40 l August 2013
www.psneurope.com
livereport UNITED KINGDOM
Sound on stage
An ambitious experiment in a temporary venue puts sound at centre stage in Matthew Herbert’s The Hush. Erica Basnicki went to the National Theatre’s The Shed to see what all the noise was about…
FROM 17 July to 3 August, the National Theatre’s temporary venue The Shed was the site of The Hush: an ‘experiential journey into sound’ created by composer and New Radiophonic Workshop creative director Matthew Herbert with playwright Ben Power. Coming together in just five
weeks, and with just one day of tech rehearsal, Herbert says the idea behind the production was “to try to go back to first principles of sound. So much sound is faked on telly; Foleys, buzz tracks and atmos are all added afterwards, to the point where there’s very little, if any, of the original location sound left. Part of the brief of The Hush is to try to put some of that fakery on display and see how people feel about it.” There is little in the way of
dialogue between actors Susannah Wise and Tobias Menzies as they listen to, and construct, aural memories of lost loved ones. On-stage Foley artists Barnaby Smyth and Ruth Sullivan embellish the experience, alternatively constructing these aural
memories or supplementing the actors’ movements with sound. Speaking before a Friday night
performance of The Hush, Herbert adds: “I know some people will find it very hard tonight; we go very quiet for a lot of it, and it makes some people really uncomfortable. They’re just not used to being aware of every noise that you make.” Reinforcing the sounds that
are heard is a system based on kit borrowed from the Cottesloe Theatre, specified by National Theatre sound designer Rich Walsh along with Ben Vernon, The Shed’s sound manager. “Matthew very much wanted the sound to be like an invisible cinema screen that just comes at you in stereo: there it is, in your face,” said The Hush’s associate sound designer Mike Winship. “It’s a treat to work on something that is so focused on sound, and where sound is the initial point around which is built this beautiful little story. It’s been a great opportunity to push The Shed to its limits.” Directing the audience’s ears
were a series of small speakers Winship installed on stage: a
“People are really ready to talk about sound in an interesting way,” says Matthew Herbert
Associate sound designer Mike Winship
JBL’s Control 1 installed under the stage floor, with an additional pair upstage on the ground to bring the main stereo image down further and another pair on the circle front facing upstage to provide more direct sound for the actors. Additionally, two Bose Acoustimass speakers were placed under a bed onstage. Herbert adds: “One of the
Foley artists Barnaby Smyth and Ruth Sullivan performing in The Hush
exciting things about The Shed is that it’s a temporary space, so it’s full of noise, particularly if you sit towards the back. For the show, we rigged microphones on the outside of the building, and in the foyer, so we can listen in to what’s going on in the fabric of the building and make use of that. Sounds generated outside the building are as much a part of the play as sounds from inside the building.” Many more sonic experiments were suggested, but, says
Winship: “We were all working very intently to create this; every day we’d be finding new sounds and programming them in… there wasn’t enough time for all the ideas.” However, some of these ideas
may yet take shape as Herbert continues his work with the New Radiophonic Workshop: “I really enjoyed playing with the fabric of the building and I think that’s something that’s really valuable to the Workshop and to try and investigate further,” he says. “Everyone can make music on their phone – stroking bits of glass in their pocket – and that’s not really exciting any more. There’s something about the original Radiophonic Workshop that’s to do with craft and physical materials that was really valuable. It would be nice to see that come back and to try
Matthew Herbert chats with actors Tobias Menzies and
Susannah Wise as Foley artist Ruth Sullivan looks on
and do physical things as well as just virtual things.” In the meantime, some upcoming virtual offerings from the New Radiophonic Workshop include a series of impulse response files from unusual buildings around the UK: “The first one was Hamilton Mausoleum, which has the longest man-made reverb in Britain apparently,” says Herbert. “People are really ready to
talk about sound in an interesting way and to be open to what it can do,” He concludes. “We’re still being quite secretive about a lot of the work that we do and then in about eight months time, we’ll make it all public and you can see what we’ve been up to.”n
theshed.nationaltheatre.org.uk www.matthewherbert.com www.thenewradiophonicworkshop .com
All Photos: Simon Kane
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60