Theatre in the Dark Shadow, Gloom and Blackout in Contemporary Theatre

This edited collection of essays explores how theatre works in the dark, examining performances that blur the boundary between stage and auditorium by turning out the lights, and the significance of seeing and listening in darkness to some of this new century's most exciting and innovative theatre artists. Theatre in the Dark responds to the rising tide of experimentation in dark theatre aesthetics, bringing together, for the first time, leading and emerging practitioners and researchers in a volume dedicated to theatre in the dark.

As well as examining the history of how theatre lowered the lights in order to see differently, the book also explores the work of a growing number of theatre makers experimenting with the aesthetic potential of darkness, including Sound&Fury, Lundahl & Seitl, Chris Goode, David Rosenberg and Glen Neath.

The book is divided into three parts:
Dark Aesthetics
Dark Phenomena
Dark Culture

Opening up a field of research that considers the aesthetics and phenomenology of dark theatre performances, along with their contexts, Theatre in the Dark proposes and explores areas for discussion and debate that will appeal to researchers, practitioners and audiences alike.

Adam Alston is a Lecturer in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Surrey, UK. His research explores the aesthetics and politics of immersive theatre, and work and labour in contemporary theatre and performance. He is a founding member of Curious Directive and part of a small editorial team for Contemporary Theatre Review's newly launched online resource.
Martin Welton is a Senior Lecturer in Theatre and Performance Studies in the Department of Drama at Queen Mary University of London, UK. His research is concerned with practical and critical approaches to movement and the senses in performance. He is the author of the monograph Feeling Theatre (2011).

Introduction

Part One: Dark Aesthetics
Chapter 1 'Harnessing shadows: A historical perspective on the role of darkness in the theatre', by Scott Palmer (University of Leeds, UK)
Chapter 2 'Dining in the dark: Theatre in the dark's sensible fabric', by Adam Alston (University of Surrey, UK)
Chapter 3 'Creating in the dark: Conceptualising different darknesses in contemporary practice', by Liam Jarvis (Analogue/Royal Holloway University of London, UK)

Part Two: Dark Phenomena
Chapter 4 'Theatre in the dark: Blind(fold)ed by light in the work of Lundahl & Seitl', by Josephine Machon (Middlesex University, UK) with Christer Lundahl and Martina Seitl (Lundahl & Seitl)
Chapter 5 'Aural visions: sonic spectatorship in the dark', by Lynne Kendrick (Central School of Speech and Drama, UK)
Chapter 6 'Phantom power: Uncertainty, reflection and meaning in the dark', by George Home-Cook and Tom Espiner (Sound & Fury)
Chapter 7 'Shifts in social dynamics: Pitch-black theatre and visual impairment', by Amelia Cavallo and Maria Oshodi (Extant)

Part Three: Dark Culture
Chapter 8 'In praise of gloom: The theatre defaced', by Martin Welton (Queen Mary University of London, UK)
Chapter 9 'The power of “vulnerability”: Theatre in the dark and the society of the spectacle', by Sofia Apospori (Royal Holloway University of London, UK)
Chapter 10 'Playing with shadows in the dark', by Matthew Cohen (Royal Holloway University of London, UK)
Chapter 11 'Under the night sky', by Marina Kotzamani (University of the Peleponnese, Greece)
Endnotes
Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index

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