A Study of Aphasia

About

A Study of Aphasia is a music-theatre work by composer Michal Rataj and writer/director Katharina Schmitt. Framed by ideas from Emil Fröschels’ 1918 study Children’s Speech and Aphasia and haunted by the mirror dramaturgy of Ingmar Bergman’s Persona, the piece probes language, speech and the voice. Onstage a mute figure and a speaking figure face each other; their encounter unfolds through singing, Sprechgesang, whispering, speaking and screaming, entwined with live electronics, cello and a female vocal quartet. The work traces the border between sound and sense, presence and silence, making breakdowns of speech audible and theatrical.