{"id":1162131,"date":"2026-04-14T17:56:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T15:56:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.l-acoustics.com\/?post_type=press-release&p=1162131"},"modified":"2026-04-14T17:56:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T15:56:53","slug":"shakespeares-globe-takes-a-new-direction-with-l-acoustics-l-isa-hyperreal-sound-for-pinocchio-musical","status":"publish","type":"press-release","link":"https:\/\/www.l-acoustics.com\/fr\/press-releases\/shakespeares-globe-takes-a-new-direction-with-l-acoustics-l-isa-hyperreal-sound-for-pinocchio-musical\/","title":{"rendered":"Shakespeare’s Globe Takes a New Direction with L-Acoustics L-ISA Hyperreal Sound for Pinocchio Musical"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Designer Tony Gayle enlists Autograph Sound to deploy a L-ISA Hyperreal configuration to make amplified sound invisible at the internationally iconic acoustic theatre<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

LONDON, UK \u2013 April 2026 \u2013<\/strong> Shakespeare\u2019s Globe is one of the most acoustically and architecturally singular performance spaces on earth. A meticulous reconstruction of the open-air Elizabethan playhouse where Shakespeare himself premiered Hamlet, Julius Caesar and King Lear, it is built from English oak using 16th-century mortise and tenon joinery. And it holds the distinction of being the only building in London permitted to have a thatched roof since the Great Fire of 1666. Its circular structure wraps the audience on three sides around a wide, thrust stage, with 600 standing audience \u2018Groundlings\u2019 in the open pit and 1,000 seated in the three tiers of gallery seating rising steeply above them, with the closest boxes barely metres from the actors. It is a space designed from the outset for the unaided human voice. The intimacy and acoustic directness of the design are treated as fundamental to the experience of Shakespeare\u2019s theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 2025, the Globe staged a brand-new musical,<\/em> Pinocchio, as part of its festive season run in the open-air theatre.<\/em> This new smash-hit production was aimed at families, and Pinocchio<\/em>\u2019s creative team recognised that a live band, songs and young audience members called for temporary sound reinforcement \u2013 without changing the fabric or aesthetic of the theatre, and with respect to the unique Globe audience experience. Amplification has been used across the years of the Globe\u2019s history, especially for special events such as music gigs, comedy shows, poetry events, etc. and as one of the last-remaining unamplified theatres, the Globe is proud to champion the power of the unamplified human voice across its year-round activity. However, a musical during winter in the open-air presented real challenges for ensuring they produced a world-class experience for families coming to the theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Shakespeare's
Shakespeare’s Globe takes a new direction with L-Acoustics L-ISA Hyperreal Sound for\u00a0Pinocchio musical<\/em><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"In
In December 2025, the Globe staged a brand-new musical, Pinocchio, as part of its festive season run in the open-air theatre\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The goal was therefore clear – the solution had to be transparent, with sound that audiences would feel rather than notice. L-ISA Hyperreal\u2019s object-based spatial audio, which distributes individual sound sources across a multi-array configuration to align what audiences hear with what they see on stage, made that level of naturalness achievable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pinocchio<\/em>\u2019s producer, Shakespeare\u2019s Globe, approached Olivier Award-winning sound designer Tony Gayle after hearing his work on My Neighbour<\/em> Totoro<\/em>, a production which earned Gayle an Olivier Award for Best Sound Design. \u201cThe team were looking for something similar for Pinocchio<\/em>. It needed to be transparent and natural, particularly for the vocals,\u201d says Toby Chester, Global Application Lead for Musicals at L-Acoustics. \u201cGayle\u2019s expertise was a welcome addition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Two
Two L-Acoustics KS21 subwoofers underpinned the low-end, keeping bass tight and controlled in the open-air environment\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Five
Five L-Acoustics X12 speakers formed the main Scene system<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Globe as an acoustic space, and why L-ISA Was the Exception<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe decision to amplify this production at the Globe wasn\u2019t taken lightly,\u201d says Will McGonagle, Hire Manager at Autograph. \u201cSince re-opening in 1997, the theatre has championed an unamplified acoustic space. Its audiences come to the Globe expecting an experience that\u2019s akin to Shakespeare\u2019s time \u2013 acoustic, lively big story-telling. We knew that any sound design would need to earn its place without drawing attention to itself. The brief was therefore to achieve intelligibility and musical clarity for a family audience, while remaining entirely invisible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"The
The most distinctive element of the design was the spatial fill system deployed across the gallery boxes, every individual box was equipped with three 5XT, 113 in total\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The Globe\u2019s open-air, circular auditorium means sound behaves differently to a conventional enclosed theatre, contending with wind, the weather and the natural reverberation of the room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An Open-Air Wooden Theatre in Wind and Weather: Modelling the Space in Soundvision First<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Globe presented a unique set of challenges to Gayle, Chester and Autograph. Its open-air, circular auditorium means sound behaves differently to a conventional enclosed theatre, contending with wind, the weather and the natural reverberation of the room. It is also a challenge to achieve consistent coverage across the pit and the three gallery tiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe biggest issue was probably how it was going to look,\u201d Chester says. \u201cThe technology couldn\u2019t appear too industrial. The theatre is a deeply historic, wooden building. Understandably, the production team didn\u2019t want to see lots of equipment in there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find the right solution, L-Acoustics and Autograph used L-Acoustics Soundvision software in cohorts with Gayle to model the space and present multiple configuration options to the Globe and Pinocchio<\/em> teams. They even brought physical speakers to the venue so the Globe could assess their size and visual impact before any commitment was made. The speakers chosen, which had L-Acoustics distinctive dark brown colour, ultimately disappeared into the architecture entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"In
