Theatre, Performance and Analogue Technology Historical Interfaces and Intermedialities

by Reilly, Kara

• ISBN13: 9781137319661
• ISBN10: 1137319666
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-10-25
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This trans-historical essay collection explores spectacular analogue performance technologies from Ancient Greece to before the Second World War in a study that is the first of its kind. From Heron of Alexandria's mechanical theatres to the fin de siècle théâtre phone, from ancient mechanical elephants to early modern automata, from Enlightenment electrical experiments to Victorian spectral illusions, this volume offers an original examination of the precursors of contemporary digital performance. Featuring essays by contributors including Johannes Birringer, Odai Johnson, Kate Newey and Richard Beacham amongst others, the volume is the first book to offer key insights on analogue precursors to contemporary digital performance.

Author Biography

Kara Reilly is Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter, UK. Her previous book Automata and Mimesis on the Stage of Theatre History (Palgrave, 2011) focuses on automata or self-moving mechanical puppets and their influence upon theatre history from the Renaissance to the end of the First World War.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Notes on Contributors
INTRODUCTION; Kara Reilly
PART I: INTERROGATING HISTORIOGRAPHY
1. Heron of Alexandria's 'Toy Theatre' Automaton: Reality and Illusion; Richard Beacham
2. Manufacturing Elephants: the Mythic, the Mechanical and the Credible in Theatre History; Odai Johnson
3. Performing Technology, Performing Reality: Steele MacKaye's Actors and Machines; Victor Holtcamp
4. Forgotten Wizard: The Scenographic Innovations of Mariano Fortuny; Brandin Barón-Nusbaum
PART II: INDUSTRIAL BODIES AND DANCE
5. Pantomime and Modernity: The Fairy and The Navvy; Kate Newey
6. The Tiller Girls: Mass Ornament and Modern Girl; Kara Reilly
7. Retro-Engineering; Johannes Birringer
PART III: PERFORMING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
8. Shocks and Sparks: Participatory Electrical Performances in the Enlightenment Period'; Ciara Murphy
9. Modern Nation and Rural Idyll: Reconciling Progress and Purity through Performance; Naomi J. Stubbs
10. Spectres and Spectators: The Poly-Technologies of the Pepper's Ghost Illusion; Beth Kattelman
11. Recalling the Theatre Phone; Adrian Curtin
12. 'Like Unto A Lively Thing': Early Modern Performance of Artificial Intelligence; Michael Chemers