Abstract

Collaborative Noises: Theatre and Music Technology in Practice (2013-2016)

This three-year research project is a collaboration between Dr Andrew Westerside (University of Lincoln, Principal Investigator), Proto-type Theater, Dr Jane Turner (MMU), Dr Martin Blain (MMU), and the Manchester Metropolitan University Laptop Ensemble (MMUle).

Our first-stage methodology took the form of practice-as-research explorations into the relationship (in collaboration and devising) between live digital music and experimental theatre practice. The preliminary-PaR process was used to scope the viability of the study and shaped our formal research questions/imperatives.

Research Imperatives/Questions

1. In what ways can collaborative arts practice examine the languages of interdisciplinary collaboration across/between the fields of live digital music & experimental theatre?
2. Is it possible, through practice, to develop a critical understanding of aesthetics and affect in contemporary/avant-garde digitally-led music theatre?
3. What are the practical dramaturgies of multi-medial and multi-modal performance in the context of collaboration, adaptation, and liveness?

Research Outputs

1. Performance: The Good, the God and the Guillotine (2014) (Eprint ID: 24069)
2. Publication: Westerside, A. et al (2016) ‘Through collaboration to sharawadji: immediacy, mediation and the voice’ Theatre and Performance Design. Volume 3 (Eprint ID: 24309)

Engagement with Wider Research Communities

• Exhibition: Open Space at Axis Arts Centre
• Round-table symposium: Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)
• Gough, K (2015) ‘The Art of the Loop: Analogy, Aurality, History, Performance’ in TDR: The Drama Review. Volume 60, Number 1 Spring 2016 (1229) pp. 93-115.

Peer Assessment/Quality Indicators

• Commissions & Awards:
o £60,000 Arts Council England
o £12,500 Arts Council England

• Performances of The Good, the God and the Guillotine:
o Live at LICA (Lancaster Arts)
o Contact Theatre, Manchester
o Axis Arts Centre
o Lincoln Performing Arts Centre
o Nottingham European Arts and Theatre Festival