Army@TheVirtualFringe is offering the chance to hear from expert designers, artistic directors and military musicians about how to get the best from sound, vision and stage sets.
Huge amounts of sand, plus piles of sandbags were necessary to realise Anna Driftmier’s set for the critically acclaimed opera Dead Equal.
By contrast, the remarkable projection was critical to The Troth – a dance production that used rarely seen early cinematic footage showing South Asian troops in Europe during WWI.
Both shows have been dramatic high points of Army@TheFringe and this year, our online edition Army@TheVirtualFringe, is offering the chance to hear from the folk who helped made these shows so outstanding.
Suba Subramaniam, artistic director of Akademi, will be looking at projection and choreography during a presentation and Q&A (Monday, 10 August, 2.30pm).
The company has been redefining the boundaries of South Asian dance since 1979 with results that are exciting, contemporary and of the highest standards.
Edinburgh University graduate Anna Driftmier also pushes back the boundaries – working in theatre, on film and site specific projects in the USA and UK.
She has a particular expertise in creating deceptively simple sets that can perform a multitude of functions.
And beyond that she has many years of experience creating the sets for Edinburgh Fringe productions.
Her insights are of phenomenal value to companies coming to Edinburgh as she has a deep understanding of how to create something that will not only work for the show, but also for the technical requirements and constraints of Fringe venues and timings.
In the case of Dead Equal it was all about working with the venue and its staff to make sure that the concept was not only exciting and effective – but practical.
You can catch Anna’s workshop Big Ideas vs Limitations: Achieving Ambitious Designs at Edinburgh Fringe on Wednesday, August 19 at 2.30pm.
Another aspect of successful theatre-making being explored during Army@TheVirtualFringe is music, and how it can be used to create atmosphere. And for this we are calling on the expertise of military musicians Captain Ben Mason and Lance Sergeant Ian Shepherd.
Ben is Director of Music, Band of the Grenadier Guards, one of the most famous military bands in the world so is accustomed to producing the music for major state events like the Queen’s Birthday Parade. Out of uniform he also wrote incidental music for the Farnham Maltings play The Man Who Left is Not the Man Who Came Home.
Their workshop, Creating Atmosphere Through Music (Tuesday, August 11, 11.30am) will offer all sorts of ideas and insights for those intending to stage shows at the Edinburgh Fringe – or anywhere else.
- Places for all events free but must be reserved at https://www.armyatthefringe.org.
