Synopses & Reviews
Sound experimentation by avant-garde theatre artists of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries is an important but largely ignored aspect of theatre history. In this book, Curtin shows how attention to this activity enhances our understanding of artistic practice (modernism) and historical circumstance (modernity) and considers how avant-gardists staged sonic modernity by exploring its conceptual and communicative possibilities as well as its experiential realities. He critically examines avant-garde theatre through a composite analysis of dramatic texts, historical productions, sound recordings, philosophical speculations, and social movements.
Synopsis
Sound experimentation by avant-garde theatre artists of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries is an important but ignored aspect of theatre history. Curtin explores how artists engaged with the sonic conditions of modernity through dramatic form, characterization, staging, technology, performance style, and other forms of interaction.
About the Author
Adrian Curtin is a Lecturer in Drama at the University of Exeter, UK. He has written journal articles and book chapters on the subjects of theatre sound, modernism, and musical performance. He is the winner of the 2010 New Scholar's Prize, awarded by the International Federation of Theatre Research.
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Sound of No Hands Clapping
1. The Acoustic Imaginary
2. Theatre Sound in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
3. Reinventing