The Renaissance of Voice and Speech in Theatre Arts – Deconstructing and Reconstructing Theatrical Voice in the Technological Era of Sound and Music Making

Application summary

The research seeks new approaches in sound design by treating speech in Theatre Arts and its paralinguistic qualities as a versatile, affective, and bodily material – as a transmitter of energy and a medium for building feel of connectedness between the performer, the performance, and the audience. These motivations are explored by integrating knowledge and practice from the fields of sound design, speech technique, vocology, as well as practical applications from performing music. The impact of technological and artistic choices in sound design on the vocal element and the performer’s work remains largely unexplored. A research gap exists at the intersection of sound design and performer’s practices, as these fields have long developed separately, with little exchange of knowledge about the voicing body. Also, the un-collaborative ways of implementing technological tools has reinforced reduced agency and harmful hierarchies. The research addresses these issues critically by building collaboration between sound design, speech technique, and vocology through performance-making and pedagogical means, aiming to establish new forms of shared practice and artistic agency. The stage is increasingly a multi-technological environment. Artistic research provides a platform wherein it is possible to address the questions of the technological implementation: as cross-section of intimate space, body and technology, and critically examine the potentials and challenges. The two artistic parts of the research have produced new joint concepts such as collaborative sonification, ensemble playing and improvisation and play, similar to musicking (Small, 1998) and co-sounding (Lähdeoja–Montes de Oca, 2020) in music research.