Case Study:

Sanity Theatre Production

Digital Performance (PERF 2014)
Tanner Muller

Abstract

The following report provides a deep insight to the various

inspirations and concepts behind certain features of the theatre
production Sanity. It will explore the following aspects of the
performance: sound, film and characterisation. This case study uses
both in class and outside of class examples, which contributed to
the development of this theatre show.

Contents
1. Concept of
production..1
2. Sound
Design..2
3.
Film
...3
4.
Characterisation/Movement..
..4
5.
References
5

1. CONCEPT OF PRODUCTION
The development of specialised technology
in performing arts production has allowed
theatre artists and designers to realise
concepts and designs that previously could
only be referred to [as] abstract (Hoffmann,
K 2006).
The theatre production of Sanity combines the
mediums of sound, lighting and film into a live
stage performance. In the developing stages of
Sanity, several artistic works outside of class
inspired me:
The music video Violently Happy performed by
and directed by Jean-Baptiste (2007).
Marina Abramovis (2013) interactive
performance art piece Rhythm 0.
The hyper, experimental electronic pop album
by Clarence Clarity (2015) called No Now.
Kildare Colleges (2012) drama production
Cagebirds, written by David Campton and
adapted/directed by Jamie Richards.
American Horror Storys second season
Asylum.

Figure 1.1 Violently

Happy
https://www.youtube.com
Bjork

A projection mapping production entitled Design

Disrupted (2013) caught my eye and also
Figure 1.2 Rhythm 0
contributed to the development of Sanity. While
https://www.youtube.co
viewing the performance, I knew exactly where to
m/watch?
take my idea of a theatre show. I enjoyed how it
v=BwPTKmFcYAQ
combined technology with movement, dance, sound, lighting and
video projection to present a modern, avant-garde and highly
technical performance piece.
All of these artistic works can be interpreted as
portraying confinement in its many forms,
as all explore the concept of being stuck,
trapped, with no hope of seeing the light
at the end of the tunnel.
The theatre production Sanity details the
events occurring inside the imagination of
a killer psychopath, immediately before
she faces death in an electric chair. The
performance gives an insight to how
confinement can affect the mind of

Figure 1.3 Design Disrupted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=SmoKLpLAA6k

a prisoner, once they encounter the outside world. It provokes the

question can they handle freedom, or are they better off kept
imprisoned?
What I found intriguing, particularly through Design Disrupted,
Rhythm 0 and Cagebirds is how the main character/persona in the
performances are influenced by a greater entity or higher power.
Sanity features this through the Inner Voices and how they have a
tremendous influence over the main protagonist, Daisy.

2. SOUND DESIGN
The sound score for the production is influenced by
heavy electronic beats, to feel as if you are inside a
twisted nightclub. It continues as one entire track
throughout the performance, capturing the chaotic
Figure 2.1 Luzifers
thoughts of Daisy, and to slowly build to the storys
Abschied
climax. Embedded into the track are sounds of
<www.youtube.com/watc
nature, to emphasise the setting of a forest (as the
background film presents this visually). The purpose of this is to
bring a restless and uncomfortable atmosphere to the show.
Karlheinz Stockhausen presents a similar structure through his piece
Luzifers Abschied, where he slowly builds suspension through an
intense array of tunes. Stockhausen is able to capture an entirely
new atmosphere by the types
of sounds he incorporates into his piece.
Particular songs in the continuous track are used to express certain
moments of the story through movement and lip-syncing to lyrics
(refer to Characterisation/Movement, page 4). In order of when they
will be featured in the performance, the main tracks include:
Love Slave by Pearl (2015)
That Laughing Track (feat. Style of Eye & Carli) by Crookers
(2011)
Pure Imagination (Breaux Remix) by Breaux (2014)
Held Apart by Arca (2014)
Xen by Arca (2014)
Die With Me by Pearl (2015)
The following link is a playlist of the main tracks that will be
featured.
<www.youtube.com/playlist?
list=PLXnUclBJlGHGWhUzoFVxrwdixeN8JCmxQ>
In developing the types of sounds featured in Sanity (and the
storyline for that matter), I was inspired by music artists (excluding
those whos works are already featured in the soundtrack): FKA
Twigss LP1, Clarence Claritys No Now, Violet Chachkis Gagged
EP, Azealia Banks Broke With Expensive Taste, Bjorks Bastards and
Grimes Visions. I was also motivated to feature bizarre sounds into
the production by the clich and overbearing,
repetitive and overused sounds featured in nightclubs
across Adelaide. Through this production, my intention
with these sounds is to degrade the nightclubbing
scene in our state.
A tremendous inspiration behind the decision to
incorporate natural sounds into the music score was
sound designer Stephen Vitello and his documentary
Listening with Intent (2011), where he travelled to

