Media Modalities of theatrical space

This chapter focuses on ‘theatre’ in its plural forms and its intermedial modalities. It aims to link concepts stemming from ancient philosophy and post-dramatic theatre with modern intermedial theory. The interaction of space with the material and the technological modalities also makes surprising sound effects possible. In general, theatre grants or attributes agency to both humans and non-human things taking place in between the architectural construction, the stage technology, the staged performance and the interaction with the audience. The understanding of Ancient Greek theatre and theatre in general, has been much informed by the first theoretical treatise describing and analysing the praxis of different ancient performances, namely the Poetics by Aristotle. When post-dramatic theatre gives up the unifying spatiotemporal arrangement of the proscenium theatre, it explores the medial character of the body and the performative agency of the material and spatiotemporal modalitiy of the performance differently.