Theatre in the Dark - registration now open!
28 May, 2014
THEATRE IN THE DARK - A ONE-DAY SYMPOSIUM
12 JULY 2014, UNIVERSITY OF SURREY (UK)
What happens when the stage and house lights fade to black? When the strictness of a light-based divide between them and us, stage and auditorium, dissolves? What happens to theatre in the dark?
This inter-disciplinary symposium responds to the uses of darkness in performance. ‘Pitch-black theatre’ – a term that might usefully describe theatre that takes place in complete darkness – prompts enquiry into alternatives to visuality in theatre, remembering that visuality remains the preoccupation of ‘spectators’. Plunging theatre spaces and auditoriums into complete darkness can focus an audience’s attention onto sources of light, but it might just as well be used to disconcert, arouse, absorb, excite, immerse and disorient audiences. Darkness in theatre has taken on a significance of its own.
Theatre in the Dark features keynotes from Dr. Martin Welton and Dr. Josephine Machon, three themed panels, a roundtable and a blindfolded performance for an audience of one, titled Symphony of a Missing Room (excerpt), by Lundahl and Seitl.
For further details of the symposium, please see: theatreinthedark.com
To register directly, please see:
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/arts/theatre/events/theatre_in_the_dark.htm