Batsong, rehearsals for an audioplay : collected excerpts / Adrian Williams.

Paris : Onestar Press, 2010.

[150] p. ; 23 cm

AOB has copy no.07/250.

"This book is based on the performance Batsong, rehearsals for an audioplay, which took place at APF LAB in New York, March 2009. This performance was an attempt to tell the story of a female singer, plagued by the inability to hear her voice objectively. I wanted to depict a narrative about failed perspective through sound but, before we began, had no idea how to develop a situation to render this failure. Using scattered pages of dialogue, monologue, actions and instructions I'd written - along with lists of objects for imitating sounds, one small room and a stationary recording device with one microphone - four of us met for eleven consecutive days at the improvised soundstage to make noise. Each player fulfilled a role, by taking on an action or emotion, setting or sentiment, through sound effects, music and dialogue as we rehearsed. Scenes were played over and over and over again until we were so lost that, time and again, only the sound of footsteps down the sidewalk offered some sense of resolve. After the performance, I transcribed the 22 hours as best I could. This document is comprised of edited excerpts from that transcription. It bears the chronology of its realization, but other than that, the scenes were not performed in any specific order. The reader may open or close this book at any point." Adrian Williams."--Onestar Press website.

English

October 12, 2011

Artists' books - France - 21st century.