HEAR Now Festival we presented a special “reading” of Act IV, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s MacBeth.
The performance, inspired in part by the recent Tony winning Broadway show “The Encounter,” featured a Soundman dummy “head” with 2 DPA mono omni-directional capsules. The co-directors took special care to create the actor’s staging around the binaural microphone head, which considered the proximity, intensity, and location arrangement. Sound design elements were added to the mix to compliment the “listening” experience.
The result was a combination of live theater-going and full-cast audio drama, though a highly audio immersive sense, it sounded to the listener as if they were sitting center stage, around the very cauldron containing the witches’ brew. In some ways similar to the Broadway show, while at the same time unique for the presentation of “audio fiction.” As this program was broadcast/streamed live during the performance, care had to also be taken to maintain the performance for the broadcast stream.
Cast:
MacBeth: Dion Graham
Witch 1: Julia Whelan
Witch 2: Samantha Desz
Witch 3/Lennox: P.J. Ochlan
Sound Design / Engineering: Ray Archie
