Sound designer working across theatre, opera, immersive events, exhibitions, television, and radio

Gareth Fry is a multi award winning sound designer, best known for his cutting-edge work in theatre, and his collaborations with many leading UK theatre directors and companies. He has also designed events and exhibitions, from the V&A’s landmark David Bowie Is exhibition, to being asked by Danny Boyle to design the sound effects for the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games.

Awards include an Olivier Award, Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child; a Special Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Helpmann Award and an Evening Standard Award for The Encounter (with co-designer Pete Malkin); an Olivier Award and Helpmann Award for Black Watch; an Olivier Award for Waves. and an IRNE Award for Wild Swans. His work includes over 20 productions at the Royal National Theatre, over 20 at the Royal Court and countless more at venues such as the Old Vic, Young Vic and in the West End.

He is a specialist in the use of binaural stereo sound, being involved in a number of theatre productions, VR, exhibitions and advertising campaigns, including for Bose, Volvo and Land Rover. HIs work in VR has been featured at the Tribeca, Vienna and Sundance festivals.

For Complicité, Gareth’s credits include The Encounter, The Master and Margarita, Shun-Kin, Endgame, Strange Poetry, The Noise of Time, Mnemonic and The Street of Crocodiles.

In this workshop, we will explore the use of sound and music as a means of creative storytelling, using practical exercises to explore low-fi ways of making sounds to create emotion and space:

• How do we hear and perceive the world?
• How does our imagination affect what we think we hear?
• What is the difference between what we hear and what we pay attention to? How does our brain consciously and unconsciously choose what we listen to?

Areas of exploration in this workshop might include:

• Language and concepts of sound – ways of talking about sound and music
• How we can use naturalistic sound
• How we can create and use abstracted sounds and sounds that have a musical nature
• The performer’s voice and sound – manipulation, amplification, and reinforcement
• Integrating sound into performance
• Using binaural sound for storytelling