Country Teamwork - Stage Directions Magazine

Sound Design|By Bryan ReesmanPirates InPromenadeLeft to right: Ryan Bourque, ShawnPfautsch, Zeke Sulkes, Doug Pawlik,Matt Kahler in the Hypocrites Theater2011 production of Pirates of PenzanceAll photography by Paul MetreyeonPersonal accompaniment, promenade-style staging and new arrangements allfactored into the sound for The Hypocrites’ unconventional Pirates of Penzance.Considering how many revivals of classic theatretake place daily, modern producers and directorsneed to find new ways to reinvigorate thematerial, often for a newer or younger audience. TheChicago-based Hypocrites theatre group certainly didthat with their recent production of the famed Gilbertand Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance, performingit promenade style in a small theatre with rovingperformers and a condensed running time. ChicagoTribune theatre critic Chris Jones said of the show in hisblog: “This is not your father’s Gilbert and Sullivan. TheHypocrites’ 80-minute, promenade-style ‘Pirates’ nonethelessis wholly true to the topsy-turvy spirit of W.S.Gilbert and it features some spectacularly audaciousarrangements of the melodic song stylings of ArthurSullivan, here vivaciously rendered on everything fromguitars to banjos to, memorably, a surprisingly tunefulsaw.”ONLINE BONUSFor more from Mikhail Fikselon the perils of over-miking,visit:www.stage-directions.com/piratesThe production even won over a surprising convert,its own sound designer Mikhail Fiksel, who himself wasnot a big Gilbert and Sullivan fan but learned to appreciatetheir artistry through the Hypocrites’ reimaginingof the show. Fiksel has worked with director/Hypocritesfounder Sean Graney on other shows at the off-Loopspace in Chicago, including Angels In America, Oedipusand Frankenstein. And he learned plenty of new trickshere.Stage Directions: So with a promenade style show,the audience is standing and the musicians are generallyplaying acoustic and are not miked?Mikhail Fiksel: Promenade specifically—at least theway Sean treats it—is like walking into a space wherethere’s no assigned seating, but there are plenty ofsurfaces; tables and lots of benches. He seems to be abig fan of those circular picnic tables that you see atrest stops. The action takes place anywhere around thespace, so the actors just move around the space and theaudience follows them. If an actor needs to be in a spacethat an audience member is occupying—like they’re sittingon a bench where they need to be standing—theywill literally point to that person and essentially askthem to move. When we did Oedipus in ‘08, that did havesome live music. There were a few pre-recorded songs inthere and there was an actress who would sing along tothem. We designated one area that was like a mini-stagewhere there was a microphone, one of those imitationElvis Mics, the Shure 55SH Series II, and she sang into it.32 March 2011 • www.stage-directions.com