Description
Book SynopsisSound provides a lively and engaging overview of relevant critical theory for students and researchers in theatre and performance studies. Addressing sound across history and through progressive developments in relevant technologies, the volume opens up the study of theatrical production and live performance to understand conceptual and pragmatic concerns about the sonic. By way of developed case studies (including Aristophanes's
The Frogs, Shakespeare's
The Tempest, Cocteau's
The Human Voice, and Rimini Protokoll's
Situation Rooms), readers can explore new methodologies and approaches for their own work on sound as a performance component. In an engagement with the burgeoning interdisciplinary field of sound studies, this book samples exciting new thinking relevant to theatre and performance studies.Part of the
Theory for Theatre Studies series which introduces core theoretical concepts that underpin the discipline,
Sound provides a
Trade ReviewThis book presents an important analysis of the fundamental function of sound in theatre, from the acoustic expanses of Ancient Greek architecture, to the personal-political spaces of contemporary Headphone theatre. The breadth of knowledge and new insights afforded by the book are a breath of fresh air for researchers and students alike in a field which is often treated as a sub-category of other disciplines. Bennett draws on a wide range of theory and philosophy to demonstrate how sound has played a much more significant role in playtexts, production and perception than traditional theatre studies scholarship has hitherto considered, and puts forward a politics of theatre sound and its potential to perform difference through acoustic experience and ethical listening. -- Lynne Kendrick, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, UK
This is an indispensable new resource for theatre students, scholars and makers. It takes readers on an engaging and thoughtful journey through the constantly evolving role of sound in theatre studies. Starting with ‘Classical Sound’ the volume considers experiences of listening, of producing sound and of being immersed in sonic environments. In the process it explores the philosophical, political, ethical and technological roles of sound from Aristotle to the 21st century. What is most impressive about this volume, however, is the nuanced way it draws together key theoretical, critical and aesthetic ideas to provide the reader with a clear sense of how these operate to shape both what they hear and do not hear within and in response to the theatre. This is a timely, valuable and thoughtfully written book that will be of great utility for all those interested in theatre, sound studies and in the acts of producing theatre, of listening and of understanding what they hear. -- Helena Grehan, Professor of Theatre and Drama Studies, Murdoch University, Australia
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Series Preface SOUND: An Introduction SECTION ONE: Classical Sound Theatres in Ancient Greece and Aristotle’s
Poetics The vocal map of ancient Greek drama Case study: Aristophanes’s
The Frogs Vitruvius on acoustics:
De Architectura Shakespeare’s Globe and Francis Bacon’s
Sylva Sylvarum Acoustic world-making on the early modern stage Case study: Shakespeare’s
The Tempest A sonic imagination of early modern London
SECTION TWO: Avant-garde Sound New technologies for sound performance Case study: Luigi Russolo’s intonamuri and ‘The Art of Noise’ Hanging on the telephone: Sigmund Freud and Roland Barthes Case study: Jean Cocteau’s
The Human Voice The sounds of silence: John Cage’s future of music Acousmatics and radiophonics: Pierre Schaffer and the BBC Aura and archive: making sound memories Case study: Samuel Beckett’s
Krapp’s Last Tape SECTION THREE: Experiential Sound Prosthetic performance and deterritorialised listening Case study: Janet Cardiff’s sound walks Listening to women: Andrea Hornick and Luce Irigaray Affective theatres of embodied sound Case study: Shannon Yee’s
Reassembled, Slightly Askew Case study: Rimini Protokoll’s
Situation Rooms Coda: sound across the world
References Further Reading Index
