Theatre, Performance and Analogue Technology

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Kara Reilly

      Pages 1-12

3. Interrogating Historiography

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13

      PDF

   2. Heron of Alexandria’s ‘Toy Theatre’ Automaton: Reality, Allusion and Illusion

      • Richard Beacham

      Pages 15-39

   3. Manufacturing Elephants: Technologies of Knowledge in Theatre History

      • Odai Johnson

      Pages 40-53

   4. Performing Technology, Performing Reality: Buffalo Bill and Steele MacKaye’s The Drama of Civilization

      • Victor Holtcamp

      Pages 54-72

   5. Forgotten Wizard: The Scenographic Innovations of Mariano Fortuny

      • Brandin Barón-Nusbaum

      Pages 73-93

4. Industrial Bodies and Dance

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 95-95

      PDF

   2. Fairies and Sylphs: Femininity, Technology and Technique

      • Katherine Newey

      Pages 97-116

   3. The Tiller Girls: Mass Ornament and Modern Girl

      • Kara Reilly

      Pages 117-132

   4. Retro-Engineering: Wearable Sound

      • Johannes Birringer

      Pages 133-158

5. Performing Science and Technology

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 159-159

      PDF

   2. Shocks and Sparks: Participatory Electrical Performances in the Enlightenment Period

      • Ciara Murphy

      Pages 161-182

   3. Modern Nation and Rural Idyll: Reconciling Progress and Purity through Performance

      • Naomi J. Stubbs

      Pages 183-197

   4. Spectres and Spectators: The Poly-Technologies of the Pepper’s Ghost Illusion

      • Beth A. Kattelman

      Pages 198-213

   5. Recalling the Theatre Phone

      • Adrian Curtin

      Pages 214-231

   6. ‘Lyke Unto A Lively Thing’: Theatre History and Social Robotics

      • Michael M. Chemers

      Pages 232-249

6. Back Matter

   Pages 250-269

   PDF

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.

• Theatre
• Technology
• Stagecraft
• Performance
• history
• history of theatre
• machine
• research
• Technologie
• theatre

“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

• Department of Drama, University of Exeter, UK

  Kara Reilly

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

Policies and ethics