RASHOMON
Rashomon, adapted by Ivor Benjamin from the stories of Ryonosuke Akutagawa and the film by Akira Kurosawa, opened at Ohio University on October 31st, 2014. The play was directed by Brian Evans, in collaboration with Rebecca VerNooy. Rashomon tells the story of multiple witness's perspectives in the trial of a rape and a murder. The main themes of the play are truth, honor, and perspective.
The script is based on Japanese stories and set in Kyoto, Japan, but the actors that were cast were not Japanese. The designers and director decided that we wanted to keep the Japanese influence, but use modern elements to take the show out of Japan and avoid offending anyone.
I decided that drums were vital to this story and to my compositions. To make the percussive pieces modern, I used elements of dubstep, grindcore, and industrial music. This took the Taiko drumming influence and made it accessible to a modern audience. I also decided that I wanted live drumming but not in the traditional sense. I developed a system where a drumstick coated in copper and soldered to an arduino could strike a copper plate, also soldered to the arduino, and fire a sound through Qlab 3 using hot keys. This integrated the actors directly into the sound design.
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This play contained several great moments for composition. The first ("The Twenty-Three Strokes") is a fight between the Samurai Takehiko and the bandit Tajomaru for the prize of the Samurai's wife, Masago. I drew inspiration from the fight compositions of the television show Samurai Jack. I wanted the piece to build in tension before the ultimate confrontation and the sudden death of Takehiko at the conclusion of the piece.
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This play also contains the rape of the wife, Masago. The rape did not occur onstage, but was told through a fight and a small movement piece. I composed "Masago's Downfall" to underscore this scene. I composed it so the parts before the dubstep break built up tension for when Masago is overtaken in the fight and the music turns into a virtual cacophony of violent sound.
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The ghost of the Samurai Takehiko possessess a Medium so that he may tell his version of the tale. I composed "Possession" to represent her possession. The concept is "chaos into order" and I used many violent sounds, including a woman screaming. One by one, the instruments and sounds fade until it is just the beating of a bass drum to signify the end of her transformation into the dead Samurai. |
Several other compositions were featured, including a short but violent fight between the Servant and the Wigmaker, a piece when three characters were clearing the bodies of the murdered from the gate, and the curtain call piece ("At the Rashomon Gate.") These were all done in the same style as the other compositions.
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I also got to create many atmospheres and environments for the characters to live in. The Rashomon Gate featured a thunderstorm with surround sound rain and rumbling subs. Company pieces were underscored by low-end heavy rumbles ("Rumble," "Prologue," "Io Rumble.") The environment of the dead Samurai was underscored by a Paulstretched recording of his death rattle ("Rattle in the Throat of a Dying Man"), giving his testimony an eerie and otherworldly feeling. After the Medium is possessed, her testimony is underscored by a mechanical whir and whispering children. Takehiko's Death (both by his own hand and Masago's) is underscored by "Death Rumble."
Director: Brian Evans
Scenic Design: Erin Hemming
Lighting Design: Justen Locke
Costume Design: Delta Childers-Smith
Projection Design: Nathan Davis
Stage Manager: Paige Barnes
Scenic Design: Erin Hemming
Lighting Design: Justen Locke
Costume Design: Delta Childers-Smith
Projection Design: Nathan Davis
Stage Manager: Paige Barnes