Cue or interact?

The most common way of controlling sound in a theater performance is by cuing it; the sound engineer starts and stops the different sounds at predetermined times through the performance, and the actors may also cue their actions to predetermined cue-points in a sound passage. This is in fact also interaction through sound, in the same sense as several musicians playing together. The sound engineer interacts with the actors and the other people involved (the light engineer, the crew behind the stage, etc.) to create a total experience where all the parts fit smoothly and synced together. Manual cuing is the simplest way of placing sound right in a performance; whenever cuing is the best solution to a problem, then cue.

So when is it a point to use sensor technology for such interaction? Sensor interaction should not be just for the sake of using sensors; it should add something to some part of the performance and the experience of it. But that's not to say that everything cueable is better off cued. Making sound interactive changes the way the actors relate to the sound, which in turn changes the audiences experience. When an actor interacts with a computer system, there's a possibility of zero reaction lag and a more organic relationship between the sound and the action on stage. The actor does not wait for the sound to be cued; he makes the sound himself, and explores the sounds of the stage surroundings, just like anyone would explore and experience in real life.

Can sound be a character?

In a theatre play or a movie, sound is used to describe situations or surroundings, and to create emotions in the audience. But in what sense can sound act as an independent character in the play?

A fictional character can be described as "the person or conscious entity we imagine to exist within the world of a work of fiction" (Wikipedia). Characters can be real people within the fiction world, but they can also be used as impersonations of something abstract, like an emotion. But what if we go the other way around; if sound, say a piece of music, is used to generate an emotion at different stages of a play, could that piece of music be thought of as a character in the play? Could sound alone constitute a role?

About the project

This is the blog of my diploma project, acting audio.
In this project I will explore the use of sound as an interactive element in theater. Some key questions are:

• In what ways can interactive sound be used in theater? What role can it play?
• How can sound influence the way a theater play is interpreted?
• How does an interactive sound system influence the actor's process?
• What does an interactive sound design do to the audience's experience of a theater performance?

Through this spring term I will research, test, learn, prototype, think, watch, listen, write, scratch my head, test something else, prototype again, and so forth. Hopefully, this will result in a sound design for a theater play, where interaction between sound and actors (and perhaps audience) is used in a meaningful way.

I'll be working together with two theater productions. The main work will be for an extract of "Mitt lille en-hund-show" by Kristin Aa. Opdan, based on texts by Gro Dahle. Directed by Kristin Aa. Opdan. This production is to be performed live as a part of my final project presentation. In addition to this, I'll be working with a production at Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo (KHIO): an extract of "Emigrantene" by Slavomir Mrozek. Directed by Kristina Kjeldsberg, scenography by Lisa Jørgensen. This production is to be performed at KHIO in april, as a student project in direction and scenography. For my project, this will be an extended case study.

I'll be using Max/MSP/Jitter as the main software tool in this project. At the moment, I'm learning how...