Conference documentation: Theatre Sound as Collaboration. Part 3.3 Audio papers

Papers by Maciej Guzy and Demetris Zavros

Beyond Emotions: The Collaboration of Scenography and Sound Design in the Service of Affects by Maciej Guzy

Abstract In the paper, concluding one phase of broader research into the interplay of sound and scenography in contemporary Polish theater, I analyze the collaboration that emerged between scenographer Philip Bussmann and composer Karol Nepelski during the production of Luk Perceval’s play “3Sisters” (TR Warszawa & Stary Teatr in Kraków). I investigate the effects of their cooperation on the production’s organizational process and artistic expression of the performance. I present a technical solution that came from their idea, allowing the audience to simultaneously visualize sound waves and feel them within their own bodies. Ultimately, I aim to demonstrate that the scenographic and sonic elements used jointly in the performance have shifted the impact of Chekhov’s drama from a psychological to an affective level.

Biography Maciej Guzy is a graduate of law and theatre studies at Jagiellonian University, where he is currently preparing a PhD thesis on the sound aspects of contemporary scenography. He gained producer-curator experience in the Pracownica Kuratorska collective, which he co-founded. His articles have been published in “Przegląd Kulturoznawczy [Arts & Cultural Studies Review]”, “Pamiętnik Teatralny [Theatrical Memoir]”, and “Didaskalia. Gazeta Teatralna”. He has also contributed to “Glissando”, “Dwutygodnik”, “Dialog”, and “The Theatre Times”.

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Aurality and (ch)orality in the sonic world of Agamemnon (State Theatre of Cyprus, 2021). by Demetris Zavros

A PaR project exploring the aesthetics and politics of (ch)orality through the composition of a musical dramaturgy and a consideration of auditory semiotics in a contemporary staging of the Aeschylean tragedy.

Abstract:

Aeschylus’ Agamemnon was THOC’s (Theatre Organisation of Cyprus) first-ever production in 1971 and the play was staged again in 2021, as part of the celebrations marking the organisation’s 50th anniversary. The Greek Tragedy was directed, for the first time in THOC’s history of summer productions, by a female director, Lea Maleni, and the author was part of the creative team as composer and musical director. The paper aims to unpack the process of this practice-research project and especially considers the compositional approach to what is argued by many scholars as ‘the most complex persona of all tragic choruses’ (Fletcher, 2014, p. 62). Based primarily on Fletcher, who looks at the choral odes as a particular case of Bakhtin’s heteroglossia and discusses the idea of ‘polyphony’ and ‘silence’ in relation to [textual voicings in] tyrannical and democratic regimes, the practical investigation furthers my research in the blurring between the ‘speaking’ and ‘singing’ voice, the ‘actor as instrument’ and the ‘relational nature of authority and control’ (Radosavljevic, 2023) in music-theatre. At the heart of this audio-paper lie questions on aurality and (ch)orality that drove the creative process.

Biographical information: Demetris Zavros is a senior lecturer in Drama at Liverpool John Moores University. His research interests lie in the areas of contemporary theatre and performance praxis; ensemble, post-dramatic and composed theatre, music theatre and musical dramaturgies; intermedial theatre practices, music for theatre and PaR methodologies. He is an associate director of the theatre company Altitude North and has worked as a freelance composer for the theatre internationally. In 2012, he received the Best Music Award for Electra Orestes: The Trial (THOC).