| Abstract |
Summary\nThe key premise of this book is to explore the notion of 'musicality' as a key programmatic concept for theatre practitioners past and present. Music, both as an acoustic phenomenon and a symbolic language which shapes and organises space and time, has frequently been employed as a model for other arts and in particular the theatre at key moments of its history. Theatre directors, actors and theoreticians such as Goethe, Kleist, Brecht, Meyerhold or Craig have expressed their desire for theatre to be like music, for actors to develop an acute sense of rhythm, for directors to control the polyphony of theatrical means of expression like a composer or conductor would. They have thus argued for the necessity of 'musicality' in (the) theatre and in theatre making.\nIn order to investigate this phenomenon I will initially suggest a widened notion of musicality as a frame of embodied mind rather than an individual ability or talent, and will introduce ideas of a collective musicality. By this I mean that the notion of musicality can be more widely applied to both the material and immaterial elements of the theatre, such as bodies, texts, objects on the one hand and light, time, or sound on the other. I will then explore this notion of musicality in five main directions: \n\n1. Its historical dimension as it is present in programmatic writings of the theatre across the centuries and countries (focussing on European theatre). I will explore in particular notions of Rhythm in Theatre, Improvisation, Form and Structure, Scores and Notations, and metaphors such as the Polyphony of Theatrical Means of Expression or of Bodies and Stages as Instruments.\n2. I will compare these historical notions of musicality to contemporary practices and processes.\n3. I will contextualise the findings in contemporary interart theory and methodology, which are concerned with the increasing questioning of both the boundaries between art forms in their traditional separation into disciplines and between art and life itself. I will identify and pinpoint key characteristics and strategies of interart practices based on my findings in 1 and 2. \n4. I will seek to investigate the implications of my findings for our wider notions of theatricality and musicality. 'Theatricality' has proven to be a fruitful concept not only for investigating what is specific about the processes and practices of theatre as an art form, but also how these characteristics apply and occur elsewhere. Similarly, I will seek to arrive at a notion of 'musicality' that is productive outside the realm of music itself, for example in theatre processes, but also in other areas of life (communication, medicine, IT etc.).\n5. Finally, I will address the question of impact by developing a presentation and workshop for theatre professionals and pedagogues, who will benefit from a better understanding of musicality in (the) theatre in their creative and pedagogical practice as it significantly widens the range of approaches to theatre making commonly available. The presentation / workshop will based on my own current and previous research as well as practical and pedagogical experiences.\n\nThe outcomes of this research project will be valuable to theatre historians and theoreticians who are interested in past and recent developments towards interart practices and theories, and to theatre practitioners as well as pedagogues across the creative sector, who are interested in creation and process across artistic disciplines. The research project builds on the success of my previous research, which was articulated in the international recognised AHRC funded workshop series on 'Process of Devising Composed Theatre', the award-winning essay on Musicalisation in Contemporary German Theatre (2008) and an invited keynote/article on Musicality in Performer and Director Training (2009) |