In 2020, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s newly appointed Director, Carlos Acosta, embarked on a ‘discovery mission’ to learn about the company’s home city. Amazed by the stories, culture, and diversity from within in Birmingham, he commissioned a series of three new productions including a look at the unique sounds and history of Ozzy Osbourne and metal icons, Black Sabbath.

Comprising the work of three composers led by Christopher Austin and three choreographers, led by Pontus Lidberg, the ballet’s story was written by the award-winning Richard Thomas, lit by Lighting Designer KJ, and heard of over three acts through a Britannia Row Productions PA delivery.

‘This ballet certainly brought heavy metal fans to the ballet for the first time, including legendary Black Sabbath founder and guitarist, Tony Iommi, who had never been to a ballet before and now attends regularly,’ says Birmingham Royal Ballet Commercial Director, Paul James. ‘Ballet is always attracting new fans and new generations of audiences, but was exceptional. More than half of those who bought tickets for the shows had never booked to see the Birmingham Royal Ballet before.’

Working with Britannia Row Account Executive Tom Brown, the ballet was in for another first when it began working with a live sound provider of this nature. ‘The ballet aren’t used to using a touring audio company of our size but seemed to enjoy the experience, and we really enjoyed working with them,’ he says. ‘It was nice to collaborate with a delightful client who appreciated us being part of their team; we were made to feel instrumental in their delivery as the audio is such a critical aspect of this performance to get right.’

The first task was to find a composer who could work across the spectrum from rock to classical as the piece would be played live by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s orchestra, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Christopher Austin – who had worked on a ballet orchestration of the White Stripes – was the obvious choice. He and the creative team then spent hours mining the Black Sabbath back catalogue to select eight tracks and develop the lyrical ‘dance’ elements that would make this work as a contemporary ballet.

‘The three composers for this ballet gave us a wonderful new sound – a fusion of heavy metal and classical music,’ says Birmingham Royal Ballet Technical Director, Paul Grace. ‘We hired leading Sound Designer, Josh Blair, who has produced for the likes of Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Paul McCartney and Duran Duran, to build a sound design to match the complex requirements of this new score.’

Blair had specified Avid consoles and an L-Acoustics PA system for the project, the former his choice having become accustomed to the console in his studio production work. In monitor world, engineers Naomi Nash and Adam Taylor, who split duties on the tour legs, also opted for Avid S6L32D consoles.

‘The key concepts with the design were to keep the integrity and clarity of a live orchestral performance while also ensuring the weight and impact expected from Black Sabbath hits such as ‘War Pigs’ and ‘Nativity in Black’,’ says Britannia Row Engineering Dept’s Nick Boulton.

‘We specified L-Acoustics Kara II to tick the first box and added companion subwoofers – L-Acoustics SB18s – flown in a close coupled arrangement to achieve the second.’

‘The Kara provided a scalable platform to allow us to guarantee full coverage of the often quite complex topology of a variety of theatre spaces. This, along with the low-mid beam steering allowed consistent, high quality audio across the entire audience. We supplemented the flown system with a variety of fills including eight 5XT to use as spot fill or to add coverage to any area that wasn’t as “in your face” as the musical content required.

‘The design also had some additional low-end reinforcement with a cardioid arrangement of L-Acoustics KS28 twin 18-inch subs. This provided some VLF whilst being discreet enough to hide in the wings, and not distract from the ballet performance.’

‘We needed to work with a sound company with expert knowledge and the skills to support us,’ Paul Grace reflects. ‘From my first meeting with Tom Brown, I knew we were in the right hands. Tom guided us through this complex process, making sure we had the best possible outcome in terms of our creative, technical and financial demands. The touring technical team from Britannia Row provided an excellent service, and I hope Birmingham Royal Ballet and Britannia Row can work together again as we develop further ambitions for this unique show.’

Black Sabbath – The Ballet will continue its journey with a tour of the US in mid 2025.

More: www.britanniarow.com