What better sound designer to spend the day with than John Leonard? To share the insights of his prolific career? Here’s your chance to walk the LDI show floor and check out new gear with this award-winning sound designer. To go out to ET Live and listen to the best audio gear in real world settings! Don't miss this opportunity to spend the day with John Leonard at LDI 2007...
In case you've been wondering what he's been up to lately, here's a sampling:
"I've been working on a large number of shows, in the UK, Ireland, and the US. The year started with Garry Hynes' production of Brian Friel's play Translations for Manhattan Theatre Club, which began at Princeton and then moved to The Biltmore Theatre in New York. That was followed by a revival of a Charlotte Jones play called Martha, Josie and The Chinese Elvis, which opened at Birmingham Rep and then toured the UK. Then a new play, Leaves, by Lucy Caldwell, for Druid Theatre Company in Galway, also directed by Garry Hynes, which moved to The Royal Court Theatre in London. Dying For It, by Moira Buffini, a new play inspired by Nikolai Erdman's The Suicide and directed by Anna Mackmin at The Almeida was next, and that was followed by a revival of Jean-Paul Sartre's Kean, starring Sir Anthony Sher and directed by Adrian Noble, which toured and then came into London for a short season.
After that, I worked for Michael Attenborough at The Almeida Theatre on the European premiere of Big White Fog, by the American playwright Theodore Ward, which was a fascinating show to work on. Then a bit of light relief with Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit for Watford Palace Theatre, followed by something very different with a revival of The Kiss Of The Spider Woman (the play, not the musical) for The Donmar Theatre in London, which then toured to three other venues, including the theatre where I first worked, The Bristol Old Vic. Next was another revival, In Celebration, which marked Orlando Bloom's West End Debut, then the UK premiere of The Enchantment by Victoria Benedictsson in a new version by Clare Bayley, directed by Paul Miller at The National Theatre, then Clifford Odets' Awake And Sing for Mike Attenborough at The Almeida again. A touring revival of Michael Frayn's Donkey's Years followed that, and I've just finished working on Long Day's Journey Into Night, directed by Garry Hynes for Druid Theatre in Galway and then at The Gaiety Theatre in Dublin. It has a fantastic cast, with James Cromwell and Marie Mullen in the main roles, and although it's over four hours long, it never flags," says Leonard, barely taking a breath. "A brilliant production."