Almost Tangible - immersive audio company brings the Scottish Play to our ears

Recording Almost Tangible’s immersive audio production of Macbeth. Image: Almost Tangible.

An immersive 3D audio company has brought the Scottish Play to our ears and the result makes listening to William Shakespeare’s bloody tragedy feel almost tangible. When Producer Charlotte Melén founded the company in 2018 she named it just that - Almost Tangible, in an effort to describe the visceral way of experiencing 3D binaural technology. 

Tangible describes itself as producing audio you feel and its production of Shakespeare’s iconic tale of ambition and betrayal certainly stimulates the senses. Recorded at Glamis Castle where Shakespeare set his play, the podcast transports us to a bleak Scottish moorland; a rich soundscape of shrieking crows and rumbling thunder. 

Tuning in to Part 1, we hear the three weird sisters utter their malevolent rhymes and chant haunting folk songs in chorus. Then, suddenly, a rustle of chainmail as two victorious generals, Macbeth (James Robinson) and Banquo (Tom Vanson), approach the witches on horseback. “So foul and fair a day I have not seen,” says Macbeth, as unbeknown to him, he forecasts his own grim fate. 

The witches’ prophesy that Macbeth will be Thane of Cawdor, and eventually King of Scotland, initially comes as improbable news until, at a raucous tavern, he learns of his new title. We feel as though we are tucked into in a pub corner, listening to Ross (Peter Gardiner) deliver Macbeth the promotion, as in the background, the cast sing and dance to the fiddle (Alexander Ingram). 

This perspective of distance is what binaural recording is famous for creating. Director Carl Prekopp had the cast up on their feet, delivering the speech in context, as sound designers David Chilton and Lucinda Mason Brown positioned the microphones at the centre of the action. The surround sound recording fills the senses and places you in the drama, amidst the characters, to the point that you feel Glamis Castle Security might escort you out the Royal Chambers. 

Glamis Castle. Image: Almost Tangible.

Radio drama has its roots in theatre. It was through writing for radio that many famous playwrights, screenwriters and novelists, such as Rod Serling and Irwin Shaw, got their start in television and theatre. By the 30s, live radio theatre had gained in popularity; the BBC was adapting over 400 stage plays a year and inviting audiences to watch the recording. This was until radio producers recognised writing for audio was a craft in its own right and the need for plays specifically written for the medium. And so the job of the voice actor became different to that of taking on the stage. Radio actors are usually sedentary in the studio; reading scripts, without the context, into standard mics, positioned to create a stereo image. This was the very production environment Melén was trying to avoid. “Stereo has a place in radio drama - in intimate narration”, she tells me in a recent interview. But to bring the text to life actors should interact with the physical space. “If you’re on a horse, you can’t hold a script”, Melén has said. Active actors make for a much more authentic listening experience than your conventional radio play. Create the reality in the minds of the actors and it will transfer to the imagination of the listener. 

As for live radio theatre, company’s like Wireless Theatre have recognised that audiences find being part of a recording exciting, seeing behind the scenes of the polished version on air. Part of the fun is to witness how sound effects are created with unlikely objects on stage. Who knew you could create convincing stabbing noises with a knife and a watermelon? Listening to Tangible’s Q&A with the cast and crew, we learn recording was an intensive, all-hands-on-deck experience. To drown Lady Macduff, the actor Tracy Wiles vigorously splashed a foot into a fountain, wailing loudly, as a sound engineer plunged a waterproof microphone in and out the basin. Genius! Brecht would have just put this on stage. As it happens the sound created is wholly convincing to the point where you might just find yourself holding your breath. 

Being involved in the mechanics of theatre is fascinating and clearly the Macbeth cast enjoyed that their responsibilities extended beyond that of an ordinary in-and-out radio job. As for the sound designers, Almost Tangible invited them to achieve sound effects not only by best deployment of microphone on set, but to be part of the conception of the production, becoming the composers themselves. 

Director Carl Prekopp on set of Almost Tangible’s Macbeth. Image: Almost Tangible

Lady M (Eilidh Loan) is bathing when she reads Macbeth’s letter reporting the news of his promotion. It is an intimate moment which rapidly turns dark as Loan establishes a fierce Lady Macbeth in the infamous raven soliloquy. Loan delivers Shakespeare, so often inscrutable on first hearing, with competence and intensity. It is refreshing to hear a cast of mostly Scottish actors perform Macbeth. An emphatically Scottish play that has been historically anglicised with the Received Pronunciation of British Theatre. And if the idea of listening to Shakespeare without visual references, in Scottish accents, sounds like hard work, know that the all the characters including Macduff (Josh Manning), Malcolm (Sam Garioch) and Ross (Peter Gardiner) are presented with richness and clarity. These actors command your ear and draw out the lyricism of text to the extent you can understand why the purists wouldn’t have Macbeth read any other way. 

It is genuinely disturbing when Lady Macbeth spurs her doubtful husband on to commit treason so the pair can assume the Scottish throne themselves. Credit is once again owed to the sound team who have conjured up very gory scenes for your imagination. We are invited into Duncan’s chamber to witness Macbeth commit the grim deed, made all the more haunting by underscoring vocals of Celtic song. A famously unseen act that has been brought to life without an ounce of melodrama. The play is best experienced in one sitting but otherwise is divided into four thirty minute episodes. True Shakespeare is digestible and full of action like this. Secondary schools would do well to share the podcast with their students. 

Binaural recording in action at Glamis Castle on the set of Almost Tangible’s Macbeth. Image: Almost Tangible

The castle’s interior acoustics work surprisingly well as the exposed stone and high ceilings elevate the sound to a level of authenticity difficult to achieve in the recording studio. Word has it AT had access to some of the most exclusive medieval rooms, including a dungeon, as well as the castle grounds, a horse stable and burbling brook. One imagines the sound designers were spoilt for choice. It was unsurprising to find director Prekopp is first a musician as the production is constructed more like a symphonic work with vocals than a radio play. Song, sound and music weave through dialogue enhancing tension, suspense, action and emotion. One imagines the temptation, with so much sound at their disposal, was to overload the soundscape. I'm pleased to say this production understands the value of a pregnant pause. 

We could have never predicted that with theatres closed, audiences would be forced to rely on audio drama to get their kicks. The recent spate in audio drama indicates people are tuning in more than ever, and now with the potential of enclosed headphones, binaural recording is having a moment. It offers a different affect than theatre - you’re not just at but in the performance. The images conjured in my imagination listening to Macbeth have stayed with me, and that’s some success for a play without visuals. 

You can listen to Almost Tangible’s production of Macbeth here.