By james art 
In 2020, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s newly appointed director, Carlos Acosta, went on a “discovery mission” to learn about the company’s hometown. Amazed by the stories, culture and diversity within Birmingham, he commissioned a series of three new productions, including a look at the unique sounds and history of metal icons, Black Sabbath.
Comprised of the work of three composers, led by Christopher Austin, and three choreographers, led by Pontus Lidberg, the ballet’s story was written by the award-winning Richard Thomas, lit by lighting designer KJ and heard over three acts by Britannia Row Productions PA delivery.
Paul James, Commercial Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, commented: “This ballet is sure to bring heavy metal fans to the ballet for the first time, including legendary Black Sabbath founder and guitarist Tony Iommi, who has never been to a ballet and now attends regularly. Working with Britannia Row Account Executive Tom Brown, it was another first for the ballet to work with such a live sound provider.
Brown explained: “The ballet is not used to using a touring audio company of our size, but we seem to be enjoying the experience and really enjoyed working with them. It was a pleasure to collaborate with a delightful client who appreciated having us as part of their team; we were made to feel instrumental in their performance, as audio is such a critical aspect of this performance to get right.”
The first task was to find a composer who could work across the spectrum from rock to classical, as the piece would be performed live by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s orchestra, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia.
“Christopher Austin, who had worked on ballet orchestration for the White Stripes, was the obvious choice. He and the creative team then spent hours listening to Black Sabbath’s back catalog to identify the eight tracks that would both create that iconic theater sound and develop the lyrical “dance” elements that would make this work as a contemporary ballet. Paul added.
Birmingham Royal Ballet’s technical director, Paul Grace, added: “The three composers for this ballet have given us a wonderful new sound – a mix of heavy metal and classical music. We hired a leading sound designer, Josh Blair, who has produced for Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Paul McCartney and Duran Duran, to create a sound design to meet the complex demands of this new music.”
Blair had dedicated Avid consoles and an L-Acoustics PA system for the project, the former being his choice as he was used to the console in his studio production work. In the world of monitors, engineers Naomi Nash and Adam Taylor, who shared duties on the tour stages, also opted for Avid S6L32D consoles.
“The key concepts with the design were to maintain the integrity and clarity of a live orchestral performance, while ensuring the weight and impact expected from Black Sabbath hits such as ‘War pigs“and”Nativity in Black‘. We specified the L-Acoustics Kara II to tick the first box and added companion subwoofers – L-Acoustics SB18 – flying in a closely coupled arrangement to achieve the second,” commented Nick Boulton of Britannia Row Engineering Dept.
“Kara provided a scalable platform to allow us to ensure full coverage of the often quite complex topology of various theater spaces. This, along with low-mid beam steering, allowed for consistent high-quality audio throughout the audience. We’ve supplemented the flying system with a variety of fills, including eight 5XTs to use as spot fills or to add coverage to any area that isn’t quite as “in your face” as the musical content requires.
“The design also had additional low-end reinforcement with a cardioid array of L-Acoustics KS28 dual 18-inch subwoofers. This provided some VLF while being discreet enough to hide in the wings and not distract from the ballet performance.”
In conclusion, Paul Grace said: “We needed to work with a solid company with the expertise and skills to support us. From my first meeting with Tom Brown, I knew we were in the right hands. Tom guided us through this complex process, ensuring we had the best possible outcome in terms of our creative, technical and financial requirements. The touring technical team from Britannia Row provided an excellent service and I hope that Birmingham Royal Ballet and Britannia Row can work together again as we develop further ambitions for this unique show.’
Black Sabbath – The Ballet will continue their journey with a US tour in June 2025.
www.britanniarow.com