Answers the question: As a designer, outline how sound could be developed to
communicate meaning and ideas to an audience in this extract (scene 28).
Your answer should make reference to the performance text as a whole.
How would you use sound to communicate meaning in scene 28
In this extract, as a director, I would aim to communicate Alan’s stress but also his utter
devotion to horses to the audience through the use of sound. I would explore Shaffer’s
intentions as he wished to create a world where the deed of blinding horses (a story he
heard from his friend) would be made comprehensible. His intention was to create an
abreaction. Therefore, I would use expressionism and psychological realism to communicate
meaning to the audience. Therefore I would use a mixture of diegetic and nondiegetic sound.
In this scene, Alan and Jill are in the stables therefore to create the atmosphere I would use
diegetic sound. Through two audience facing sound machines positioned upstage left and
right, I would relatively quietly have horses hooves and horse breathing sounds. This creates
the illusion that both Jill and Alan are in the stable and are surrounded by meaning.
However, as Jill begins to discuss ‘eyes’ I would have the volume and tempo of these noises
increase. On the line ‘I saw you staring at nugget’s eyes’, the volume and tempo would
increase once more to create trepidation. On this line, sound machines positioned behind
the audience would also turn on which creates the illusion that horse noises are all
enthralling and communicates how Alan feels as though he can never escape from his
horses. This is the exact effect I would wish to create when Alan refuses to have sex with Jill
due to his fear that the horses all around him would hear, however in this scene I would also
have sound boxes positioned above the stage to emphasise Alan’s idea of hierarchy of the
horses as he sees them as holy. In addition, I would use this sound effect during the blinding
of the horses but also layer in shrilling high pitched screaming noises to communicate fear
and danger of both Alan and the horses. This makes Alan’s act of blinding the horses more
comprehensible since the audience gets an insight into his unescapable relationship and
thoughts of horses.
I would also use non-diegetic sounds to communicate key themes such as passion to the
audience. For example, on the line ‘do you find them sexy’ I would have an orchestra from
the pit play a high pitched 10 second piece from ‘Careless Whisper’ by George Michael. This
would be done by Violins and trumpets and would be slow tempo. This song would
communicate Alan’s utter besottedness with horses in a way like humans love each other. I
would use horn speakers to amplify this sound. I would also make use of the orchestra when
Alan and Jill are in the cinema, however, this music would be diegetic. I would have people
play the drums in a frantic way and an electric guitar to convey the chaos in the cinema, as
Alan sees his Dad, the tempo would build to emphasise their strained relationship. However,
when they walk outside I would use a cross fade to complete silence to create an awkward
atmosphere. Therefore the audience are allowed evocative insights into Alan’s life through
sound created.
I would also make use of the sound which Alan creates himself on the stage. For example, I
would have Alan stomp his feet and throw himself on the flow while smashing a pencil on the
mental barriers of his bed to create a realistic atmosphere of his tantrum. I would use a
microphone rigged centre stage from the floor to amplify this noise to the audience. The
contrast of the low pitch stomps and high pitch noise of the pencil banging the mental would
emphasise Alan’s unstable frantic nature which explains how he was led to blind 6 horses. I
would also make use of sounds created on stage during Dysart’s dream. He would march
which would create a steady beat in the background whilst snapping his pencils in half and
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