In our production we have decided to focus on the main character Woyzeck and centralize the audiences experience to reflect his inner thoughts and fears, even his decent into insanity. I felt that the sound of the production should also fit into this edict, this however seems to be different to traditional and even modern performances of Woyzeck in the sense of audio.
In the Howard Gilman Opera House Oct 15/17/18 2008 there was a production of Woyzeck that featured the musical styling’s of Nick Cave;
This production had a different feel because although quite melancholy it focused the audio in a more broad manner, focusing on the actions of the play and having a well balanced production score, instead of the almost Artaudian way of pulling the audience into a mode of catharsis to sympathise with Woyzecks character which this production hopes to achieve. Because it focuses on the entertainment of the audience as much as telling the story the music was more lively due to the way the instruments were played. Even the use of conventional instruments is differing from our production.
This clip shows Nick Cave’s performance for Woyzeck:
In a further production Of Woyzeck held from November 18, 2000 featuring Tom Waits we find yet another take on the audio for Buchners unfinished play.
This production found a closer view to what ours will be performing because this production has a wide range spanning from again distorted melancholy music to slow instrumental soundscapes filled with many long drones that bring an unnerving presence to the piece that makes each action seem that much more terrifying from a third person perspective. Like this production the music reflected the anguish and the “feel” of Woyzeck to help tell the story of how he is seeing the world.
This clip shows extracts just like the link above:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFl9lvckl08&feature=related