Sunday 6 December 2009

Music

Music has always been a major part of the Present Moment approach. Our first production, The Country Wife, began with Everyday Should Be A Holiday by the Dandy Warhols because, for the characters in the play, every day was. Plus the hedonistic, arrogant rush perfectly suited the mood of the piece and set the scene for what was to follow. Of course it wasn’t from the period the play was written. That’s the point. Decide the atmosphere you want to create then find the music that fits. So there will be no crumhorns and viols and tambours in the Present Moment Doctor Faustus. Claustrophobic and edgy and ominous. That's what we want to evoke. For that reason I listened to a lot of music from horror films and mysteries, paying particularly attention to how such films – and sci fi – use music to punctuate and underscore. Currently I find myself playing a lot of Burial, Future Sounds of London and the kind of epic washes of electronic sound that Tangerine Dream were creating in the mid 1970s.

No comments:

Post a Comment