Dramaturgy of Sound in

the Avant-garde and

Postdramatic Theatre

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By Mladen Ovadija

Drama/Theatre Studies

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New insight into the theatrical use of sound in avant-garde

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and postdramatic performance.

264 Pages, 6 x 9
ISBN 9780773541733
July 2013
Formats: Cloth, eBook

Sound is born and dies with action. In this surprising, resourceful study,
Mladen Ovadija makes a case for the centrality of sound as an integral

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element of contemporary theatre. He argues that sound in theatre

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inevitably "betrays" the dramatic text, and that sound is performance.

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Until recently, theatrical sound has largely been regarded as supplemental

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to the dramatic plot. Now, however, sound is the subject of renewed

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interest in theatrical discourse. Dramaturgy of sound, Ovadija argues,

reads and writes a theatrical idiom based on two inseparable, intertwined
strands - the gestural, corporeal power of the performer's voice and the

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structural value of stage sound. His extensive research in experimental

performance and his examination of the pioneering work by Futurists,
Dadaists, and Expressionists enable Ovadija to create a powerful study of
autonomous sound as an essential element in the creation of synesthetic
theatre.
Dramaturgy of Sound in the Avant-garde and Postdramatic Theatre
presents a cogent argument about a continuous tradition in experimental
theatre running from early modernist to contemporary works.

"Dramaturgy of Sound in the Avant-garde and Postdramatic Theatre is a most timely and valuable book. Ovadija brilliantly brings to light new and surprising
connections in the art and criticism of a crucial historical moment." Jon E. Erickson, Department of English, Ohio State University

"If any book can be described as deliciously noisy, this is it. Excellent notes and bibliography complete the volume." CHOICE, March 2014

Mladen Ovadija is a dramaturge, university lecturer, and independent researcher. A former producer for Radio Sarajevo, he lives in Toronto.

Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 3
1 The Performativity of Voice and Sound in Theatre 9
2 Avant-garde and Postmodern Conceptions of Aurality 24
3 Sound Poetry and Bruitist Performance: Words-in-Freedom 57
4 Zaum: From a Beyonsense Language to an Idiom of Theatre 85
5 The Dramaturgy of Sound: From Futurist Serate to Sintesi 114
6 Sound as Structure: Toward an Aural Architecture of Theatre 145
7 The Avant-garde Dramaturgy of Sound 179
Epilogue 206

Notes 209
Bibliography 233
Index 245