The music of the History plays. Tayo Akinbode composed the music for our three History plays, H

The music of the History plays. Tayo Akinbode composed the music for our three History plays, Henry Parts 1 and 2 and Henry V. We asked him to give us some insight into his process -the challenges and joys of working across three plays in a collective of actors and creatives. My name is Tayo (Akintayo) Akinbode, I’m a freelance composer, musical director, sound designer and musician. It was Stephen Warbeck who first introduced me to the music department at the Globe. The first thing I did here was ‘Sonnet Sunday’ in 2012. All 154 sonnets were performed by actors from around the world in about 25 different languages. I accompanied some of them with music. I did Sonnet Sunday again last year with Federay Holmes (directing the History plays with Sarah Bedi), that’s partly how I ended up on these shows.It’s not uncommon for a composer to be working on three or more plays at once, but I’ve never done three by the same writer, with the same group of actors at the same time. Early on one of the biggest challenges was simply getting the three plays separately into my head. Several of the characters are in more than one of the plays and I found the scenes would merge in my mind. I was in and out of the first half of rehearsals. I got to know Falstaff (Henry IV Part 2) best first, and then eventually Hotspur (Henry IV Part 1). I only felt I knew Harry England (Henry V) towards the end of the rehearsal process. It was important to understand the differences and similarities between the three plays in order to compose music for them.Everything in the creation of these plays was done working as a collective, so naturally that includes the music. That doesn’t mean I wrote the music with the company… I would have loved to have, but there simply wasn’t the time to do that. I had sessions with the company, singing, drumming and chatting about musical ideas. The music sounds the way it does because I worked with the actors to generate the musical ideas. For example, in one play there is a line in the script that simply says ’she sings in Welsh’. I had a chat with the actor who plays that part and we worked out how the song should feel… Celtic, free and definitely with a drone. Separately, another actor who is Welsh found an old Welsh folk song. We ended up fusing those two elements and that’s how we finish the first half of Henry IV Part 1.We, the wider ensemble making these plays, are a diverse and real snapshot of contemporary Britain. When starting work on these plays there was no ‘angle’. By that I mean we were not setting them in the present day, or in the 1930s, in 10th century Japan or anything like that. So the only thing I had to go on to create the world of the music was us, the company. I hope I’ve managed to create a sound that reflects us where we are now, where we’ve come from and our history.I don’t have a favourite play, but then you’d probably expect me to say that! Musically, for me the 3 plays are quite different. The first has very little music until the end of the play when it suddenly gets very busy because of all the fighting. The second has probably the most range in that there’s a sort of tango, an Arabic influenced tune with a Baladi rhythm, some fanfares even a funky jig. The third has by far the most music. I like them all in different ways.The Globe is a unique theatre space, it’s sort of indoors but outdoors. The music played there is entirely acoustic. One of the biggest challenges is having a range of different instruments and keeping them well balanced. It’s easy getting a trumpet to carry a long way but not so easy to do the same with an acoustic guitar. Also instruments sound different close up and at a distance. We have 2 snare drums, a high quality expensive one and a tiny one from a child’s drum kit. Up close the expensive sounds great, whereas from a distance, when all the other instruments are playing it doesn’t sound so good, but the kid’s one sounds amazing!If I had to choose just instrument to sum up each of the plays I would say Henry IV Part 1, ‘Hotspur’ is like a trombone. Sometimes it’s very funny but at other times it’s all about loud battles and confrontation.Henry IV Part 2 ‘Falstaff’ is like a saxophone. It’s a puzzle of a play, at times sensual, mysterious;  it can be very different at different times. I can’t decide which instrument Henry V ‘Harry England would be… It’s politics and wars and trying to work things out, maybe it’s a drum kit - four limbs working separately but together, trying to create a big wild cohesive sound.Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 and Henry V are playing at Shakespeare’s Globe until 11 October 2019. Photography by Tristram Kenton  -- source link

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