Polaris
Holly&Ted explore the normalisation of hatred, toxic masculinity and the violence of language through imagined worlds and beguiling soundscapes that are created live on stage. They commissioned me to create a sound design where they operate everything from stage. I built two amplified tables and put together a portable touring PA rig. The show previewed in 2017 and in 2018 has toured to Edinburgh, Oxford, Warwick and London.
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ABOUT THE SHOW
amplified table development, 2017
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Holly Norrington and Teddy Lamb - Holly&Ted
Holly&Ted is a female and queer led company made up of performers and writers Holly Norrington and Teddy Lamb; they created it out of a desire to bring fun and accessible feminist theatre into the community. Their experience has now expanded to a wider and queerer understanding and interest in both the gender and theatre binary. POLARIS follows 3 different timelines; one in the cretaceous period about 2 dinosaurs from different cultures – a T-rex called Tracy and a Velociraptor named Val, another period set in 1997 about two best friends at school just trying to survive Year 10 and the other one in the future (2096) about a female astronaut leading a crew of distrusting males (some things just don’t change, do they?!). Their stories intertwine as the show conveys the way people (and dinosaurs) interact with each other. |
ABOUT THE SOUND DESIGN
NOTES ON SOUND DESIGN
For this production I designed a complete stage rig that includes a small PA and two amplified sound tables using contact microphones. These were developed after some exploratory days in mid 2017. H&T wanted to create as much of the sound for the show live as possible, so we decided on using amplified surfaces as they open a world of microscopic sounds (and are relatively free of feedback issues on the gig). Taped atmospheres have also been developed to locate the action in the past, the present and the space-age future. All cues are operated from stage by H&T using a wireless connection to an offstage digital mixer. The entire rig fits into two suitcases that travel easily in Holly's Ford Focus.
For this production I designed a complete stage rig that includes a small PA and two amplified sound tables using contact microphones. These were developed after some exploratory days in mid 2017. H&T wanted to create as much of the sound for the show live as possible, so we decided on using amplified surfaces as they open a world of microscopic sounds (and are relatively free of feedback issues on the gig). Taped atmospheres have also been developed to locate the action in the past, the present and the space-age future. All cues are operated from stage by H&T using a wireless connection to an offstage digital mixer. The entire rig fits into two suitcases that travel easily in Holly's Ford Focus.
July 2017 design sketch
first concept sketch July 2017
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Audio and Video
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Sound and Instrument design by Graeme Leak |
Amplified tables created for Holly&Ted's show POLARIS, played here by the maker Graeme Leak |