Dame Evelyn Glennie brings over 30 years of professional music experience to the RSC this year as composer for Gregory Doran's upcoming production of Troilus and Cressida.

Working alongside co-composer and sound designer Dave Price, Evelyn has been tasked with capturing the rhythm of battle for the Trojan War setting. 

We visited her studio to watch them both at work:

Speaking about writing the music for the show, Evelyn said: “This is my first experience of writing for theatre and it’s been fascinating, scary and a huge learning curve!

"Time scales are very different, there’s a larger pool of people to co-ordinate with, certain decisions cannot be made until all elements come together in the actual theatre, balancing between live music and the spoken word…

"It’s always so different to experience the sound for the first time when reciting lines so until everything comes together we all have to keep an open mind as regards to making adjustments. The actors’ projection of their characters can have an impact on what level the music may be or how thick or thin a score may need to be or how that may be played physically.”

Evelyn has had a love of music all her life, despite becoming profoundly deaf at the age of 12. She has performed all around the world, taking part in events ranging from the Rio Carnival to the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony in London, and is credited as the first musician to sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist.

Co-composer Dave has had an equally varied career. He is well known as a theatrical composer, previously working with us on the 2016 production of Cymbeline, and has also released five albums with pop group Aqualung.

You can get a taste of their music with this audio clip from the Troilus and Cressida trailer:

To see the full trailer including the music, watch the video here.

Troilus and Cressida played in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in autumn 2018.