The Theatre Question Amnesty Thread

[Jon]

This is going to sound dumb but I assume the mics they use for theatre productions are different to the ones used for TV shows which are usually lapel.

[properjob]

Sept 7, 2021 8:43:02 GMT Stephen said:

I went to see the tour of Waitress last night in Wimbledon. It was great however there were a few sound issues with the mics. I noticed that all of the cast including the leads only had one mic on the side of their face coming to their mouth. Isn’t it common practice (at least for lead roles) to have two less visible mics from their forehead?

I was wondering if on tour the theatre supplies the mics. It wouldn’t matter other than the mics were cutting out at times and are also more visible when attached to the side of a face! Maybe a budget thing with the less visible mics costing much more?

The mics would be provided by the tour not the host theatre. For a musical I would expect nearly every part of the sound system to be supplied by and travel with the tour.

[properjob]

Sept 7, 2021 9:41:00 GMT firefingers said:

Sept 7, 2021 9:29:06 GMT alece10 said:

Really dumb question and I should know the answer but why does the safety curtain at a theatre only come down during the interval? Why not before the show starts?

You wouldn't want it preshow, as it would ruin the aesthetic of those who happened to be walking in. Instead of the show's front cloth or opening set, stuff that is carefully created to set an impression of the show (and these days, look good on social media), you'd have a safety curtain.  

Most theatres legally have to "show the iron" to the audience at every show to prove it is working, and this can be done at any point from house open to house clear. The interval makes sense as everyone knows what the show is about by then, and preshow and postshow pics seems far more common than interval ones. Also having it in in the interval can make it safer for those working on stage to set for Act 2, so they or the scenery and props can't escape into the stalls or orchestra pit. 

Fun safety curtain fact, many of them still have asbestos as their insulator. 

Also as a side effect of it being smoke tight and substantial enough to be fire proof it is also light tight and pretty sound proof so having it down in the interval means you can turn on all the working light on the stage and shout up to the fly floor etc which makes big interval changes easier.

If you see a show on tour on its last night in a venue the safety curtain might well get dropped pretty quickly at the end of the show so the set can start being dismantled before the audience has even left the auditorium.

It is a bit of a weird regulation which effectively makes the audience fire inspectors but it is effective as the safety curtains all work and aren't chained up to stop them dropping everytime the fire alarm is tested. I don't think that is always the case in other countries where they might require workong safety curtains in the regulations but don't make the theatre prove it works every show.

[SuperTrooper]

Sept 7, 2021 12:41:55 GMT marob said:

It’s probably already been addressed in the previous 40+ pages but, having been to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane last week to see Frozen, why is it not the Theatre Royal Catherine Street? I know it’s been rebuilt, presumably the original entrance was on Drury Lane, so why change it?

The original theatre was on Drury Lane, basically where the stage is now.

The first theatre was smaller than the stage is currently. It's grown over the years!

[firefingers]

A fair few questions about sound here that I'll try and answer:



First is "why put a mic where". It's basically a question of loudness and aesthetic. The closer you put a mic to the sound source (eg a mouth) the louder you can make that microphone before you get feedback. Also remember that a microphone picks up all noise, it doesn't know what you want to amplify, so if you have a loud band or a lot of people, you might opt to go for mics at the corner of the mouth (called boom mics) compared to mics mounted on the forehead or poking out just over the ear. Having a boom mic also helps if characters wear hats as a hairline mic may well get smothered. But booms are a lot more on show and requires a greater suspension of disbelief, so they tend to only be used on shows that really justify them. I suspect Steve that the lead performers' mic rigs on Waitress do have two heads, but one will be a say a DPA 4066 and the other a 6061, meaning the back up is a lot smaller (and cheated behind the main mic capsule) to help with the aesthetic. Price wise top end booms are more expensive than top end hairlines, because the metal frame that sits over the ears is well over £100. But an expensive mic through a badly set up/or low end sound system will sound worse compared to a cheeper mic well treated. 

