Theatre, Performance and Analogue Technology: Historical Interfaces and Intermedialities

by Kara Reilly

Overview

This trans-historical collection explores analogue performance technologies from Ancient Greece to pre-Second World War. From ancient mechanical elephants to early modern automata, Enlightenment electrical experiments to Victorian spectral illusions, this volume offers an original examination of the precursors of contemporary digital performance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349457427
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	01/01/2013
Series:	Palgrave Studies in Performance and Technology
Edition description:	1st ed. 2013
Pages:	269
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Odai Johnson, University of Washington, USA Richard Beacham, King's College, UK Victor Holtcamp, Tulane University, USA Brandin Barón-Nusbaum, University of California, USA Katherine Newey, University of Exeter, UK Kara Reilly, University of Exeter, UK Johannes Birringer, Brunel University, UK Ciara Murphy, University of Pennsylvania, USA Beth A. Kattelman, Ohio State University, USA Naomi J. Stubbs, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY, USA Adrian Curtin, University of Exeter, UK Michael M. Chemers, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA

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; Jo hannes 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. Stub bs 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

Editorial Reviews

Kara Reilly’s edited collection on theatre and analogue technology is timely. … Reilly’s collection claims to be, and is, the first study that historicizes ‘discourses of digital performance’. … This book will be of interest to all theatre and performance students and scholars, as well as science and cultural historians and all those interested in examining how theatre, performance, and technology have come together not only in current practice but also in a diverse range of historical contexts.” (Maria Chatzichristodoulou, New Theatre Quarterly, Vol. 31 (3), August, 2015)

'These explorations of intriguing oddities of performance history, interspersed by 46 illustrations, covers projects ranging from Richard Beacham's minutely re-created Roman-era toy theatre with mechanized movable parts to Michael Chemers's ongoing work with robots whose artificial intelligences lack (to date) what is understood as empathy Recommended [for] graduate students, researchers, faculty, technical students, professionals, general readers.' CHOICE

From the Publisher