbank produced many portraits of the people who lived on the Coedmore estate as well as architectural commissions that she received. These include decorations on buildings, in Durban, such as the Children’s Hospital at Addington Beach and the government offices in the CBD, her many public sculptures in Durban include the Flower Sellers. The reredos in the church of All Saints Maidstone was done by Stainbank, she designed the Springbok trophy for the South African Polo Association. She produced the architectural decorations for the Port Elizabeth Magistrates' Court. Mary Stainbank on Facebook

This is a list of characters from the BBC relaunch of Upstairs Downstairs, that aired from 2010. A list of the cast from the original ITV series, which ran from 1970 to 1975, can be found here. Portrayed by Ed Stoppard, Sir Hallam Holland is a Foreign Office diplomat, who inherited 165 Eaton Place as well as a large fortune and a baronetcy, he is married to Lady Agnes Holland, who has given birth to two children and Veronica. Sir Hallam's relationship with Lady Agnes is tested during series 2 when she becomes friendly with an American tycoon, Casper Landry. Hallam's jealousy compiled with the stress he is under at work leads him to kissing Agnes's sister, Persie; the kiss leads to a full blown affair between the two. Portrayed by Keeley Hawes, Lady Agnes Holland is the eldest daughter of the 12th Earl of Towyn and wife of Sir Hallam, her "old money" family were impoverished, Agnes grew up in a decaying castle in the south of Wales. Her marriage to Sir Hallam has been happy and devoted, despite financial hardship before his inheritance and their failure to have children.

She has since been told that she can not have any more. In light of the sad news she held a dinner party whose guests included a young John F. Kennedy and American businessman Casper Landry. Portrayed by Dame Eileen Atkins, Maud Holland, Lady Holland, born in 1860, is Sir Hallam's mother and is seen to be causing friction between herself and Lady Agnes, she helped build the British Raj, lived overseas for many years, returning to England after being widowed. She lamented her unhappy marriage to her late husband, Greville. By 1938, she has died and this leaves a hole in the Holland family. Portrayed by Claire Foy, Lady Persephone "Persie" Towyn is the younger sister of Lady Agnes. A fascist, she has an affair with Harry Spargo, but leaves him and her family to go to Germany with Joachim von Ribbentrop as his mistress, she is absent from Eaton Place between series 1 and 2, maintaining only minimal contact with her family, but returns in December 1938 after the anti-Semitic violence in Germany escalates.

She subsequently discovers she is pregnant by one of her German lovers, has an abortion. She has an affair with Sir Hallam. Exposed as a spy for the Nazis and left alone, she commits suicide—by throwing herself off the upper balcony onto the entrance hall floor—after accidentally shooting Beryl with Sir Hallam's service pistol. Portrayed by Sarah Gordy, Pamela Holland, is the younger sister of Sir Hallam, she lives in an asylum. Sir Hallam believes that she died in childhood, but he comes across her while rescuing Lotte from the same asylum. Pamela still remembers and loves her brother and mother dearly, she is seen staying at her brother's house for Christmas. Portrayed by Alex Kingston, Blanche Mottershead, born in 1890, is the younger half-sister of the late Maud—being thirty years younger than Maud—and Sir Hallam's aunt, she arrived at 165 Eaton Place during Maud’s short final illness, is still in situ after her death. She took the lead in helping relocate Jewish children after the breakout of antisemitic Nazism within Berlin, is a patron of the British Museum and an expert Egyptologist.

Blanche has an affair with Lady Portia Airesford. Portrayed by Jean Marsh, Rose Buck was born to a servant on the Southwold estate where Lady Marjorie was born and raised, she is the head house parlour maid at Eaton Place from 1903 to 1919, Virginia Bellamy's lady's maid from 1919 to 1930. During the war years she works as a conductress, she returns to Eaton Place in 1936, assumes the position of housekeeper. In 1938 she was absent from the house for a while. Lady Agnes visits a frail Rose who begs her to take her key to 165 as she does not feel she deserves it. In a touching moment, Lady Agnes reassures Rose that she is both needed there. At the end of the series, she goes with the Holland children as a nanny to protect them during the war—the second war she has lived through in her lifetime. Portrayed by Anne Reid; the house's cook, Clarice Thackeray is a widow. Passionate about her work, she expects the highest standards of herself and others, she follows the workings of high society through the pages of the Tatler.

Romantic and affectionate by nature, she is nosey, judgemental and a monumental snob. Mrs Thackeray comes to blows with Mr. Pritchard in series 2 when they share the running of downstairs in Rose's absence, it comes to a head when Mr. Prichard scolds her for calling a young John F. Kennedy "my dear" and she resigns in a fit of temper. After a brief stay at her nephew's she realises she belongs at 165 and returns to a smiling Mr. Pritchard. Portrayed by Adrian Scarborough. Butler Warwick Pritchard is well spoken. Teetotal and strung, his exacting façade conceals deep kindness and real integrity; as the downstairs family settles in, he becomes the moral centre of the household. His skills in service come from his several years of employment with the Cunard Line; as a former wartime ambulance man, he delivers Lady Agnes' baby with little fuss when she is unable to go to the hospital. It is revealed he was raised a Quaker and was a conscientious objector during the Great War; this fact angers Mr. Amanjit and Mrs Thackeray and a rift emerges downstairs, however they soon forgive him after a talk from Lady Agnes.

Mr. Pritchard and Mrs Thackeray have several fights during series 2 as they disagree on how downstairs should be run, he has a brief courtship with a lady's maid but she rejects him after finding out about his hist