The mics cutting out or missing the start of a line is very common, particularly early in a show's life. What most don't realise is that you only switch on the microphone(s) you need at that moment. If you didn't, you'd get a load of background noise, and the soundwave distorts so it sounds thin and weird (imagine if you have 16 ears spread randomly over a stage, the sound reaches them all at slightly different times, creating a sonic mess). So the Sound Number One, or whoever on the team is mixing that night, is basically raising and dropping the levels of microphones to keep everything tidy, clean and clear. But this does mean that when you've only had a few goes at it you miss a few starts or clip an end when you think a line is done but isn't. Understudies with different timing, and diversions from the script by actors can also play a part, but usually it is just an operator learning. See here for a video of line mixing a musical (not my vid): 

Every musical of any decent scale will tour their own radio mics, along with PA, sound desk, band mics, sound effect playback machines and a sound team for mixing, fitting microphones, tuning the PA etc. 

Jon, the microphones are ostensibly the same as the lapel mics you see on TV shows, with the only difference usually being the colour (as rarely will a jet black line along someones neck blend well). So why do TV presenters go for wearing it on the chest, and theatre on the head? Well, the chest is convenient, easy to attach, kept out of the way, and the transmitter can be chucked in a jacket pocket and the presenter live in seconds. But the chest is a) quite far from the mouth, b) when someone turns their head the sound levels change, and c) you get a lot of muddy bass and a lot less top end. When transmitting for broadcast this doesn't matter as they can put extreme compression and EQ to fix it but such things on a live PA would result in feedback. If you mount on a boom or on the hairline, the distance stays the same throughout the show, you get no chest resonance, and you have time to fit the transmitter under costumes or into wigs which means costumes can be changed midshow without it affecting the microphone. 





Oh, and a note on irons. My favourite i've encounted through touring is the Kings, Southsea which proclaims the theatre to have "computer lighting" and "laser sound". I did enquire what the latter actually meant, nobody seemed to know. 

[sfsusan]

Sept 7, 2021 22:08:40 GMT firefingers said:

But the chest is a) quite far from the mouth, b) when someone turns their head the sound levels change,

This is very interesting because I happened to see b) in action last night. I saw Jay Rayner and Jo Brand at the Apollo Theatre, and Rayner must have had a chest mic because when he turned his head to his right, he became inaudible. Luckily, he didn't do it too often, but it was definitely noticeable. And I don't remember ever noticing theater sound before.

[Jon]

Sept 7, 2021 22:08:40 GMT firefingers said:

Jon, the microphones are ostensibly the same as the lapel mics you see on TV shows, with the only difference usually being the colour (as rarely will a jet black line along someones neck blend well). So why do TV presenters go for wearing it on the chest, and theatre on the head? Well, the chest is convenient, easy to attach, kept out of the way, and the transmitter can be chucked in a jacket pocket and the presenter live in seconds. But the chest is a) quite far from the mouth, b) when someone turns their head the sound levels change, and c) you get a lot of muddy bass and a lot less top end. When transmitting for broadcast this doesn't matter as they can put extreme compression and EQ to fix it but such things on a live PA would result in feedback. If you mount on a boom or on the hairline, the distance stays the same throughout the show, you get no chest resonance, and you have time to fit the transmitter under costumes or into wigs which means costumes can be changed midshow without it affecting the microphone. 

The Wheel, the BBC One gameshow presented by Michael McIntyre has both head mics and lapel mics but the head mics are only used by Michael and the celebrities while the contestants have lapel mics which I thought was weird but I wonder if that's due to the studio setup rather than a stylistic choice. 

[Deleted]

Sept 7, 2021 22:08:40 GMT firefingers said:

Kings, Southsea which proclaims the theatre to have "computer lighting" and "laser sound". I did enquire what the latter actually meant, nobody seemed to know. 

My first thought for "laser sound" is "our orchestra is actually a CD player".

[TallPaul]

This may be another one for you firefingers, so I apologise if you feel like you're the only one currently doing any work.

Touring the Lawrence Batley Theatre yesterday, our quide said something along the lines of the auditorium having an acoustic rating of 96. (She may have used a percentage.) If that's out of 100, I presume it must be very good, but what does it mean in layman's terms?

[Jon]

I went to see The Mirror and the Light the other day and couldn't work out how they did the

SPOILER: Click to show

head of Cromwell being cut off

can anyone explain how it's done?

[danb]

They just have a different Cromwell every night…people are crying out to be on the stage. I believe that they are working through the male cast of TOWIE before starting on the Love Island lot. They have to share the wig though.

[Deleted]

Oct 11, 2021 13:27:58 GMT danb said:

They just have a different Cromwell every night…people are crying out to be on the stage. I believe that they are working through the male cast of TOWIE before starting on the Love Island lot. They have to share the wig though.

