The Multiple Personality Play
The actors had the day off, but tech week has already begun. Yesterday we set light levels, so Joanne was in today making adjustments to the hang. John, Alli and Christiane were painting the set, and Doug came in to "dirty" up a bunch of props (and fix the shaky pikes). Melissa was cutting and sewing, and Andrew was working with Max and Gino on the sword fight (perfectionist). But I saw most of this in passing, since I was officially there to set sound levels with Mark and Matt.
The sound design has ended up being an unusual hodge-podge. We've got traditional storm sounds, and then we've got experimental and expressionistic stuff as well. We've got Shostakovich's 5th and 12th symphonies, but we've also got modern chanting, and music from Peter Gabriel's "Passion." We've got sound cues that represent thunder, and sound cues that represent horses & drums, but kinda sound like thunder. We've got sound cues that represent rain, and a sound cue that can either represent fire or rain--or both.
To be honest, I'm not quite sure what it will all add up to. But since there's nothing that strikes me as being definitively out of period, I think the only thing to do is to let it all play out. After all, my costumes are realistic and period-specific, but my set is abstract and expressionistic; and some of the lights are meant to convey real details, while others are purely for emotional effect. And isn't Shakespeare's script a mix of "real" prose dialogue and heightened poetry (not to mention doggerel rhymes and insane babble)? Is there anything in this play that is just one thing?
Does any here know me? This is not Lear.
Does Lear walk thus? Speak thus? Where are his eyes?
Who is it that can tell me who I am?
The sound design has ended up being an unusual hodge-podge. We've got traditional storm sounds, and then we've got experimental and expressionistic stuff as well. We've got Shostakovich's 5th and 12th symphonies, but we've also got modern chanting, and music from Peter Gabriel's "Passion." We've got sound cues that represent thunder, and sound cues that represent horses & drums, but kinda sound like thunder. We've got sound cues that represent rain, and a sound cue that can either represent fire or rain--or both.
To be honest, I'm not quite sure what it will all add up to. But since there's nothing that strikes me as being definitively out of period, I think the only thing to do is to let it all play out. After all, my costumes are realistic and period-specific, but my set is abstract and expressionistic; and some of the lights are meant to convey real details, while others are purely for emotional effect. And isn't Shakespeare's script a mix of "real" prose dialogue and heightened poetry (not to mention doggerel rhymes and insane babble)? Is there anything in this play that is just one thing?
Does any here know me? This is not Lear.
Does Lear walk thus? Speak thus? Where are his eyes?
Who is it that can tell me who I am?
posted by Scott Sharplin at 8:11 p.m.
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