Sounding Out 'the Scenographic Turn': Eight Position Statements

Abstract

This multi-authored essay collects a range of position statements made by leading scholars/practitioners in the fields of theatre aurality, music theatre/opera, and sound design. Contributors independently prepared short statements in response to a central provocation—namely, the mooted ‘scenographic turn’ and its implication for theatre sound studies. The essay provides snapshots of current opinions about theatre sound design and scenography. It does not advance a single, unified argument but rather outlines some key ways in which sound/music and scenography are operating, and have operated, in theatre, and have been discussed in aesthetic theory. The essay ultimately reinforces the importance of attending to sound and scenography as co-constitutive elements, and suggests there is no single or best way of doing this.