Ghosts are one of the most enjoyable things to create in the world of technical theatre, as they allow you to merge a live performance with technological enhancements to create something impressive and other-worldly.
Ghost Onstage
These are a lot of fun, as you get to turn an actor essentially a classy cyborg. For me these are the most fun when you can conceal a radio microphone into the costume of the performer. Once you have their voice on a channel you can do all sorts of transformations with it some of which are below:
- Apply reverberation or echo effects
- Adjust equalisation to change the tone of the voice
- Route the sound to come out of specifically located speakers (say behind or under the stage)
- Boost the volume to ride over music or texture effects
- Apply any number of complex effects to the voice
- Enhance gutterals, plosives hisses and other transients through microphone placement
Ghost Offstage
An unseen ghost is simpler, as you can have a simple wired microphone, or even just shouting from the wings, with many of the effects above. Often, though, with an offstage ghost you will simply need to reinforce the sound so it can be heard in the auditorium. These are already (by their definition) other-worldly, but you can enhance this in some subtle ways so that the sound is taken out of the backstage curtains (which never sounds particularly ‘realistic’) and into the bowels of hell itself (or perhaps just the next room). You can also pre-record these lines to
Ghost Implied
Sometimes we do not need to see or hear the ghost to know that it is there. These situations give the opportunity for terrififying (or cathartic) sound composition, as we try to conjour up the emotional and spiritual state of the ghost, or perhaps the impact of the ghost on the scene. I like to transform real-world sounds into other-worldly echoes (see my post on soundscaping) and bring altered musical elements such as distant drums or harmonic feedback and sung voices. But of course the sounds you use will depend on the circumstances of the situation, as well as the length of the scene you are writing for.
Decisions that should be made are whether the ghost can be seen (and you are underscoring or mickey-mousing their actions), whether they are heard (against a supernatural texture or isolated and alone) or if we simply evoke the spirit of the ghost through musical and technological means. All of these can be done with a little effort, and you will often find all three variants in the same show.
Ghosts are hugely fun to create, and you get a real sense of control and artistic involvement when you design and operate a ghost in a theatrical setting. These morbid intrusions provide an opportunity for all elements of the theatre to come together to create something that can be moving, impressive, spectacular, emotional or entertaining, and with continual adjustment can provide a truly immersive theatrical experience for the audience.