Sound: A Reader in Theatre Practice

This unique collection of key writings on sound design explores how sound is used to create meaning and atmosphere in the theatre. Sound draws on a wide-ranging compilation of newly commissioned work as well as rare readings and interviews, held together by a fascinating and provocative narrative. Covering aspects of the discipline such as changing hearing cultures, semiotics and the phenomenology of theatre sound, this diverse selection of readings takes the reader beyond the basics of sound effects and into the fascinating space and time of theatre aurality.

ROSS BROWN is Dean of Studies and Reader in Sound at the Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London. He is Convenor of the International Theatre Sound Colloquium. His professional career as a theatre composer, musician and sound designer includes productions for BBC Radio Drama, Shared Experience, RSC, The Almeida, BAC, The Gate, The Royal Court, The Shadow Syndicate, Glasgow Citizens', Lancaster Duke's, Derby Playhouse, Red Shift and many other prestigious companies in the commercial and subsidised sectors.

Acknowledgements	p. x
Series Editor's Preface	p. xii
Preface	p. xiii
List of Readings	p. xv
Introduction: The Theatre of Sound I	p. 1
Immersivity	p. 1
Critical Perspective	p. 3
Theatrum Mundi	p. 4
Dramaturgically Organized Noise	p. 9
Defining Theatre Sound Design	p. 11
Design	p. 11
The Somewhat Reluctant Discourse of Theatre Sound	p. 13
Conclusion	p. 15
What the Textbooks Say	p. 16
Stage Sound in 1904	p. 16
The 'Business of Making Noises'	p. 24
The Scope and Limitations of Theatre Sound	p. 30
The Use of Sound	p. 34
Sound Design and Craft	p. 39
Art and Craft in Theatre Sound Design	p. 42
Sound versus Music, and Peter Sellers on the Ontological Aurality of Theatre	p. 44
Conclusion	p. 47
The Pre-History of Sound Design	p. 49
Introduction	p. 49
Sound 'Within the Wooden O'	p. 50
Music 'In Production' at the Blackfriars Theatre	p. 60
Music and Melodrama	p. 63
The Picturesque of Sound	p. 38
The Duke of Rhubarb	p. 69
The Dramaturgy of Pause, Quietness and Silence	p. 73
Aural Dramaturgy and Symbolism	p. 78
Conclusion	p. 81
Alternative Takes	p. 82
Sound and Ritual Practices	p. 82
Magic through Sound: Illusion, Reception and Agreed Pretence	p. 90
The Dramaturgy of Silence	p. 96
The Relationship between Sound and Theatre	p. 102
Five Sound Designers in Their Own Words	p. 104
Napier beyond Realism	p. 104
Paul Arditti on Theatre Sound Design in the Digital Age	p. 106
Hans Peter Kuhn on Theatre and Sonic Art	p. 111
John Collins on Devising Sound with the Wooster Group and ERS	p. 117
An Interview with Jonathan Deans	p. 121
Theatrically Organized Hearing	p. 125
Problems with Sound as Scenography	p. 127
Showing	p. 127
Recording	p. 129
Outside the Empire of Signs	p. 132
Auditory Engagement/Aural Distraction	p. 135
Live Listening: The Aural Phenomenology of Theatre	p. 138
The Phenomenology of Auditory Experience	p. 139
Atmo-sphere	p. 143
Liveness	p. 145
Resounding Theatres	p. 149
Stone Age Sound Design	p. 149
Vitruvius on Architecture	p. 154
Privileging the Aural: Shakespearian Acoustics	p. 160
Alternative Realities	p. 163
The Sonic Scene	p. 163
Surround Sound	p. 169
Designing Surround Sound at the Manchester Royal Exchange	p. 171
Richard K. Thomas on The Sounds of Time	p. 177
John Levack Drever on Sound Effect - Object - Event	p. 188
Introduction	p. 188
The Umbilical Sound Effect	p. 190
Inauguration: The Judge (1890)	p. 192
The Operation of Sound Effects Today	p. 193
Sound Object: A Return to the 'Innocent Ear'	p. 197
'Fright Effecf'	p. 200
Sound Event: Contextual Listenings	p. 201
Acoustemology	p. 202
Conclusion	p. 204
Conclusion: The Theatre of Sound II	p. 206
How to Think about Theatre Sound Design	p. 206
How-to-Do Theatre Sound Design	p. 219
Bibliography	p. 222
Index	p. 233
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Sound: A Reader in Theatre Practice

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials