Blood Knot
The Monomoy Theatre, Chatham MA
Hahne Studio Theater, Ohio University
by Athol Fugard
Directed by Shelley Delaney
Sound Design by Garrett Hood
Scenic Design by Emmy Weldon
Costume Design by Natalia De La Torre
Lighting Design by Zach Weeks
Blood Knot tells the story of two brothers, Zachariah and Morris, who live in a one-room shack in the town of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Tension develops between the pair (one dark skinned and the other light skinned) as they accidentally begin a written correspondence with a white woman. The inspiration for my sound design came straight from the dense, painful racial and emotional content the play explores. The sounds of the play were dominated by heavily pitch-altered, percussive acoustic guitar I composed and recorded. The production was later remounted with the original designs at Ohio University.
As the play comes to a breathless conclusion, Zachariah and Morris begin to understand the struggle they face living together in such close quarters, and what it means for their own identities.
"It is what they call the blood knot. The bond between brothers."
This piece draws the play into its final moment, helping reveal the implications of 'The Blood Knot.'
photo by Daniel Winters
photo by Daniel Winters
The distant, ethereal voice of Zach's mother wakes him from a dream, which gives the audience a delicate break from the heavily distorted music that makes up the rest of the play. This is a melody I composed to complement Fugard's text, and the vocals are sung by Juwan Crawley.
photo by Garrett H Hood
I wrote this piece for the end of the first scene of Blood Knot. It establishes the distorted acoustic guitar, and creates a dark, painful envelope for the rest of the action. The conflict between brothers has begun to take shape, and these sounds are a precursor of the rest of the conflict and violence.