Prosound technical director and South African theatre stalwart, Mark Malherbe, was fortunate enough to be a part the Fugard theatre production of David Kramer’s new musical, “Orpheus In Africa’, running from February 2015 at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town.
This much-anticipated new work from Kramer presents the story of a black choir from America visiting South Africa in the early 1900s, and the reception they receive from an already segregated society.
Malherbe has sound designed for David Kramer previously, describing him as “a dream to work for”, and recounts a magic moment during rehearsals when the writer / director picked up his guitar and proceeded to play his favourite hits for the cast and crew, much to the delight of those who remember him performing.
The Fugard Theatre is already an acoustically challenging venue for sound, however, the design for “Orpheus In Africa’ needed extra special attention from Malherbe in that the natural sound of the choir’s performances needed to be maintained, as opposed to an amplified sound in a usual musical production. The 16 member cast was miked with DPA4061s hidden in the hairline and the band with DPA4099s. Malherbe, working closely with the set designer to achieve a more natural experience for the audience, managed to hide all of the compact Meyer loudspeakers used for the show within the set. All show sound control was via a Midas Pro 1and all sound equipment was provided and installed by Eastern Acoustics of Cape Town.
The play opened with a “try-out’ month, but due to its sold-out reception, will return to the Fugard later in the year.
