ROCKET FUEL

I worked as sound designer on Rocket Fuel, a theatrical dining experience produced by Little Earthquake in collaboration with Kaye Winwood Projects. The project commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with an immersive, theatrical dining experience that told the story of the 1969 NASA mission.

Inspired by the astronauts in flight menu and key events on their journey to the moon, the audience enjoyed a specially designed eight course menu. The dinner was hosted by the Flight Director (or CapCom) and a ground crew of servers. It was interspersed with scenes featuring astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins that charted the entire mission from pre-blast-off briefing to post-mission ticker tape parade.

The audience were cast as guests of NASA and seated in mission control. Presented in the round, the combination of 3 video projection screens, surround sound, scenic and lighting design created an immersive environment in which the actors performed and food was served. The sound design featured sound effects, music sequences, popular music tracks from 1969 and an arrangement of Purcell’s Cold Song and was spatialized on a 9 channel speaker array.

Rocket Fuel was part of MoonFest – a nine-day programme of moon inspired events, performances, screenings and activities created with artists, academics and audience members. The festival included an information hub and exhibition space called Mission Control. I also composed a 15 min soundscape that played as an installation in this space. It features recordings from the NASA audio archive.

Rocket Fuel was performed at mac Birmingham 19-20 July 2019