My son is a set dresser in Hollywood so I sent the statement of the
problem. Unfortunately he apparently had no reference to any prior
uses. Since he does not have the interest I have in sundials he gives a
perspective of the theatrical worker. Here was his reply:
Well, first of all, to suggest that an audience would enjoy or even
notice the shadow of a wall sundial moving sounds akin to watching the
actors' hair go grey in the course of a scene- unless the scene is 3 or
more hours long, I can't imagine anyone would notice (especially in the
LIGHT of what that would cost and/or involve doing). If, on the other
hand, he means that just as an actor's hair may change throughout the
course of a play to suggest the passing of time (i.e., years), that the
lighting might also change to denote a passing of time (hours in this
case), then it seems perfectly reasonable. Theatrical lighting designers
do that sort of thing all the time- the light in this doctor's garden at
noon is different than it is in the morning, late afternoon, dusk,
night, etc...
Lighting a particular object on the set differently from scene
to scene is nothing new and adding a sundial would only mean adding
another element with its own settings and cues. The only troublesome
aspect is that it is the shadow that is actually important. I know this
comes up lots of times in film which is probably one reason why we not
only have a lighting department, but effectively a "shadow" department
as well- the grip department is responsible for blocking light. For
film, the only perspective at which the lighting has to work is from the
camera. On stage it is much different since the whole audience should
see "the right thing." What this means for our doctor's sundial is that
the lighting designer has to be good enough to incorporate it without it
interfering with the other lighting. The set designer would also need
to coordinate with both the lighting designer and the director with
regard to the placement of said dial to both make it possible to light
and to make sure that the actors' actions on stage won't interfere with
its lighting. I don't believe I've ever seen a sundial as an important
(or unimportant, for that matter), element in a stage production. Steve
might know so I'll ask him when he gets back this weekend.
Which brings me to the last point which is that it sounds like a
good idea that might not only contribute to the character of this doctor
as expressed in the design of his garden, but could provide an
interesting element to depict a change in time. I think it's perfectly
legitimate for your friend to suggest such a thing. However, here are a
few things that might get in the way. First, I don't know what this
play is and so I don't really know whether this character would have a
sundial in his garden or whether time plays an important role or not.
These are points within the choices made by the director and set
designer in their interpretation of the play. I can imagine designing a
set around a sundial if time were a central and/or pivotal element and
it would contribute to the telling of the story of some play...but this
is not that and none of us are either the director or the set designer
and they might have a different perspective. For the lighting
designer, the sundial could cause problems (in a way as I mentioned
above), if he or she has already set the lighting (e.g., maybe the
sunset scene has sunlight coming from stage left and the sundial can't
be lit correctly where it was placed). Or he or she just may not want
to deal with it- I am just warning you of the possible blow-back...
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