Apricity’s Open Mic was a performance centred around Lottie, a singer choked by her anxieties, who battled with her mental illness throughout the play. The brief called for a fairly minimal soundtrack that would hold its own in both traditional theatres as well as more improvised pop up performance spaces, consisting of 3 main sections of audio; a breath-like soundscape, an underwater soundscape and an underscore to the finale of the show when Lottie conqueres her fears and performs a short original song, written by Matilda Dickinson.
Ocean Soundscape
During my time at Falmouth, I was fortunate enough to explore the surrounding Cornish coastline, and have access to the technical resource stores available to all music students. The ocean soundscape uses field recordings I captured along Kynance Cove, just 2 miles from Lizard Point, using an Audio-Technica BP4029 Shotgun.
Used during a scene in which Lottie illustrates how living with anxiety can be like walking on water, constantly battling the fear of falling in and struggling to keep their head above water.
Breath soundscape
All recorded on a zoom H4N, I layered and manipulated audio of varying intensities of breath. In the context of the performance, as Lottie began experiencing a panic attack the sounds of breath became more intense, swelling and growing in size as the severity of her attack worsens.
Goddess backing track and exit track
For the finale of the performance, Lottie becomes comfortable enough to perform. Written by Matilda Dickinson, the original song was composed for ukulele, and the underscore was written to accompany her performance, slowly building and swelling until her final chorus. The exit music is a reprise of this to continue the ambience as the audience filter out of the auditorium.