In terms of ‘classical sound’, we are always confronted with the inability to access sounds from the remote past, although play texts and other period-specific evidence can offer us lots of clues about how sound worked in theatre and performance.
1. Think about the role of the acoustic archaeologist. What ancient Greek or early modern English plays have you read and/or what productions have you been involved with where a knowledge of period sound would be helpful? What would a focus on sound bring to those plays or productions? How might contemporary adaptations of historically remote plays rethink or re-imagine sound?
2. Vitruvius provides very detailed instructions for maximizing the acoustic effectiveness of the theatre space. What are the acoustic properties of the theatres you have visited or worked in? How do productions adapt to the acoustic conditions there?
3. ‘Original practices’ performances aim to replicate sound production from the source period, even if contemporary audiences can only listen with twenty-first-century ears. Do you think the project of ‘authentic’ sound adds to the experience of a play from the remote past?
4. The section called ‘A Sonic Imagination of Early Modern London’ suggests some of the resources that might add to our historical knowledge of sound. If you are studying or staging a play from Shakespeare’s time (or another historical period), what kinds of historical research might help foster this ‘sonic imagination’?
