C’mon feel the noise and add your voice to the symphony in Fife

One of the performers in Sound Symphony is Shiori Usui who plays
the marimba, percussion and sings. Pic: Eoin Carey. — One of the performers in Sound Symphony is Shiori Usui who plays the marimba, percussion and sings. Pic: Eoin Carey.

And entertainment too often misses the extra dimensions needed to really connect with that audience, but there is a show coming to Fife that tries to provide those.

‘Sound Symphony’ is a sympathetic and complex mix of the sensory and the interactive, with each performance a celebration of making music by weaving together live classical instruments, singing and a wide range of weird and wonderful sounds.

The result is a production that creates an environment that touches the senses, where the audience can feel the music through their whole body.

The unique show is coming to The Byre Theatre in St Andrews and the Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkcaldy. Pic: Eoin Carey.

Ellie Griffiths, who came up with the idea, is a performance maker who creates sensory theatre shows for those defy the tradition of the static, silent audience.

She has made shows for, and with, babies, toddlers, young people with complex needs, young people on the autistic spectrum and adults with dementia.

The 34-year-old, who trained at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, explained the background to ‘Sound Symphony’.

“I worked for seven years as a performer with a sensory theatre company, Oily Cart, which is based in London,” she said.

From left: Ellie Griffiths, who created the show, is pictured with a helper and one of the youngsters enjoying the performance. Pic: Brian Hartley

“I kept noticing that many young people on the autistic spectrum would be fascinated by the sound sources in the show – the instruments, voices or speakers.

“Often I would see young people getting as close as possible to the speakers, enjoying a whole body experience of sound.

“This really contradicts the idea that everyone on the autistic spectrum needs the sound turned down in shows.

“I think there is no ‘one size fits all’, so I wanted to make a show that placed sound centre stage.”

‘Sound Symphony’ is specifically aimed at young people with profound autism with Ellie aware that, for many of them, it will be the first time they have been to a theatre.

“It is really important that they are the dominant culture in the room for once, rather than being asked to fit into our way of doing things,” she added.  “I have been making sensory theatre for about eight years now and completely love it.”

Ellie sees ‘Sound Symphony’, which her collaborators have been researching and developing for three years, as a completely new piece of theatre.

“This tour is the first and, with the long build-up, it means a huge amount to me and to the whole ‘Sound Symphony’ team that has worked for a long time to get it to this point.

“These shows are not complete until they meet their audiences, so it’s a real joy seeing it finally coming to life.”

“These audiences only have up to eight young people in each show, to make sure it is not too overwhelming, and it is very personalised and responsive.

“We made it this way based on research which showed that many families who have a young person with profound autism can be extremely limited in options of things to do outside of school.

“One teacher of a school for pupils with profound autism said to me that the reality for most of the pupils was that they went home on the school bus on a Friday and didn’t leave the house again until the school bus picked them up on a Monday.

“When we had interviews with parents, they said they feared being judged, as many young people have what is considered ‘challenging behaviours’.

“They also struggle to find activities that are engaging or consider the way their young person relates to the world. This means they don’t feel welcome or invited into many public spaces.

“This can lead to high social isolation amongst this group.

“Much of our project has been ‘training’ the venues with young people with autism, and trying to broker relationships between families and venues.”

Greg Sinclair plays the cello and sings; Shiori Usui plays the marimba, percussion and sings; Sonia Allori plays the clarinet, bassoon and sings. The performers all play their instruments and later in the show play with a wider range of sounds and noises, bringing them into the symphony. They also improvise, so they echo the sounds of the young people.