Peter Pan 360 Kensington Gardens, UK and touring

By maria.c

Peter Pan 360

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maria.c

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Opening in London’s Kensington Gardens in 2009, 360 Productions’ Peter Pan was a spectacular and technologically ground-breaking touring play staged in a bespoke 1000-seat circus tent. The audience was enveloped and transported to J. M. Barrie’s magical Neverland by an immersive surround-sound system and 15,000 square feet of high resolution digital scenic projections across the roof of the tent.

Peter Pan was entering final rehearsals when serious acoustical problems were identified; speech intelligibility between the actors was very poor, and the sound engineer was experiencing feedback through the loudspeakers making even limited amplification impossible. Sometime later the production toured to a location just outside the O2 Arena in North Greenwich and faced another equally serious acoustic problem; potential noise disturbance to neighbours threatened the granting of a public performance license.

On both occasions Sound Space Design was appointed to swiftly diagnose, rectify, and manage the issues so that the show could go on.

At Kensington Gardens our investigations revealed the roots of the acoustical problems; a combination of sound reflections created by the tent geometry, the stage location within that geometry, and high levels of background noise. We carefully designed and applied sound-absorbing finishes to tame the reflections from the cupola and to reduce fan noise from the scenic projectors. We also addressed the re-siting and resetting of large mechanical plant, reducing noise emissions and minimising airflow roar from the fabric air ducts.

At North Greenwich we provided technical recommendations to reduce noise disturbance to neighbours, ensuring the best levels of amplification were not only achievable but also compliant with the environmental noise limits. We also represented the production both at noise monitoring visits carried out by the local council and at public meetings with the community, assuring them that the issue was being expertly managed.

360 Productions’ Peter Pan went from strength to strength, becoming a touring success playing to hundreds of thousands of theatre-goers across Europe and North America.