When initial ideas had been generated for our final performance, the use of headphones was a popular choice within our group. After studying the article, Headspace : Architectural Space in the Brain and watching the performance of Whsiper we have generated a greater understanding of how sound is received and processed by the brain.

 Whisper is a performance which has been created by Proto-type Theatre. Three performers take place on stage; taking position behind back lit screens so they appear as silhouettes. The story is narrated by each performer through microphones, the sound is received through headphones which audience members are given before the performance starts. The performers are able to “manipulate the stimulus being sent to the audience, to create layered sensory effects that might sometimes trick the perceptive facilities of the audience/receiver.” (Whisper, 2010, P.99) By creating a head space performance we are able to provide each audience member with an individual, almost, claustrophobic experience; something we are more than capable of creating when our performance takes place in a claustrophobic environment – a box.

Combining the use of headphones and microphones within our performance will ‘blur the boundary between the performance space and the receptive space of the audience’ (Petralia 2010, p. 97)

 

Works Cited: Petralia, Peter Salvatore (2010) ‘Headspace: Architectural Space in the Brain’, Contemporary Theatre Review, 20: 1