Composer & Sound Designer (Fixed term)

 

Fixed Fee – £3,500

(plus up to £1,000 available for session musicians)

 

Application Deadline:        10am on Friday 2nd September 2022

Interviews via Teams:         w/c 5th September 2022

 

Key Details

We are searching for a skilled, self-motivated Composer and Sound Designer to join our production team, to create the music and soundscape for our new play ‘The Possibility of Colour’.

 

The play explores themes around mental health, voice hearing, synaesthesia, neurodiversity, forced treatment, AI in healthcare, private healthcare and much more.

It has been written with input at every stage from mental health professionals, academics, student practitioners and people with lived experience of the themes explored in the play.

 

This will be an exciting challenge for the right artist, as the play will offer an immersive insight into the experience of voice hearing and synaesthesia, using recorded voices, music and synchronised animated projections.

As part of this process, the creative team will have the unique opportunity to collaborate with Kaitlyn Hova, a synaesthete, musician and neuroscientist who ‘sees music’ as colour.

Click here to watch a short YouTube video that demonstrates Kaitlyn’s experience:

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Key Dates:

 

September 2022

• Monday 19th September: Script reading with full team.

• Tue 20th – Fri 23rd September: Design workshop with full design team (including recording of voice actors’ lines)

• Design and Composing processes ongoing.

 

October 2022

• Design and Composing processes ongoing.

• Recording of any pre-recorded music needed

• Main elements of score to be completed by late October to allow lighting designer and animator to sync projections to music.

• 17th October: 4 weeks of rehearsals begin - voice actors’ lines to be edited and ready for use in rehearsals. (Sound/lighting tech operator will be present throughout rehearsals)

 

November 2022

• Set build

• 14th – 16th November: Tech rehearsals.

• 16th November: Dress rehearsal.

• 17th – 30th November: 10 performances across 7 venues.

 

December 2022

• Evaluation process involving all team members

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About the production: ‘The Possibility of Colour’

 

The Play:

‘For many, The Implant is an irresistible guarantee of eternal happiness; a life without suffering.

For others though, it’s a terrifying instrument of control, stripping them of what it means to be human and increasingly forced upon a growing number of 'compulsory recipients'.

Designed by the AI-controlled 'Vigil' Corporation, The Implant is a new miracle device that promises to cure all mental illness.

Will Joseph, his sister Aisling, or his best friend Helen, be able to decide which of them, if any, should have The Implant?

And with the ever-looming presence of Vigil, do they even have a choice?

 

Who is ‘normal’?

Who gets to decide?’

 

The Possibility of Colour is an exciting new play written by Pete Carruthers.

 

The play explores themes around mental health, voice hearing, synaesthesia, neurodiversity, forced treatment, AI in healthcare, private healthcare and much more.

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The play has been written with input at every stage from mental health professionals, academics, student practitioners and people with lived experience of the themes explored in the play.

 

The play has been shared with these expert groups via multiple table readings and script in hand performances during two R&D phases in 2015/16 and 2021. Feedback from these invited expert audiences was used to inform further rewrites at each stage.

 

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Northwest Tour:

 

The first full production and small tour will take place in late 2022, with 10 performances across 3 venues in Northwest England plus 2 online sharing events.

 

This initial tour will partly be used to generate reviews and attract programmers ahead of a planned national tour in late 2023 and early 2024. We will also film one of the performances to be shared at online events and to send to programmers who can't attend a performance in person.

 

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Funding:

 

This initial production and tour is dependent on the outcome of a current ACE project grant bid. We will have a decision from ACE no later than the 9th of September. ACE have funded both previous R&D phases of the play, the project satisfies many of ACE's aims and objectives and we have approximately 40% match funding confirmed, so we are quietly confident of a 'yes'. If the bid is rejected, we will reschedule the initial tour for Spring 2023 and reapply for funding.

 

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Partnership with Health Education England:

 

An important aspect of the project is that Health Education England (HEE) are paying for up to 1200 student nurses to attend performances and post-show Q&A discussions with expert guests as an official part of their nurse training. This means that we already have approximately 50% ticket sales guaranteed for the initial tour.

HEE, who have also provided match funding towards the overall production costs, plan to expand this approach to student nurses and other student health practitioners right across the country as part of the national tour of the play in 2023/24.

This an exciting opportunity to use theatre to inspire real change in the practice of our future health professionals.

 

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Audience feedback from R&D sharings:

 

“I thought there were a number of things about it that were superb… I found it very very moving. I don’t know whether people will really know how well you have put the language, how you’ve used it, because I heard the echoes of a thousand conversations in mental health services in the way that you’ve used language… there’s just so many clever things that you’ve got superbly well.” (Dr Jonathan Gadsby – School of Nursing and Midwifery – Birmingham City University)

 

“I think the play is marvelous, the way it captures the complexities of the issues. Your actor training really shows through in the way you write, you’ve created conflicts and created relationships that… they’re so rich and the conflicts are so clear and so complex, it’s really really super impressive.” (Tom Scholte – Professor in the Department of Theatre and Film – University of British Columbia)

 

“Incredibly thought provoking, really powerful… I will go away and read some more about things that I didn’t know about. I think it’s really really amazing, thank you.” (Sally Ashton-May – Lead Midwife – National Nursing & Midwifery Team – Health Education England)

 

 

Job Responsibilities:

 

The Composer and Sound Designer’s responsibilities will include:

• Reading the script (including attending a script reading in Salford on 19th September) and collaborating with the writer/director, creative producer, lighting/projection designer and set designer to create a vision for the overall design of the production.

• Recording and editing voice actors’ lines (approximately 300) in time for the start of rehearsals on 17th October.

• Working with the writer/director, creative producer, lighting/projection designer, set designer and lived experience expert to create the soundscape / music and support the development of synchronised projections to capture the experience of auditory-visual synaesthesia, voice hearing and disassociation (flying).

• Sourcing any professional musicians required, for recording.

• Recording all soundscapes in advance of and during rehearsals, and making changes during the rehearsal period, as required.

• Sourcing all technical equipment for the rehearsals & performances / working alongside the tech team.

• Attending occasional rehearsals and all 3 days of tech rehearsals.

• Contributing to an evaluation process with the core team after the production

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Line managing responsibilities:

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• Professional Musicians (if needed)

 

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Organisational Relationship and Accountability:

Line managed by:       Ally Davies (Creative Producer)

                                            Isabel Potter (Stage Manager / Production Manager)

 

Works closely with:     Pete Carruthers (Director / Writer / Producer / Actor)

                                            Adam Foley (Lighting / Projection Designer)

                                            Abby Clarke (Set / Costume Designer)

                                            TBC (Lighting / Sound Tech Operator)

 

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Person specification:

• You must be available for interview (conducted virtually) at some point during w/c 5th September (final date/time to be agreed based on availability)

• Experience of composing / creating sound design for professional theatre productions is essential.

• Experience of synaesthesia is a bonus but not essential.

 

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How to apply:

 

Please e-mail info@treefishproductions.com with a statement of how you would approach the brief and how your practice is suitable (up to 1 side of A4), a CV and up to 3 examples of your sound work (web links or mp3’s) by 10am on Friday 2nd September 2022.

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Please also complete our anonymous equal opportunities data form by clicking here.

 

Shortlisted applicants will be sent the full script and current design brief ahead of interviews via Microsoft Teams w/c 5th September.

 

If you are invited to interview you will be asked for the following information at this stage:

How we can help you to feel comfortable at interview (for example do you prefer a particular pronoun).

 

 

Have some questions?

 

If you have any questions about the role before applying please email Artistic Director, Pete Carruthers at info@treefishproductions.com

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