Romeo & Juliet - Bard in The Backyard

Sound Tech • 2021

Originally slated for March 2020, Fresh Theatre‘s production of Romeo & Juliet was postponed for a year (due to plague, just as Shakespeare himself also endured.) It re-opened to a sell-out season, thanks to an eager Melbourne audience and its captivating outdoor (Covid-safe) site.

The Backyard in Maroondah is singular performance and dining venue. It’s formed by a large open space between the back alleys of Ringwood, and filled with the colours of murals and planter boxes. That was where we laid our fair Verona, with the capacity for dramatic lighting changes as the sun set.

With 17 wireless headset mics and a live band in an outdoor venue with changing temperature and humidity, this show is probably still the toughest sound engineering job I’ve tackled.