[SML] Noises Off Dilemma

[Stephen Litterst]

On 4/30/18 12:08 PM, Wayne Rasmussen via Stagecraft wrote:

> The director is concerned that during Act 2, the actors on the backstage 
> side of the set will be unable to hear the lines that the actors on the 
> front of the set are saying—when the audience is laughing.  Lines are 
> easily heard in rehearsal.  The director has approached me about finding 
> a way to enable to actors to hear the lines over laughter, so that their 
> backstage movements will be coordinated with the lines being spoken on 
> the other side of the set.  I have responded that I don’t think I can 
> find a way to make that work.  In one scenario, if I were to somehow 
> place speakers so that the actors can hear, the audience will hear those 
> same speakers.  The sound will not emanate from the proper source (the 
> other side of the set).  In scenario two, if the actors were to somehow 
> know what lines were being spoken (in-ear monitors) and responded 
> appropriately to their cues, the laughing audience won’t be able to hear 
> the same lines and the subsequent movements won’t make sense to them.

Why is this only a problem in Act 2?  Acts 1 and 3 have plenty of funny 
moments that require hearing what's on the other side of the scenery. 
Not knowing your space, I'm willing to bet the actors will hear just fine.

In your first scenario, if the actors can't hear sound through the wall, 
neither can the audience.  So the speakers shouldn't be an issue.  If 
the audience can hear the speakers through the wall, then the actors can 
hear their costars and the speakers are not necessary.

Do you have time in your production schedule for invited dresses or 
previews?  A farce really requires a few trips in front of an audience 
because their laughter really impacts the pacing of the action onstage. 
If an actor enters off a line, that may step on the audience reaction, 
letting some of the funny escape.

Steve L.
-- 
Stephen Litterst            Technical Operations Supervisor
litterst at udel.edu           Mitchell Hall
302/831-0601                University of Delaware