A theatre of energies

Jean-François Lyotard saw the combination of drama and vocal music as an aesthetic ‘apparatus’ designed to capture and transform energy. Within the parameters of contemporary sound theatre involving the voice and live/interactive electronics, this amalgamation can be extended into a theatre of ‘instruments in space’, delimiting the borderline between the real and the imaginary and setting up a ‘play’ between multiple characters. It is this aspect that I examine with reference to a number of recent works, including aspects of my own practice-based research that resulted in a collaborative composition.