The Studio

Silvia Mercuriali:

Immersive Theatrical Experiences in Public Spaces

Immersive theatre through sound has been the speciality of Silvia Mercuriali’s practice as a theatre-maker. In this workshop/masterclass, Mercuriali provides some context and conceptual underpinnings of her methodology as well as gifting the participants some useful exercises for transforming their everyday surroundings through sound. 

Italian-born, London-based artist Silvia Mercuriali is best known for the invention of ‘autoteatro’ with her company Rotozaza: a form of headphone theatre that happens solely in the interaction between the spectators and their environment. 

Listen to Silvia talk about her work 

Watch Silvia talk about the making of Swimming Home (2021). 

This class was recorded on Zoom on 4th May 2021. 

[00:00:21] Intro
[00:02:31] Autoteatro: The Principles
[00:13:15] Etiquette (2007): An Example
[00:16:39] Exercise 1: The Emotional Framed Guest
[00:33:36] Dramaturgy of Sound: The Principles
[00:38:45] Oddvent 22 (2020): A Gift
[00:46:48] Exercise 2: Animate the World
[00:48:56] Q & A

With thanks to the students on David Shearing’s Immersive Project 2021 at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama for taking part in the making of this video, especially the BA CPP Performance Arts students: Magda Cinkova, Luca Cipollone, Tamar Degani, Benedict Doggwiler, Kate Duckworth, Phoebe Grove, Madison Maycock, Louis Mcneilly, Georgia Mulholland, Eve Proctor, Hannah Thomson, Oona Webster Jones, and the BA TP Design for Stage students: Sophie Andrews, Sophie Davies, Greta Dietz, Jiayi Ding, Xinyi Du, Joe Lee, Yifei Ma, George Martin, William Tighe, Peiyao Wang, LeShaun Williams, Yimei Zhao, all of whom gave their permission to be featured in the final edit. Also thanks to Central lecturers Andreas Skourtis, David Shearing and Diana Damian Martin for their support in organising this series.   

 

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