Lakespeare’s Macbeth: Audio Worth of the Scottish Highlands

Image taken by Sidestage

Image taken by Sidestage

Canberra's Lakespeare theatre company produces annual productions of Shakespeare's most famous works, set within our city's beautiful open spaces.

In 2025 Sidestage partnered once again with Lakespeare to deliver audio production for their season of Macbeth, presenting shows at the Patrick White Lawns and Haig Park.

With crowds reaching up to 1,700 we focused on clear, consistent coverage across such large spaces.

The first step to achieving the desired coverage was a distributed system of 8x QSC K12 loudspeakers - these supplemented the main QSC KW152 loudspeakers and KW181 subwoofers which took care of the low end bass frequencies that were so important in the high tension moments of the play.

Sidestage's audio operator used time delay processing so that sound from different speakers didn't mix and create distracting echoes.

Photo Credit: Lakespeare

We also supplied 14 channels of Shure ULXD wireless headset microphones giving performers complete freedom to move whilst ensuring every word was clearly heard.

Working in an outdoor space always presents challenges and this time wind was our biggest enemy. Our audio operator implemented clever audio gating and compression to minimise the amount of wind noise picked up by the headset microphones which further ensured speech clarity.

Image taken by Sidestage

The cultural impact of Lakespeare extends further then just a play. It’s a community event where guests bring picnics, takeaway from Braddon, and settle in for an evening of drama under the stars.

Lakespeare continues to prove that Shakespeare can be both accessible and powerful, especially when backed by thoughtful technical production.

Audience members, even those unfamiliar with Shakespeare, were drawn into the action, with the open-air environment adding to the sense of immersion.