Sound design in theatre: Interruptions, counterpoints and punctuations − an interview with Mic Pool

Mic Pool has been working in theatre for over 40 years. He has had residencies as sound designer at the Lyric Hammersmith, the Royal Court, Tyne Theatre Company Ballet Rambert and the West Yorkshire Playhouse, alongside a busy freelance career. Pool has designed for more than 350 productions and he received a Tony Award for The 39 Steps (2008). Here, Pool talks to George Rodosthenous about theatre sound, preparation and rehearsal techniques, the challenges of working with both classical repertoire and musical theatre and how sound design, the ‘least consciously perceptible element’ of a production, becomes ‘powerful as a tool to propel and empower a production’.