British Theater Showcases Special Effects From The 18th Century
The Old Vic Theatre in Bristol, England, is spending this year celebrating its 250th anniversary. And they're doing something pretty dramatic. They're taking a cue from their predecessors, by reviving some of the antique ways of producing sound effects for the stage.
For this summer's production of King Lear, the theater is using technology from the 18th century to create effects for rain, wind and thunder. Using old-fashioned wooden wheels, wooden gutters and wooden balls, they can recreate the sounds of a thunderstorm.
It starts with wind. "It's like a wooden wheel and a handle on the side of it," says the theater's artistic director, Tom Morris.
"That's cutting-edge 18th-century sound technology," Morris says.
Next is rain.
It "bizarrely looks like a sort of enormous, ancient, upside-down airplane wheel made entirely of wood," he says.
But the show-stopper is way up in the rafters, above the stage. There's an attic space that looks like an ancient barn. A gutter system in the roof runs the length of the audience, about 25 yards across. It's made of a single plank on all three of its sides, built from 1766 pitch pine.
They call it the Thunder Run.
James Molineux, the head-of-stage at The Old Vic, is the man who gives the Thunder Run its rumble. He shows off a small wooden ball.
"It's made out of beech. It's about six inch in diameter," Molineux says. "And we have a medium-sized one, probably about three inch in diameter that we stagger. So we're staggering the release of these balls down the wooden chute."
Morris describes how they get a variety of sounds. "There are slats of wood which act as retainers for the balls. So as Jim lifts up one of the slats, the balls are released and they run down. And he can vary the shape of the sound by letting them all go at once or letting a few little ones go first, then some medium, then some big in order to create a different style of thunder."
Phil Dunster, an actor at The Old Vic, says having stagehands create these sounds helps personify the elements. "I can talk to the person that's up there in the attic dropping the thunder balls. And it just creates this incredible relationship with the elements and with the machines that are doing it," he says. "That was really special, that was a real treat."
And the final product. Here is what some of the effects would sound like with Dunster during the play.
If you're now sold on the idea of a trip to the U.K. to see all this in person, The Old Vic Theatre will mount its production of King Lear — complete with the Thunder Run — this summer.
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Transcript
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We are staying with the arts for this next story, but we are crossing an ocean and a couple of centuries. The Bristol Old Vic in Bristol, England, is marking its 250th anniversary this year and its status as one of the oldest continuously-operated theaters in the world. And to celebrate, its directors have decided to take a step back into time by reviving some of the antique sound effects. Artistic director Tom Morris shows us around.
TOM MORRIS: OK, so we're standing now on the stage of the Bristol Old Vic. And with us is some 18th century machinery. There's a wind machine, which basically - it's like a wooden wheel and a handle on the side of it. And if you turn it, it sounds like - it sounds like this.
(SOUNDBITE OF WIND MACHINE)
MORRIS: It's cutting edge 18th-century sound technology. There's another thing, which is a rain machine - actually, just make it work and then I'll describe it.
(SOUNDBITE OF RAIN MACHINE)
MORRIS: And that - bizarrely, that looks like a sort of enormous ancient upside-down airplane wheel made entirely of wood. And you revolve the wheel and it makes that noise.
MARTIN: Now, those are pretty cool. But the show-stopper is way up in the rafters.
MORRIS: So if we walk up these steps...
MARTIN: It's a wooden gutter system that runs back and forth some 25 yards across the building. It's something they call the Thunder Run.
MORRIS: So we've now just walked into this ancient attic space above the theater. And if you didn't know, you wouldn't dream you were above a theater. It looks like an ancient barn that you'd store wheat or something. We're now really close to this piece of machinery itself. It's 1776 pitch pine. It sounds like this if you hit it.
(SOUNDBITE OF THUMPING)
MORRIS: It's obviously built to be quite resonant.
MARTIN: The man who gives the Thunder Run its rumble is James Molineux. He's the head of stage at the Bristol Old Vic.
JAMES MOLINEUX: So this is a wooden ball. It's made out of beech. It's about 6 inches in diameter. And we have a medium-sized one, which is probably about 3 inch in diameter that we stagger. So we're staggering the release of these balls down the wooden chute.
MORRIS: And he can vary the shape of the sound by letting them all go at once or letting a few little ones go first, then some medium, then some big in order to create a different style of thunder.
(SOUNDBITE OF THUNDER RUN)
MARTIN: But to get the real feel for how this might have sounded to an 18th-century audience, we have to go back downstairs, back to the stage. And there we meet Phil Dunster, an actor at the Bristol Old Vic. He discovered an unexpected benefit to having actual people above him operating the Thunder Run.
PHIL DUNSTER: Well, one of the things we were talking about before is personifying the elements. I can talk to the person that's up there in the attic dropping the thunder balls. And it just - it creates this incredible relationship with the elements and with the machines that are doing it. And yeah, it is - it's - that is really special. That was a real treat, yeah.
MARTIN: And now to hear how they all work together, again, Tom Morris.
MORRIS: OK, good, so let's start with a little bit of wind...
(SOUNDBITE OF WIND MACHINE)
MORRIS: ...Then add in some rain.
(SOUNDBITE OF WIND AND RAIN MACHINES)
MORRIS: At some point, the thunder will go...
(SOUNDBITE OF THUNDER RUN, WIND AND RAIN MACHINES)
MORRIS: ...And then Phil.
DUNSTER: (As King Lear) Blow winds and crack your cheeks, rage, blow.
MARTIN: OK, so have we sold you on the idea of a trip to England to see all this in person? The Bristol Old Vic will mount its production of "King Lear," complete with a Thunder Run, this summer.
DUNSTER: (As King Lear) Crack nature's molds, all germens spill at once that makes ingrateful man.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: Our thanks to Rich Preston for recording all this.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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