Cloth Ears at Work: Aural Elements in the Theatre Plays of Tom Stoppard

Abstract

This thesis investigates Tom Stoppard s inclusion of music and other aural effects (including juxtaposed silence) in his stage plays from 1967 to 2015. The analysis includes both diegetic and non-diegetic aural elements (the former being where aural elements are fixed within the narrative, and the latter being a form of commentary to the narrative, available to the audience but not to the on-stage characters). With particular focus on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Travesties, Arcadia and Rock n Roll the thesis examines the way aural elements highlight themes, perform as temporal and geo-physical markers and define structure. Furthermore, the thesis scrutinizes resonant and dissonant choices of music and other aural effects and explores the audience s emotional reception in addition to their intellectual response to the spoken text and on-stage action. The analysis of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead concentrates on the author s inter-textual referencing of music from Hamlet as a structural and thematic device. Further comparison of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead with Travesties examines how aural elements underscore a sense of artifice in keeping with the tenets of the Theatre of the Absurd. In the case of Travesties, the thesis also discusses the additional effects of music and other aural effects on the development and audience reception of characters. The third play, Arcadia, exemplifies the use of off-stage sound effects as thematic signalers. In addition, the thesis proposes that aural elements in Arcadia blur temporal boundaries, thus conflating the play s two time periods. In the case of Rock n Roll, in which music is used as a chronological marker, the thesis demonstrates how aural elements and, especially, music juxtaposed with silence create receptive dissonance. Building on Stoppard s acknowledged mastery of the spoken word in performance literature, this thesis seeks to fill a perceived gap in the analysis of the theatre plays of Stoppard and show the multiple ways sound and silence elicit and expand an audience s response, and confirm and/or contradict their expectations.