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INTO THE HOODS
July 2008
Sound Designer Rory Madden and LD Adam Bassett get jiggy on the 'urban fairy tale' that's packing 'em in at London's Novello theatre. Mark Cunningham reports...
Great music, astounding dance moves, exceptional set visuals and first class sound... all these qualities can be found at London’s Novello Theatre where Into The Hoods, a comedic ‘urban fairy tale’ twist on Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into The Woods, has been in residence since March after initial runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2006 and 2007.Produced by Phil McIntyre Entertainment and the ZooNation UK Dance Company, ambitiously directed and choreographed by Kate Prince, and designed by Chris Lowe, Into The Hoods is unlike any other show currently in the West End.
The larger-than-life characters — Rap-On-Zel, Spinderella, Fairy Gee, Lil’ Red, Prince, Wolf, Jaxx and the incomparable Landlord, among others — are central to a string of questionable dealings on the Ruff Endz Estate. Scene changes within the graffiti-adorned set are effected through the video medium, and in the absence of conventional acting, the storyline is conveyed by Josh Cohen’s pre-recorded narration and the eyeball-popping choreography.
The show is knitted together by a soundtrack that contains clips from no less than 183 tracks by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Massive Attack, Sam Cooke, Jay-Z, Chaka Khan and Dizzee Rascal.
Rory Madden is the sound designer charged with ensuring that these classics, and all other audio elements, are enjoyed to the max by the audience. It was his ‘repair’ work on the Rod Stewart musical Tonight’s The Night that first brought him to the attention of Phil McIntyre. Further work on Little Britain Live and the League Of Gentlemen tour earned even greater trust from the producer. Since then, Madden has designed sound systems for the lion’s share of McIntyre’s shows.
Around February, Madden was briefed that the show should be run with utmost simplicity, like a cinema, where a projectionist would arrive, put on a film reel, and return at the end. This meant that for Into The Hoods, everything — sound, lighting and video — would be synchronised by SMPTE time code. This involved much interaction between each department over a long planning period.
“It was made even longer when the director wanted to make cuts, which made things a little intense at times because the whole timeline was affected!” said Madden. “But since the programming was finalised, each show has been run entirely by the press of a single button and it works really well.”
Danilo ‘DJ’ Walde assembled the ‘cut and paste’ soundtrack and the result was mastered using such devices as Bass Wave under Madden’s supervision and with Al Ashford’s assistance. All audio and visual material is stored on multiple Doremi hard drives presided over by George Pakenham for instant play-out.
“As the clips were imported from various sources, from vinyl and CDs to MP3s, the challenge was to make everything sound big and fat in all the right places, and less chintzy in others,” said Madden.
The SMPTE time code is sent from a compact Yamaha LS9 16-channel digital console to the grandMA lighting desk, and on to the video control, keeping everything in line.
SYSTEM CHOICE
Madden’s choice for the main sound system is HK Audio’s Cohedra Compact line array. The sound designer discovered the system whilst working on shows in Germany. “I remembered hearing the system and thinking how incredibly powerful it was for size of the boxes.
“This show, with its diverse range of music, requires a lot of rich sub low end but there’s a weight-loading issue at the Novello, with only 250kg allowed per point, so I had to be careful about which boxes I used. I immediately thought back to that German experience and realised that HK had just the right power-to-weight ratio solution. I needed low end wherever I could stick it and, for me, this was the only thing that ticked all the criteria.”
Powered by Lab.gruppen FP 10000Q amplifiers, the main system is configured in left-centre-right hangs, with 12 Cohedra Compact CDR 108C speakers in the left and right arrays, and a centre array of six CDR 210F subs. There is a cluster of two HK ConTour CTA 208 mid-highs and three CT 118 subs in each front balcony box, and these are replicated and in left/right ground stack formations at the sides of the stage (with two CT 118s per side).
Madden: “We’ve also got 12 small CT 108 delay speakers all around the room because the balcony seats extend really high and even coverage, without resorting to high volume levels, is especially important for this show.”
Also deployed are two self-powered side fill systems for performer monitoring — namely, a CT 115 15" cabinet on top of a CTA 118 sub, per side.
“We’re using HK’s filter-based FIRNET controller on this rig,” advised Madden. “I used SMAART for time alignment, although I mostly relied on my ears and sat in every seat, painstakingly adjusting the system until I was satisfied.
“These programs are great at getting you in the ballpark, but you can’t beat a good pair of ears!”
VIDEO & LIGHTING
With the enabling equipment supplied by XL Video, the moving imagery aspects of the production are integral to the staging and choreography — designed to become an intuitive device for the audience, rather than an added effect.
XL has supplied a Barco FLM HD18 projector with a short throw lens and custom rigging. Hanging just behind the proscenium, the unit covers the side legs and entire upstage back wall. At front of house, there is also a Barco CLM projector, hanging on a balcony front bar, and covering front cloths and proscenium arch, as well as the performers.
