Sonic departures: the dramaturgy of fade-outs

In technical and theoretical terms, this article addresses the fading-out of pre-recorded sound in theatre. Using models of listening and attention, with particular reference to how silence is constituted, it attempts to understand how fade-outs can interrupt or complicate the experience of sound in theatre and proposes solutions to the problem of fading-out in various dramaturgical contexts. This involves a survey of how sounds fade in other artistic and acoustic contexts and of existing attempts to model how sounds dissolve in the fields of synthesis and the design of artificial reverb. It ends with an attempt to conceptually situate an expanded use of fade- outs within contemporary theatre and other sound practices.