Figure 2.2 Listening

with Intent
www.abc.net.au/arts/st
ories/s3145981.htm

Australia to record the sounds of the Kimberley region. After viewing

this documentary, I discovered that every location has a its own
distinct quality of sound. You can determine and become familiar
with a particular environment just by listening to the sounds
exclusive to it. Together with the lighting and film projection, the
sounds for the performance [build] a thoughtful and thoughtprovoking environment (White, GS 2006).

3. FILM
Film, like theatre, [is] able to present a temporal narrative
The mixing of filmic sequences and living actors inevitably
call[s] attention to the constructed and conventionalised
nature of the reality of each, and so long as realism
remain[s] the dominant approach in the possible worlds of
theatre and film (Carlson, M 2003).
The purpose of the film projection in
Sanity is to visually portray the
setting, but to also emphasise the
influence Daisys Inner Voices has
over her. The film will be presented
with quite altercations, creating a
distressed feel to the performance. It
will feature multiple recorded scenes
from a forest, with the Inner Voices
wandering around the background,
responding/interacting to what will
Figure 3.1 Slender: The Eight Pages
be occurring onstage. Static glitches
will also be integrated into the film at particular moments.
What inspired the idea for this film projection was the game Slender
(2012), where the player walks through a forest, in search for eight
papers, but has to be cautious of the Slender-man who attempts to
find the player on their frightening journey. When the player has
been discovered by Slender-man his faceless head appears on the
screen with a haunting sound and complete static.
An example of incorporating a film projection into a theatre show is
Russell Fewsters (2006) production Lost Babylon where actors
mimic a real life video game. The film projection was the main drive
of the story and how/when actors do particular movements/actions
onstage.
Likewise, projection mapping uses
video projections to reflect off
objects (such as buildings). In
particular, 3D Mapping Dance
Performance: Porsche Macan
(2014) presents a dance piece, as
way of promoting the newest
Porsche model car. Although a form
of advertisement, it still presents a
story, with the film projection
directing the movements of the
actors. The bright yellow tones of

Figure 3.2 3D Mapping Dance

Performance: Porsche Macan
<www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Xadmwk2qAVE>

the lighting/projection and the actors costumes give the stage a

radiating glowwhich fully attracts the attention of their audience to
compliment this new piece of technology.

4. CHARACTERISATION/MOVEMENT
Two characters are present on and off the
stage. Daisy, the main protagonist is an
insane, mentally deranged, killer
psychopath. Although a twenty-something
woman, she maintains her childhood
innocence and naivety. The character of
Pepper (played by Naomi Grossman), in
American Horror Story: Asylum was the
main inspiration behind my main
character. An acting reel of Pepper can be
found by following the link in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1 Pepper from

American Horror Story: Asylum
<www.youtube.com/watch?
v=zlu2u1np9d4>

According to Rickard (2015), great acting usually defies such

itemised explanation: we simply know that we have witnessed it;
just as some actors and performers are blessed with that mysterious
quality we call presence. The actor Ive chosen to play such a role
certainly processes these qualities of
commanding a presence and possessing a
high level of acting skill.
The Inner Voices are the voices inside of
Daisys head. These voices consist of two
personalities. The first is a voice that
encourages Daisys psychotic tendencies.
He speaks sweetly to Daisy, telling her
everything she wants to hear. The other
voice is best described as Daisys selfconscious, attempting to reach out and
inform Daisy how uncontrollable/horrible
her violent insanity has become. He
speaks with a deep and powerful voice.

