“General” Front & Back - the Royal Exchange Theatre

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Wednesday 13th January 1999 8.30 am Arrive bleary-eyed as we’ve spent three days fitting up and doing technical rehearsals for Martin Yesterday [a new play by Brad Fraser]. We are using a new computerised matrix, delay, panning system on this show for the first time. It sounds very complicated but it allows us to move sound all round the theatre. We were here until 11.45pm last night, programming the system. Ian, my deputy, disappears into the auditorium to work on re-plotting the effects for the Martin Yesterday roller coaster scene. I e-mail the suppliers of our system asking for a software update. We are the first theatre in the UK to use the system so they take a keen interest in our ideas. I download yesterday’s rehearsal notes for Peer Gynt. 9.00 am Coffee in the Green Room. 9.15 am Feeling wide awake I check that everything’s okay in the auditorium, then back to our studio for some Peer Gynt recording. 10.15 am Interrupted by a phone call about Animal Crackers which opens in the West End in March. It is always difficult transferring a Royal Exchange show to a proscenium arch theatre - sound effects need rerecording and the sound rig must be re-designed. At the Exchange we can place sound above, below, in front of or behind the audience, and either inside or outside the theatre module, giving the audience an experience which they cannot get in any other theatre. I am using fewer speakers for A Day in the Life of the Sound Department Animal Crackers in London, but have to convince the producers that all the equipment is needed. 10.30 am Back to the Peer Gynt storm sequence. Phone rings again: an audience member with a query about music from our December show, Hindle Wakes. Schematic of sound layout for Peer Gynt 11.15 am The storm sequence is coming along well. I’m using five different wind recordings, which will be panned all round the auditorium. The sounds are recorded into a sampler, which enables me to loop them, making them continuous. I slow some sounds down and add reverb to others. I change the pitch of a From wedding dance music to the noise of a storm at sea, sound plays a crucial part in creating the many, varied settings of the play. With less than a month before opening night, Steve Brown, the theatre’s Head of Sound, works on his sound design for Peer Gynt while overseeing the opening of a new play and dealing with a West End transfer. whistling wind effect to make it sound more haunting. A few years ago this would have taken a full day, but with new technology it only takes a few hours. 11.30 am Phone goes again. The London producers want a list of music used in Animal Crackers a.s.a.p. Help!! 11.40 am Since we moved back into the Royal Exchange building after the bomb we haven’t had the chance to unpack all our boxes. I know that in one box there’s a computer disk with all the Animal Crackers information. But which box? 12.30 pm Find the disk at last and fax the information. 12.45 pm Grab a sandwich. 1.00 pm The Peer Gynt production meeting, a weekly event when all the production departments, designer and director get together and discuss the show. Any show is a huge team effort and these meetings are very important. I ask where on stage the television and video are located in the massage parlour scene so that I can decide how to run cables to them. I also find out what musical instruments are being used in the wedding scene - I’ll need to arrange microphones. I fix a time to play the director some of the effects I have recorded. 2.00 pm Eat sandwich and grab another cup of coffee. 2.10 pm Receive the software update via e-mail. 2.20 pm Back to Peer Gynt. Hunting in our extensive sound library for recordings of ships’ sails, rigging and creaks, I find some excellent recordings which I sample, edit and add to my wind effects. This sound sequence is beginning to take shape. I think about ways to create the sound of a ship hitting rocks and sinking which (for obvious reasons!) has to be created from scratch. 3.30 pm Start work on Peer’s drowning sequence and search for underwater recordings. Find some very good recordings of air bubbles and I experiment with de-tuning and stretching them. The end effect is almost exactly what I’m looking for. 5.00 pm A friend from the National Theatre phones with a query about music from Hindle Wakes. 5.30 pm Catch up with Ian to discuss the day so far. Last night’s programming only needed minor changes. 7.30 pm Watch the preview performance of Martin Yesterday begin and then back to the studio to record bottle smashes for Peer Gynt. Make a few minor changes to the day’s recordings. I keep one ear to the show relay, all seems well. 9.45 pm The show ends and I check with Ian that all went okay. We plan tomorrow’s work. 10.30 pm Go home - at last!
DESIGN Friday 8 January Can the television table be low enough for actors to make eye-contact over the top when seated? Monday 11 January Please note that as the madhouse/cage is wheeled on, members of the company will be hanging off the roof bars. Please discuss with Mr Joseph Murray how the Blair/Thatcher costume will work and how he will hang himself. SOUND Friday 8 January Begriffenfeldt’s first two lines will be spoken from off-stage at Door 3 and will need to be on microphone. Monday 11 January Can we have a tape of wind/storm noises to play in rehearsals? PROPS Thursday 7 January Greenclad’s baby will bring on a can of lager (opened offstage). Rehearsal Notes Creating the world of the play is a team effort, with different departments working on sound, lighting, set, props and costumes. Efficient communication between departments is therefore vital. At the end of each day the deputy stage manager will compile rehearsal notes which are distributed via the theatre’s computer network. The notes give details of all decisions which have been made during the day’s rehearsals as well as listing additional props, actors’ queries about costumes, and requests for research materials. Here are a few examples: Wednesday 13 January Following the Production Meeting it has been decided to use a pre-broken bottle instead of a sugar-glass one. LX (LIGHTING) Tuesday 5 January We need a practical socket for the iron at Door 2. Thursday 7 January Please could we have some more light in the area between the pillars in the Studio? PRODUCTION Monday 11 January Please confirm how far the madhouse/cage comes onstage. Wednesday 13 January Can the truck cab doors be opened while it is parked in aisle 7 and someone gets out? WARDROBE Wednesday 6 January Can we have a tail in rehearsal please? David is concerned that the tails should be such that actors can sit down comfortably. Tuesday 12 January Can there be a pocket in the Button Moulder’s coat to hold the ladle and folded papers? STAGE MANAGEMENT Thursday 7 January Please get a copy of the video I Know What You Did Last Summer for Mark Bruce. Friday 8 January Please get hold of a Church of Scientology form - they give you one to fill in when you go in to ask for information. Exchange Education - Peer Gynt Resource Pack. Written by Kim Greengrass ©1999 The Deputy Stage Manager watches rehearsals, making a note of all the blocking (actors’ moves). She has rehearsal props, including wigs, ready for when the actors need them.
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Page 7: Designer Simon Higlett believes tha
Page 11 and 12: Henrik Ibsen Peer & Åase from the

“General” Front & Back - the Royal Exchange Theatre

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