The seemingly omnipresent Richard Turner designed the video and show control systems, while the projection content features animation by Ikenna Mokwe and Maxwell Oginni.
The video has a fundamental influence over key features of the lighting design by Adam Bassett.
Also known for his association with Patrick Woodroffe, Bassett explained that one of his biggest challenges was achieving the best balance between lighting the performance and maintaining the clarity of the video.
He said: “The projected video imagery painted a predominately white set with an ever-changing and interactive virtual space. The surface on which the projection played [the set’s back wall] effectively became my biggest challenge throughout the show as at no time could light be allowed to spill, bounce or otherwise detract from the projected image. Doing so would very quickly destroy the entire visual.
“It was rarely possible to light a scene with sufficient intensity that bounce from the floor or performers would never have adverse effect.”
In order to achieve control of the light that would effect the performance space, the rig was designed to include several ideas.
Said Bassett: “Firstly, the workhorse of the overhead rig was five Vari*Lite VL3500 shuttering profiles that enabled me to create a very defined and controlled wash, allowing the light to be shuttered clean off any surface of the set. Next up was a bundle of ETC Source Fours and scrollers that gave a second level of over head wash but specifically focused to be able to isolate different areas of the stage.
“Side light became the next most important aspect of the rig — not just because of the significant dance element of this show but also because it gave the ability to get a lot of controllable light into the space that could be focused clear of the back projection surface and at the same time would not bounce off the floor.”
The side lighting rig consists of 10 ballet booms each with a Martin MAC 300, four Source Four Profiles, a Wybron scroller and PAR with doors.
Use of colour was Bassett’s next design principle, with each character having his/her own colour identity on stage — Spinderella: Yellow, Jazz: Green, Wolf: Blue, Prince: Orange, Lil’ Red: Red, etc.
“This principle was interlaced into the video design and it was important for me that this extended to the lighting,” commented Bassett.
“Furthermore, I wanted the lighting and video to feel connected and the result of a collaboration rather than two stand alone elements to the show, so making the lighting an extension of the video and vice versa was something that [video director] Felix Harrison and I worked hard to achieve from day one.
“I needed the rig to have significant power to deliver lots of saturated colour in a controlled way but balanced to a point where I was still able to catch those all important faces and ensure the whole image did not appear flat which could have easily been the case when using a very monochromatic approach.
“The back bone of the saturated colour was delivered by an overhead wash of 12 2kW Fresnels and a bundle of VL2000 Wash units, while on the sides the MAC 300s and scrollers came into play. All of this, and in particular the overhead washes, had to be focused very carefully to avoid the dreaded bounce and spill on the set.”
Another key part of the design that Bassett was keen to perfect was the use of follow spots as key light. “The stage action was fast with many sections demanding focus to be directed to a principal. Follow spots became an obvious requirement but ensuring a position and angle whereby they provided front light but did not spill on the screen was a challenge.
“With assistance from the venue, high side/front positions were blocked out of auditorium and became home to two 1200W beam light projectors. These provided a fantastic quality of light that was easily moulded into stage states and became a soft and dynamic way of applying direct front light. Overall, I aimed to merge typical dance lighting techniques with a constant awareness of the narrative and thus the importance for seeing faces and facial expression.”
ALPHA MALE
Also in the lighting plot are a number of Clay Paky Alpha 1200W Profiles which, with their adaptable shuttering system and top quality optics, provides the main source of lighting to the set itself.
Being black and white, the set takes light and colour extremely well, and having a complement of Alphas made it possible for Bassett to tie in the non-projected surfaces with the video throughout the show.
“One of the key trademarks of the performance is its pace and accuracy of change.” said Bassett. “This was largely led by the musical arrangement which, using a time code trigger, was perfectly followed by lighting and video. I recall many moments of modifying a cue position by several tenths of a second and actually noticing the difference!”
Pre-programming off-line using a WYSIWYG system enabled the team to have a strong framework of content ready before the week-long technical rehearsals commenced ahead of the first preview on March 14. The show was programmed on a grandMA console which receives SMPTE time code from the audio track.
The lighting spec was supplied by PRG Europe. Bassett worked in conjunction with assistant LD Miriam Evans, programmer David Miller and production electrician Tom Law.
Other key personnel include production managers Damian Partigon and Andy Gibb, company stage manager Sheena Linden, technical stage manager Robert Hayden, and costume designer Chloe Richardson.
TPi left the Novello Theatre having experienced the unexpected. If one peels back the outer layer provided by soul and hip-hop’s greatest hits, perhaps inside there’s a deeper, more subtle message that there’s more to the ‘hoodie’ than the media-generated stereotype. What I do know is that for the next few days, I couldn’t stop talking like Ali G.
TPi
Photography by Bill Cooper,
Alfie Hitchcock & Mark Cunningham
With special thanks to Adam Bassett
