Sound designer Ben Ringham: ‘My love of theatre comes from my love of Smarties’

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It is rare for Ben Ringham to do an interview by himself. Usually, he does them alongside his older brother Max. The two of them come as a pair, having worked together as sound designers and composers on hundreds of performance projects over the past two decades. Today, though, Max is abroad, so Ben is flying solo.

“Max is doing tech on a project in Amsterdam, and I am doing tech on a show in Colchester,” Ringham says. “That is normally how it works. We work on every project together, writing music and doing the sound design, and we do interviews together, but only one of us will go into the room with the director for each show.

“We worked out that was the best way of doing things quite quickly after we started,” he continues. “Directors don’t know who to talk to if we are both in the room. This way, we both get to flex our individual creative muscles and we don’t argue in front of other people. It does lead to that constant joke that there is actually only one of us, though.”

Ringham was born in 1975, four years after his brother. Their father John was a well-known actor, but his sons’ first foray into the arts was through DJing and dance music. They were roped into collaborating with immersive theatre collective Shunt by their sister Hannah in the early 2000s.

One thing led to another and they have now composed scores and designed sound at all of the country’s biggest venues, chalking up nearly 200 shows in 20 years, from Henry IV and Anna at London’s National Theatre to Quiz and Cyrano De Bergerac in the West End, to Betrayal on Broadway.

“Our house was very noisy,” Ringham says. “My dad played music constantly and it was always a battle to get on to the piano. I remember Max bought a synthesiser when I was quite young, and I desperately wanted to play with that instead of my Star Wars toys. We are still obsessed with synthesisers. I think we have about 45 in our studio in Finsbury Park.”

What production made you fall in love with theatre?

One of my first memories is going to see my dad play Long John Silver in Treasure Island. I had no concept of theatre. I just thought lots of people were trying to kill my dad, so I started screaming and ran on stage to stop them. An usher took me outside and gave me some Smarties, so my love of theatre comes from my love of Smarties, really.

What are you finding inspiring?

I have to say Prince, partly because he is my biggest inspiration and partly because it will annoy Max. I’m listening to a lot of Louis Cole at the moment. Oh, and I’m listening to The Haxan Cloak, too, which is basically just horrific, ambient noises.

What do you wish you could change about the performing arts?

I’d like to see more design-led work. There are some incredibly creative people in this industry, who don’t get a chance to create. I’d like to see that change. I’d like to see more video-led work. I’d like to see a lighting-led concept. We have had the chance to do some sound-led work, like Anna at the National Theatre, but we’d love to do more.