2012: part 1
SURVIVOR got this year off to a great start. Having successfully delivered Political Mother, Choreographer’s Cut in 2011 we found ourselves at the beginning of January standing with Hofesh Shechter, Ian Dierden (Sound Intermedia) and Steve Mayo (Technical Manager-sound) in the Barbican Theatre working out exactly what was needed to fulfil Hofesh and Anthony Gormley’s vision for the project. Calls were made to the warehouse and six hours later the relevant equipment was loading into the theatre. The result was breath taking and well worth the extra effort and creative delivery.
This dovetailed directly into another project in the Theatre, The Long Count. Bryce and Aaron Dessner conceived The Long Count in collaboration with video artist Matthew Ritchie as a multimedia concert, which explores the ‘time before time’; the indivisible moment before creation is expressed. Steve Mayo brought us in to handle the project as it developed and the new PSM1000s were called for in quantity.
Meanwhile two of our engineers headed of to Europe with Hofesh Shechter’s company bound for Berlin. As that truck pulled out the warehouse we were already in deep discussions with some very old friends about a project we first toured almost twenty years ago. Einstein on the Beach is an extraordinary piece that still feels ahead of its time. Philip Glass and his team feel like family and meeting up with them backstage at the Barbican felt just like old times.