When Waldo’s Circus of Magic & Terror arrived at The Dome in Brighton recently, it was the final of 29 performances that had begun at the Bristol Old Vic in March before continuing through The Lowry Salford Quays, the Theatre Royal Plymouth, MAST Mayflower Studios in Southampton and Lighthouse Poole in May.
Presented by circus company Extraordinary Bodies and co-produced with Bristol Old Vic and Theatre Royal Plymouth, it is a spectacular theatrical production set in a travelling circus touring Germany in the unrest of 1933, and is innovative in its inclusiveness and diversity, with regard to both cast and audience.
With Hitler’s rise to power frequently impacting and shaping the story of its characters, the production encountered its own demons, when the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns disrupted its plans.
‘The project was going to be a grand production with a live band performance in a big circus tent that would tour the UK,’ recounts seasoned location soundman Andy Rose, who designed the show’s sound. ‘The project was put on hold due to the pandemic and was restarted about a year ago but by then the theatre business had taken a significant hit and funding was limited. Nonetheless, Extraordinary Bodies wanted to proceed with a scaled-down version of the show.’
With a script authored by Hattie Naylor and Jamie Beddard, it fell to Charles Hazlewood to compose the music for Waldo’s Circus of Magic & Terror. ‘When I write a score for a piece of theatre, I write for the performers in the rehearsal room and borrow from each and any, and all musical worlds,’ he states in the show program. ‘For Waldo’s Circus of Magic & Terror, where Hattie and Jamie had written very beautiful, lyrical prose, I thought how about if we created a kind of punk circus that also borrowed from new romanticism, disco and Schubert? There is no incongruity about having a punk aria followed by elements of a Schubert quartet.’
Rose has had the pleasure of an enduring professional partnership with Hazlewood for more than 25 years, working with the highly commended British conductor on numerous recordings and concerts of international acclaim.
When Waldo’s Circus of Magic & Terror hit the stage post lockdown, it did so with a cast of 11 led by circus master Waldo (Gary Robson) plus an ‘embedded’ interpreter, who provided BSL signing from a wheelchair that was part of the show’s choreography. Alongside the BSL signing, the production validated its ‘inclusive’ credentials through the use of audio description and surtitles throughout.
The performers were supported by a three-piece band performing Hazlewood’s score on elevated platforms above the main action on the set. The band comprised percussionist and composer Harriet Riley, who made extensive use of a Wernick Xylosynth; guitarist Dave Johns, the show’s musical director; and drummer Jonny Leitch, who was also part of the cast and whose transitions between his stage drum kit and aerial work were among the show’s visual highlights.
When discussing the audio set-up, there was no ambiguity about the console Rose would be using for the show. ‘A lot of the major projects I’ve done, such as the Olympics and various productions in the Middle East, always involved DiGiCo,’ he says. ‘I know the system could do what I wanted it to, and DiGiCo’s technical back-up, which is always available on the other end of a phone, is invaluable.’
When it came to selecting a console, Rose had no hesitation in requesting Stage Sound Services provide a DiGiCo SD10T digital mixing console and SD-Rack to accommodate the song/dialogue balance.
The SD10T desk was selected for its advanced features, particularly the Control Group Cues tool, which provides an easy and visual method of programming channel Control Group membership per cue. ‘The Theatre – or “T” – in SD10T indicates the facilities it has above a standard desk,’ continues Rose, who had configured the console prior to the production starting. ‘To facilitate the show’s singing and dialogue channels, I had the desk split into two sections. The singing channels were set up with a recall cue, allowing for the balance and FX sends to be set for each song. The dialogue, on the other hand, was preset manually and crossfaded via control groups at the end of each song. I think it’s a slightly unusual way of doing it, but it eliminates the need to change layers, streamlining the entire show.’
With the SD-Rack, Rose had the required 30 outputs, including 16 for the musician’s individual IEM mixes, and praises the flexibility of its matrix, which enabled him to provide different feeds in different theatres when required.
Rose acknowledges that, for this show, he knew he would not have the dedicated technical backup normally expected on a big production, and is grateful for the assistance he received from DiGiCo’s Dan Page, who had visited Rose and demonstrated DiGiCo’s Theatre extension to the standard SD software.
‘He’s been a great help,’ Rose confirms. ‘To be able to phone someone like that when you’re in a tight situation is invaluable and fantastic. He really got things going, and we moved ahead quickly with his expertise.’
Rose explains that Hazlewood likes to have his music ‘fairly loud and punchy to get the voice above the music’. This preference played its part in shaping Rose’s workflow, as he needed to ensure the music did not overpower the vocals, and that the balance between the two was right.
‘I’m very particular about compression and how things are routed to subgroups,’ he says. ‘I prefer sending reverbs to a delay because it adds a richness and fatness that you don’t get when you send straight to reverb. Some people commented on how I set up the desk. Rupert [de Renzy-Martin, Sound No1 for Waldo’s Circus of Magic & Terror] came onboard quite late, so we were already in rehearsals when he joined us. I set up the voices – luckily there were less than 12 people singing, and split them into two sides of the desk, one for singing and the other for dialogue. Some people said this was unusual, but I’ve always done it for TV or live cinema. This way, when someone is singing and then starts talking, it’s very easy to manage. You can reset and recall the singing when you do your next music cue.’
Bringing an unusually broad range of experience – including circus work – to the production, it was de Renzy-Martin’s first experience using a DiGiCo product. ‘I’ve always been eager to learn and gain hands-on experience with their consoles,’ he says. ‘From the moment I began using the SD10, I was thoroughly impressed by its exceptional sound quality, remarkable versatility, and impressive range of functions. The ability to route any signal to any destination is insanely powerful.’
Despite having only two weeks of rehearsals left before the show’s opening, de Renzy-Martin was able to quickly learn how to operate the DiGiCo console thanks to the exceptional support of the team, particularly Rose, who proved to be an invaluable source of information and knowledge. By the time of the Brighton show, he was at ease with the console and its theatre software.
‘Both Andy and Dan [Page] played a crucial role in providing extensive support and ensuring that I was fully comfortable using the console for the coming shows,’ he says. ‘As we got to close to the end of the tour, I’m delighted to report that the console is performing exceedingly well. The “T” function has been an indispensable asset, particularly during one of the shows where one of the actors was unable to perform so we had someone else stand in. The Players function on the software proved to be remarkably helpful in that scenario.’
By using a VCA to control the dialogue faders and a singing control group, Rose was able to set the channel gain and levels for the next singing performance in advance. This made it very easy for the operator, who had three banks of faders to choose from, with one set for sub mixing and FX, all on one layer.
‘This approach was particularly helpful when following a script and doing music balance recalls as it made it easy to stay organised and not get lost in the script or searching for faders,’ Rose says.
In addition, Rose also praises the selective storage feature in the DiGiCo’s T software, particularly for auto update purposes. ‘It was really useful because rather than updating everything on the desk you only really want to auto update various bits of the desk like compression, which can save time and prevent unnecessary changes. You can use it without it, but it made things really quick and easy to update and see where you are.
‘I am incredibly grateful for Dan’s involvement in the project, as he has been absolutely fantastic,’ he adds. ‘His vast knowledge as well as the seamless performance of the SD10T and SD-Rack made the whole process incredibly easy. The show has had an excellent run and has been praised as “moving and thought-provoking” by reviewers.’
Over the course of its run, Waldo’s Circus of Magic and Terror offered audiences unique artistic vision, supported by diverse casting, and aggressive use of audio and music technology that combined to raise professional inclusive theatre production to new heights.
See also:
Andrew Bruce: The Musical
(The development of DiGiCo's theatre mixing software)
