Macbeth (1971)
With Kaleidophon, Delia created sound for Ewan Hooper's production of Macbeth at the Greenwich Theatre, opening on the 18th February 1971.
For other versions, see Macbeth.
Apart from the sound effects, the most interesting track must surely be the Witches Dance.[1]
Contents
Reviews
“a production with some interesting effects of sound and vision for the supernatural and a semi-musical setting of the witch chants in contemporary idioms.”[2]
“The [characters] are of no period or place and the sounds around them are electronic and anonymous.”[3]
“They sing their cauldron recipe to a waltz song like the doctors in Wozzeck.”[4]
“A great night for the noises off... a night of whistling and whinnying and the calls of whippoorwills, of electronic music for the witches' chants, of echo chambers and metallic vibrations from the back projected ghosts.”[5]
“[The] production gets nearer the centre of the play than more ambitious rivals. Liberally employing what Henry Reed once dubbed “reinforced concrete music” and setting the action on a tilted promontory suspended above two jagged edge rostra, it evokes the right atmosphere of eerie ambivalence in which nothing is but what is not.”[6]
Track listing
The following list of tracks is composited from various sheets of Delia's notes, which indicate that the final master consisted of two tapes, of which Tape 1 was played on the left of the stage (see 51) and, presumably, Tape 2 on the right.
| No | Tape 1 | Tape 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thunder & witches[7] | |
| 2 | Cat[7] | |
| 3 | Frog[7] | |
| 4 | Dog[7] | |
| 5 | Battle[7] | |
| 6 | Witches[7] | |
| 7 | Drum[7] | |
| 8a | Witches disappear[7] | |
| 9 | Cat[7] | |
| 10 | Martletts[?][7] | |
| 11 | Witches[7] | |
| 12 | Martlets[?][7] | |
| 13 | Rec coming[?] thunder[7] | |
| 14 | ||
| 15 | Storm[7] | |
| 16 | ||
| 17 | ||
| 18 | ||
| 19 | ||
| 20 | ||
| 21 | ||
| 22 | ||
| 23 | ||
| 24 | ||
| 25 | ||
| 26 | ||
| 27 | ||
| 28 | ||
| 29 | ||
| 30 | ||
| 31 | ||
| 32 | ||
| 33 | ||
| 34 | ||
| 35 | ||
| 36 | ||
| 37 | ||
| 38 | ||
| 39a | 4th apparition approach[8] | |
| 40 | 4th apparition sounds[8] | |
| 41 | Horses arrive[8] | |
| 42 | Cat + Thunder[8] | |
| 43 | Birdsong England[8] | |
| 44 | ||
| 45 | Soft drum roll[8] | |
| 46 | Heart beat drum[8] | |
| 47 | Heart beat drum[8] | |
| 48 | Heart beat drum[8] | |
| 49 | Birnam Wood[8] | |
| 50 | Trumpets into battle[8] | |
| 51 | Battle stage left[8] | |
| 51a | Trumpet[8] | |
| 51b | Apparition/proc.type[8] | |
| 52 | Drum link/knives[8] | |
| 53 | Three familiars/Thunder[8] |
Papers
- DD135529: Letter dated 23 March 1971 from Ewan Hooper thanking Delia and Brian for their work on Macbeth sound.
- DD135629: Theatre programme: cover "First performance Feb. 18, 1971"
- DD135700: Theatre programme: cast and article by Ewan Hooper
- DD135745: Delia's handwritten notes: "1st sound - Change? (thicken thunder + echo)"
- DD135820: Delia's handwritten notes: "1. Cue missed?"
- DD135830: Zoom on top half of DD135820
- DD135854: Zoom on bottom half of DD135820: "horses earlier please"
- DD135914: Delia's handwritten notes: "1 - Thunder & witches"
- DD135928: Delia's handwritten notes: "CUT DRUMS where trumpet [in] battle / (23) Cat"
- DD135943: Delia's handwritten diagram of stage
- DD140011: Delia's handwritten timing diagram "1 - 2.25" "Annette £50 Effects"
- DD140025: Delia's handwritten notes listing tracks 39 to 53 on Tape 1 and Tape 2.
- DD140051: Delia's handwritten notes forTape 1 - Tape 2" "1. Thunder + Witch B.G."
- DD140104: Delia's handwritten notes: "35 .. 53" "Desk witches" (back of DD140051)
- DD140140: Typewritten cue sheet: "MACBETH / Sound / I.1. Sea breaking against cliffs"
- DD140152: Typewritten list of theatre personnel
- DD140239: Typewritten cue sheet, page 1: "MACBETH / ACT I / 1. Thunder in the distance - 22. / ACT II / 23. - 29. Banquo arriving noise"
- DD140302: Typewritten cue sheet, page 2: "30. Banquo arriving noise - 53. Witches' familiars together"
- DD140336: Delia's handwritten notes: "Sea alone" ...
- DD140402: Delia's handwritten notes: "P.3 Sea breaking & washing" ...
- DD140425: Delia's Handwritten notes: "4 time / [A] Primitive vocal - mysterious, smokey"
- DD140448: Delia's Handwritten notes: "4 time / [A] Organ - low reed - waw waw"
- DD140505: VCS3 dope sheet: "Macbeth - twangy crochets"
- DD140554: Newspaper clipping: "Lady Macbeth - or just Miss World?" by Herbert Kretzmer: a short and scathing review
- DD140622: Newspaper clipping: "London gets a new Lady Macbeth", published one week before the opening night
- DD140754: Newspaper clipping: the image of Hildegard Neil above the Fiddick review
- DD140901: Newspaper clipping: "MILTON SHULMAN at the new Macbeth" from the Evening Standard: a mostly negative review.
References
- ↑ DD135820: Delia's handwritten notes: "1. Cue missed?"
- ↑ DD140726: Review "Macbeth" by Peter Fiddick.
- ↑ B. A. Young in The Financial Times, quoted in Breege Brennan's thesis.
- ↑ DD140920: Review "Macbeth" by B. A. Young
- ↑ DD140834: Review "Enter Corporal Macbeth" by Peter Lewis of the Daily Mail on 18th February.
- ↑ DD140642: Review "Macbeth" by Michael Billington in The Times newspaper.
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 DD135914: Listing of tracks 1-15.
- ↑ 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 8.15 DD140025: Listing of tracks 39-53.