Reminds me of Jack Vance's Showboat World, in which the roaming theatrical companies of the showboats bring added verisimilitude to performances of their tragedies by having a death scene involve a real death, should circumstances allow them to get hold of a suitable criminal to play the necessary role.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - click to view}It doesn't work out too well for one of the boats when it turns out the criminal they'd bought from the captain of a rival showboat was the warlord of the town where they were giving the performance. Fortunately the boats are well equipped for hasty getaways.

[alece10]

What's the difference between a producer and an associate producer please?

[danb]

What is an associate producer?

An associate producer is a below-the-line producer that works under the supervision of another producer. They are often referred to as the ‘AP.’ They assist another producer in putting a film or television episode together. Strong writing and editing skills are necessary.



Stolen from Google

[tmesis]

A general question about microphones in plays rather than musicals. Obviously actors always wear them in musicals (exception being at places like The Union) but at places like the National Theatre for 'straight' plays it seems to be more or less universal; may be understandable in The Olivier and Lyttelton but I think also most of the time in The Dorfman. I'm sure 20 or so years ago this was not the case even in The Olivier - I'm sure it wasn't the case even 10 years ago so when did this start to happen? It also seems to be prevalent at larger small theatres (if you see what I mean) like Hampstead and the Almeida.

[marob]

I saw a play last week in the studio space of a local theatre and the actors were mic’ed there. It’s not about the size of the theatre, but to enable them to provide headsets to people who are hard of hearing to make the place more accessible. That’s probably why you notice it more in subsidised venues, along with things like captioning, audio description, or relaxed performances.

[alece10]

Oct 11, 2021 20:03:13 GMT danb said:

What is an associate producer?

An associate producer is a below-the-line producer that works under the supervision of another producer. They are often referred to as the ‘AP.’ They assist another producer in putting a film or television episode together. Strong writing and editing skills are necessary.



Stolen from Google

Thank you. So a "gofer" in other words?

[sfsusan]

Oct 11, 2021 12:47:44 GMT Jon said:

can anyone explain how it's done?

I don't know for sure, but assumed it was some variation on 

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - click to view}
having a trick box as the executioner's block, where the actor can simply drop his upper body and his head slides through into the empty box.

However, I can't confirm that because I closed my eyes at that bit.

[sph]

Oct 11, 2021 22:56:22 GMT tmesis said:

A general question about microphones in plays rather than musicals. Obviously actors always wear them in musicals (exception being at places like The Union) but at places like the National Theatre for 'straight' plays it seems to be more or less universal; may be understandable in The Olivier and Lyttelton but I think also most of the time in The Dorfman. I'm sure 20 or so years ago this was not the case even in The Olivier - I'm sure it wasn't the case even 10 years ago so when did this start to happen? It also seems to be prevalent at larger small theatres (if you see what I mean) like Hampstead and the Almeida.

Traditionally, plays have not used microphones on actors, at least not body-mics, and it has always been a matter of personal pride for stage actors to be able to project their voices out into a full house without amplification.

However, as technology has improved and acting styles have changed, it seems silly at times not to take advantage of such aids. A play which relies on a more subtle, intimate style of acting may not lend well to the technique of loud voices and large gestures for example. The increased amount of plays in recent years that fit this brief may be one reason for it. Also, many modern plays nowadays are far more advanced in their sound design than they used to be. Loud music, pulsing lights, increased sound effects etc need actors to be able to match them vocally in contrast to the quieter drawing room comedies of the old days. I imagine a show like Curious Incident is mic'd for this reason, but I could be wrong. Is it?

I like plays that are mic'd. It makes the performance more accessible for the audience and puts less strain on the actors' voices. 

[Dave B]

I'm not sure if this is a question or a little vent but if a show is widely seatfilling for multiple performances - why oh why won't the box office give the people who have booked and paid normal price for tickets an upgrade first?

Sat in the cheap seats so often recently to see empty seats or seatfilling going into good stalls seats or front row of the first level and it just seems like a lost opportunity to me. Going to a show today that we have cheap restricted view (that's what the tickets say but it's 100% not restricted at all) but the show is on seat-filling and giving centre stalls tickets out as comps.