In December 2025, the Globe staged a brand-new musical,\u00a0Pinocchio,\u00a0as part of its festive season run in the open-air theatre<\/em><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Five X12 for the Stage, 113 5XT for the Galleries: L-ISA Sound Spaces utilised on Every Tier<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final system was supplied by Autograph and prepped and installed by a team of audio professionals who closely work with Gayle. Five X12<\/a> formed the main Scene system, flown across the front of the stage. Two KS21<\/a> subwoofers underpinned the low-end, keeping bass tight and controlled in the open-air environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most distinctive element of the design, however, was the spatial fill system deployed across the gallery boxes. With speakers arranged across three tiers encircling the auditorium, every individual box was equipped with three 5XT<\/a> \u2014 113 in total \u2014 making it the largest L-Acoustics spatial fill system of its kind deployed to date. For audience members seated in the upper-tier boxes, where the main stage audio system is obscured, these fills carried the entire audio experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To manage this complexity, the system was built around an L-ISA Processor II<\/a>, with LA7.16<\/a> amplified controllers and LS10<\/a> switches handling signal distribution via a redundant Milan-AVB. Chester adds: \u201cUsing the LA7.16 amplifiers reduced our overall power consumption significantly and meant that our footprint in the tech space was significantly reduced, by more than half, when compared to traditional amplifiers. The amplifiers were built in L-Acoustics LA RAK III<\/a> which are prebuilt with dual redundant ABV connectivity using LS10 network switches along with additional AES\/analogue fallback capability which reduce the time needed to prepare and program equipment in the warehouse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four discrete Sound Spaces were configured within L-ISA<\/a>: a main sound space for the primary Scene system, and one dedicated space for each of the central boxes. This along with using the Source Trims feature to adjust the mix for those seated closer to the stage who hear more of the band acoustically allowed the team to deliver a tailored mix to every area of the house. The source trims feature within L-ISA proved to be invaluable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"The
The Globe had the largest L-Acoustics spatial fill system of its kind deployed to date<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Using
Using the L-Acoustics LA7.16 amplifiers reduced the overall power consumption significantly, meaning that the footprint in the tech space was reduced by more than half<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Audiences Heard the Story, Not the System, and Pinocchio Returns in 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result was everything the creative team had hoped for. Audience feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with the musical director and creative director among those who praised the system\u2019s performance. Most importantly of all, Gayle\u2019s sound design achieved what had been asked of it: audiences were absorbed in the story of Pinocchio<\/em> without ever being distracted by the technology making it possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Chester, the project proved something important about the relationship between L-ISA\u2019s spatial distribution and the perception of naturalness. \u201cThe 5XT is a remarkably compact speaker. Small enough to sit inside a gallery box without disrupting the architecture. That physical discretion is what made the fill system possible at the Globe in the first place,\u201d he notes. \u201cTogether with Autograph, we were able to deliver subtlety through a professional sound system that served the production without compromising the Globe\u2019s identity or the audience\u2019s experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"The
The system was built around an L-ISA Processor II, with LA7.16 amplified controllers and LS10 switches handling signal distribution via a redundant Milan-AVB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Shakespeare\u2019s
Shakespeare\u2019s Globe is one of the most acoustically and architecturally singular performance spaces on earth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Press release assets are found by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Designer Tony Gayle enlists Autograph Sound to deploy a L-ISA Hyperreal configuration to make amplified sound invisible at the internationally iconic acoustic theatre LONDON, UK \u2013 April 2026 \u2013 Shakespeare\u2019s Globe is one of the most acoustically and architecturally singular performance spaces on earth. A meticulous reconstruction of the open-air Elizabethan playhouse where Shakespeare himself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":1162134,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"news_tags":"","tags_api":"","footnotes":""},"news-tag":[],"class_list":["post-1162131","press-release","type-press-release","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nShakespeare's Globe Takes a New Direction with L-ISA Hyperreal Sound- L-Acoustics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Designer Tony Gayle enlists Autograph Sound to deploy a L-ISA Hyperreal configuration to make amplified sound invisible at the internationally iconic acoustic theatre\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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