Figure 4.2 Bob Frames

Anything Goes
<www.youtube.com/watch?

Besides acting, both actors will perform

choreographed movement pieces of the songs in the main
soundtrack. They will emote the feel and
essence of the song, moving to every beat
and
lip-syncing the songs lyrics. Although the
actors will not be singing, the same sort of
emotion can be translated through moving
your body and mouthing the words. This is
shown through Bob Frames (2012) Anything
Goes, where lip-syncing drag sensation
Lypsinka performs both voice and song in a
short film musical.
Figure 4.3 Jinkx Monsoon
performing Malambo No. 1
<https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=sXpV7xVJygg>

Another is RuPauls Drag Race Season 5 winner Jinkx Monsoon

(2013) (aka Jerick Hoffer) and his performance of Malambo No. 1 by
Yma Sumac. Although the camera only captures his upper body,
Monsoon commits to the track nonetheless.

References:
Abramovich, M 2013, Art Marina Abramovi Rhythm 0, video,
YouTube, 4 August, viewed on 21 September 2015,
< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwPTKmFcYAQ>
Arca 2014, Held Apart, iTunes, Mute
Arca 2014, Xen, iTunes, Mute
Breaux 2014, Pure Imagination, Soundcloud, self-release
<https://soundcloud.com/breauxxx/pure-imagination>
Carlson, M 2003, 'Video and stage space : some European
perspectives', Modern drama., vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 614-628.
Clarity, Clarence 2014 No Now, iTunes, Bella Union
Crookers 2011, That Laughing Track (feat. Style of Eye & Carli),
iTunes, Southern Fried (Europe) & Mad Decent (US).
Frame, B 2012, Lypsinka in Anything Goes directed and
photographed by Bob Frame, video, YouTube, 25 April, viewed 3
October 2015,
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMe9i6JjNzg>
Grossman, N 2013, Pepper in AHS: Asylum, video, YouTube, 13
March, viewed on 1 October,
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlu2u1np9d4>
Hadley, Mark J 2012, Slender: The Eight Pages, PC game, Microsoft
Windows & OS X, Parsec Productions
Hoffmann, K 2006, 'Stage management for multimedia
performance', Live movies: a field guide to new media for the
performing arts, pp. 149-155.
Hudson, A 2013, Jinkx Monsoon: Malambo No. 1 (Uncommon Lipsync), video, YouTube, 6 May, viewed 29 September 2015,
< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXpV7xVJygg>
Mondino, Jean-Baptiste (dir.) 2007, Violently Happy, music video,
YouTube, 1 July, viewed on 20 September 2015,
< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXn_5c8ORIc>
Pearl, 2015, Die With Me, iTunes, Sidecar Records & Producer
Entertainment Group
Pearl 2015, Love Slave, iTunes, Sidecar Records & Producer
Entertainment Group

Rocha, Coco 2013, Design Disrupted Lexus, Legs, Giles Deacon

and Coco Rocha (Full Performance), video, YouTube, 15 October,
viewed on 21 September 2015

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmoKLpLAA6k>
Rickard, J 2015 'Acting the part: Changing styles of acting',
Australian Book Review, no. 373, pp. 47-48.
SilaSveta, 2014, 3D Mapping Dance Performance Porsche Macan,
video, YouTube, 13 May, viewed 23 September 2015,
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xadmwk2qAVE>
Stockhausen K, 2011, Luzifers Abschied, video, YouTube, 19 May,
viewed on 25 September 2015, viewed on
< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW_hmyEWq0M>
Vitiello, S, Enhancetv, ENHANCETV & Abc-Tv, ABC-TV 2011, Stephen
Vitiello listening with intent, EnhanceTV, [Neutral Bay, N.S.W.].
White, GS 2006, 'New media scenography', Live movies : a field
guide to new media for the performing arts, pp. 125-133.