I suspect part of the answer to my own question is that as tickets aren't paper and collected at the box office anymore, it would be more work for the theatre but it seems like it would be good PR. It doesn't happen often but the times when we have arrived somewhere and been told we have new, better tickets - well that certainly makes me immediately have a higher opinion of the theatre.

Anyone have any insight?

[alece10]

Question about opera and mics.
I've always heard that opera singers are not miced and just project their voice. But is this true?
It's amazing if they can project their voice but can they really project to an audience of 2000 like at the ENO.
I could hear perfectly at a recent performance even with a large orchestra so amazed if true.
I've been to musicals before when the mic has dropped out and the singer carries on but you can't hear a word.
Les Dennis was on TV this morning talking about HMS Pinafore which he is in later this month and said he won't have a mic.

[Deleted]

Oct 21, 2021 10:50:37 GMT alece10 said:

I've been to musicals before when the mic has dropped out and the singer carries on but you can't hear a word.

I remember a performance of Cats where Cheryl McAvoy's mic dropped out just before her big number in the second act, so whoever was on the sound desk cut back the volume of the orchestra to match and it worked just fine. (Better than normal, actually, as she had a wonderful voice that sounded even better with no electronics in the way.) But the New London was a small theatre and the orchestra were shut away behind part of the set where their volume could be reduced easily, and I suspect it would have been a different story in a larger house with the orchestra between the stage and the audience.

When I hear people say that actors used to be able to project I wonder if it was actually that good, or if it was crap but as it was the only game in town people were accustomed to the crap.

[sph]

Oct 21, 2021 8:45:37 GMT Dave B said:

I'm not sure if this is a question or a little vent but if a show is widely seatfilling for multiple performances - why oh why won't the box office give the people who have booked and paid normal price for tickets an upgrade first?

Sat in the cheap seats so often recently to see empty seats or seatfilling going into good stalls seats or front row of the first level and it just seems like a lost opportunity to me. Going to a show today that we have cheap restricted view (that's what the tickets say but it's 100% not restricted at all) but the show is on seat-filling and giving centre stalls tickets out as comps.

I suspect part of the answer to my own question is that as tickets aren't paper and collected at the box office anymore, it would be more work for the theatre but it seems like it would be good PR. It doesn't happen often but the times when we have arrived somewhere and been told we have new, better tickets - well that certainly makes me immediately have a higher opinion of the theatre.

Anyone have any insight?

Seat filling and comps are usually given out via agencies or to the staff of the theatre/producers/friends and family of actors etc. It would be difficult to choose from an audience who gets the upgrade and who doesn't. If you've paid £20 for a restricted view and get moved down next to someone who has paid £150 it can create an awkward situation.

What often happens when shows are quieter, is that the top level of the theatre, the grand or balcony, are closed, and patrons are sent to the box office where they are moved to the dress or stalls, but usually not to premium seats.

[Dawnstar]

Oct 21, 2021 10:50:37 GMT alece10 said:

Question about opera and mics.
I've always heard that opera singers are not miced and just project their voice. But is this true?
It's amazing if they can project their voice but can they really project to an audience of 2000 like at the ENO.
I could hear perfectly at a recent performance even with a large orchestra so amazed if true.
I've been to musicals before when the mic has dropped out and the singer carries on but you can't hear a word.
Les Dennis was on TV this morning talking about HMS Pinafore which he is in later this month and said he won't have a mic.

Yes, it's true. It's a matter of training for the singers & suitable acoustic design of the theatres. The conductor also needs to be mindful of the singers & not let the orchestra overpower them, so you wouldn't have the orchestra playing at forte while the singer is singing a phrase piano. The audience may also need to adjust their expectations if they're not used to hearing unamplified music. On many occasions (pre-covid) I've been to an amplified musical in the afternoon & an unamplified opera in the evening & I can feel my ears adjusting to the difference in sound quality at the start of the opera. I generally prefer hearing unamplified singing & find many musicals painfully over-amplified by comparison.

[TallPaul]

I'm reminded of what I think was the 80th anniversary of Sheffield City Hall, with Sir Mark Elder, the Halle Orchestra and Lesley Garrett.

Although our Lesley was singing unamplified, she was using a mic on a stand for the bits in between, which must have been left 'up'. After two songs and three talky bits, this voice shouted down from the gods: "Can you turn microphone off. It's buzzing."

Apapros of nothing, but it was quite funny. Only in Yorkshire!