Olivier Awards 2006

Orbital invited to design industry's premeir award show

Winner of BEST SOUND DESIGN at this years awards went to Paul Arditti for BILLY ELLIOT - THE MUSICAL at the Victoria Palace. Please allow us to congratulate Paul for the great work from everyone at Orbital.

This years Olivier Awards went to :

BEST ACTRESS
Eve Best for HEDDA GABLER at the Almeida and Duke of York's

BEST ACTOR
Brian Dennehy for DEATH OF A SALESMAN at the Lyric

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Noma Dumezweni for A RAISIN IN THE SUN Young Vic at the Lyric Hammersmith

BEST NEW PLAY
ON THE SHORE OF THE WIDE WORLD by Simon Stephens at the Cottesloe

BEST NEW COMEDY
HEROES by G�rald Sibleyras translated by Tom Stoppard at Wyndham's

BEST ENTERTAINMENT
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES at the Cambridge

BEST REVIVAL
HEDDA GABLER by Henrik Ibsen in a new version by Richard Eyre at the Almeida and Duke of York's

BEST NEW MUSICAL
BILLY ELLIOT - THE MUSICAL book and lyrics by Lee Hall, music by Elton John at the Victoria Palace

OUTSTANDING MUSICAL PRODUCTION
GUYS AND DOLLS based on a story and characters of Damon Runyon, music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows at the Piccadilly

BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Jane Krakowski for GUYS AND DOLLS at the Piccadilly

BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
James Lomas, George Maguire and Liam Mower for BILLY ELLIOT - THE MUSICAL at the Victoria Palace

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL
Celia Imrie for ACORN ANTIQUES - THE MUSICAL! at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket

BEST DIRECTOR
Richard Eyre for HEDDA GABLER at the Almeida and Duke of York's

BEST THEATRE CHOREOGRAPHER
Peter Darling for BILLY ELLIOT - THE MUSICAL at the Victoria Palace

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN
DON CARLOS designed by Paule Constable at the Gielgud

BEST SET DESIGN
HEDDA GABLER designed by Rob Howell at the Almeida and Duke of York's

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
THE DOG IN THE MANGER designed by Es Devlin at the Playhouse

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN AN AFFILIATE THEATRE
BLOODY SUNDAY - SCENES FROM THE SAVILLE INQUIRY at the Tricycle Theatre

BEST NEW DANCE PRODUCTION
Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant's PUSH at Sadler's Wells

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE
Pina Bausch for the creation of NELKEN and PALERMO PALERMO at Sadler's Wells

BEST NEW OPERA PRODUCTION
English National Opera's MADAM BUTTERFLY at the London Coliseum

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN OPERA
Simon Keenlyside for his performances in the Royal Opera's 1984 at the Royal Opera House and English National Opera's BILLY BUDD at the London Coliseum

THE SOCIETY OF LONDON THEATRE SPECIAL AWARD
Sir Ian McKellen.

What does it feel like to design the sound for the London Society of Theatre Olivier Awards? Rather than speculate, we decided to interview Seb Frost, Gareth Owen and Chris Headlam, the people responsible for the sound of this unique performance :

ORB : So guys, what made you take up the gauntlet for such a high pressure show?
GARETH : Chris made me.
SEB : Chris made me too.
CHRIS : Yeah, they're right, I did.

ORB : It seems like a bit of a poison chalice to me. Lots of very important influential people who won't notice if you get it right, but will turn round and stare at you if you get it wrong?
CHRIS : Your not kidding. As onsite designer I was painfully aware of the potential pit falls.
GARETH : Yeah you would say that, but it's muggins here who has to stand behind the desk and mix the thing.
CHRIS : Hey, I operated the sound effects and the voice overs. That was pretty high pressure I can tell you.

ORB : But you guys had fun?
SEB : I had a great time. Switzerland is lovely at this time of year.

At this point Seb goes off on an unexplained tirade about Swiss airports and snow which is completely unintelligible and also seems rather irrelevant. Gareth cuts him off.

GARETH : Once you get in to the swing of it you forget to be scared. I was much more relaxed this year because I had Chris doing the voiceovers. That took a lot of the pressure off me and allowed me the luxury of concentrating on making things sound good.
CHRIS : We had a really good team onsite too. Chris Mace took care of the system while Jo Wredden did a fantastic job of with the hundreds of radio mics floating all over the place.

ORB : Will you do it again next year?
GARETH : If Chris makes me.
SEB : Yeah, that sounds about right.
CHRIS : Yep, I'll make them.

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