ABSTRACT
As John Cage taught us, there is no such thing as silence. We are constantly surrounded by sound. Sound originates from the motion or vibration of an object, and it does not matter whether it is the scratch of a fi eld mouse scurrying along the beams inside the wall barely audible late at night, or the boom of an exploding chemical plant heard for twelve miles across a busy city; thousands of the single tones processed by the human ear are heard by a mechanism known as air conduction. Sounds fi ll our lives and communicate to us about the world around us. Theatre that makes use of these sounds captures our attention and has the potential to evoke emotions and feelings. Beyond the obvious use of language in theatre, how is sound used in theatrical performance? There are many types of sound productions during a performance beyond the spoken word, such as sound that is generated by voice or musical instruments and environmental sound. The uses of these sounds demonstrate how sound triggers visceral sensations, which in turn evoke mood in the context of performance. How do these sound experiences capture our brain’s attention and trigger visceral reactions that can be analyzed? How do aural landscapes affect our perception of the physical landscape and keep our brains alert for the introduction of new elements?
