Our responses to Proto-type Theater’s Whisper
Jessica Smith’s Response
Whisper consists of three performers on stage behind a back lit screen so they are shown as silhouettes. The story is narrated by each of them through headphones, which the audience members are wearing. Peter S. Petralia, the writer and director of Whisper, states that:
In order to create Whisper I researched how sound is received and processed by the brain so that I could manipulate the stimulus being sent to the audience, to create layered sensory effects that might sometimes trick the perceptive facilities of the audience/receiver. This tricking manifested itself most notably in the moments when sound was tuned into a single audio channel (which naturally leads the eye to look to the corresponding side of the stage) and the visual on the corresponding side was either completely obfuscated or incongruous with the sound being heard (2010, p.99).
This performance seemed truly powerful to me as I had never experienced anything like it before. The way it created a feeling of isolation made me feel like I was the only person watching it and their use of second person dialogue made me feel like they were talking directly to me, like what I was seeing was some sort of surreal dream I was having about my life. This then made it seem as if I was a part of the performance and like I was involved. Whisper has made us consider the use of headphones in our own work. We believe that headphones would create a greater impact on the speech we use and would leave a larger impression on our audience.
Demi Morrison’s Response
Watching Proto-type Theater’s Whisper, I was inspired personally by the use of headphones in performance and the ways in which the performance was framed on stage. The gauze across the front of the space was used to create shadows with back lighting so the spectators were unable to see details and faces, just shadows. The effect of listening to the performance with headphones, evoked sense of isolation for me and I felt that I was the only person watching the performance. I was very interested in working with headphones in our performance as I felt that it is way to distance the speech from the action and gives more meaning to any dialogue. However I do understand that this may not be possible as we may end up having a final performance that is not compatible with the use of headphones.
“Proto-type is currently exploring the distributed narrative, city as source/cite, the relationship between technology and intimacy, the sung-through format of music theatre and the nature of love and death” (Proto-type Theater, 2012). This is what Proto-type have written as part of their mission statement, and it is evident from viewing Whisper that this is true and the company have explored the ideas in depth. Whisper was devised whilst the company was in Glasgow, hence the use of the city as a source. With the use of technology in relation to intimacy; I personally felt that the use of headphones do create a notion of intimacy for the spectator.
Work Cited
Petralia, Peter Salvatore (2010) ‘Headspace: Architectural Space in the Brain’, Contemporary Theatre Review, 20: 1, 96-108.
Proto-type Theater, (2012) The Company Online: http://proto-type.org/category/company/ (accessed on 15th October 2012)