John Gibson
Sound and Music Director
“The sound design for The Crucible has been informed by the simplicity, starkness and repression that are part of any extreme religious environment now, or in the times of the puritans. There are three elements to the design songs, transitions and sound effects. All made as simple as possible. The hymns that are sung could have been sung in the time of the play. They are a sound image of all that has been lost in the community since its start. Humility, a sense of common purpose, the shaping by individuals to make one song. This is counter pointed by the girls extreme vocalisations borne of an intoxicating freedom, the freedom of the imagination which in this airless place explodes like a fire.
All of the sound effects are created by the girls except for the sound of recording. Their whispers, screams and lies are the very air in which the community is engulfed and drowned. The transitions are meant to amplify and universalise the hysteria that climaxes each act and then cool down the white hot heat of Arthur Miller’s narrative.”
John has composed original music for New Zealand theatre, film, dance and television. He has composed over 60 scores for theatre including Ricordi for the International Festival of the Arts. For dance he has written scores for Shona McCullagh and Ann Dewey. His most recent television work is the series Party Animals on TV2 and he is currently creating an original opera for NBR NZ Opera. John most recently worked with Auckland Theatre Company on Sweet Charity, The Blonde The Brunette and The Vengeful Redhead and Disgrace.
Related Shows
The Master Builder. The Life of Galileo. The Cherry Orchard. Nell Gwynn. Last Legs. Billy Elliot the Musical. Lysistrata. The Lady Killers. A Dolls House. Fallen Angels. The Good Soul of Szechuan. Chicago. Awatea. In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play). A Midsummer Night's Dream. On The Upside Down Of The World. Poor Boy. Calendar Girls. Horseplay. The Pohutukawa Tree. The Wife Who Spoke Japanese in Her Sleep. Oliver!. Where We Once Belonged. Who Needs Sleep Anyway?. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The Crucible. The Blonde, The Brunette and The Vengeful Redhead. Sweet Charity. The Duchess of Malfi. Equus. Disgrace. Travels With My Aunt. Lovelock's Dream Run.