Andromache

I was approached by the artistic director of Necessary Angel to work on this production of Andromache, a contemporary adaptation of Racine’s 17th century play by Scottish director Graham McLaren, known for his radical interpretations of the classics. I cautioned them that my practice sits very much outside the theatrical tradition, but, intrigued by a review of one of my projects, they were determined to see how my particular sound art sensibilities might translate to a live production.

I designed a bespoke 16.4 channel sound system for the in-the-round configuration of the Theatre Centre in Toronto and responded to the actors’ performances and to the set design by creating a kind of composed, site-specific sound installation within which the play took place.

Because the director wanted more or less continuous sound, I needed to find sounds that would have a strong presence, yet not interfere with the actors’ voices. At the time, I was becoming interested in using only very high and very low frequencies of sound, with nothing in the mid-range; this seemed an ideal starting point, since the human voice occupies the middle of the frequency range. Afterwards, I continued to explore the use of high and low frequencies in a site-specific gallery context through a series of installations in London (see Installation no 1 for high and low frequencies, Installation no 2 and Installation no 3). This series will continue to develop.

I was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Sound Design and Composition. Christine Horne (see above) was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female in a Principal Role.