Karl Saks defens his doctoral thesis on 15 June at 13.00 room A-402 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Theatre):

„Sound Design Practice in Postdramatic Theatre”

Supervisors: Jaak Tomberg, PhD (University of Tartu); prof. emer. Jaan Ross (05.04.1957–18.01.2026)

Opponent: Prof Dr. Virve Sarapik (Estonian Academy of Arts)

The doctoral thesis is available HERE and in print in the EAMT library.

Fragment from the Summary:

In my artistic research entitled “Sound Design Practice in Postdramatic Theatre”, I examined the possibilities and functioning of sound design in the process and structure of postdramatic theatre. The aim of the research is to analyse how sound design can participate in shaping a performance process and structure, and how sound can function as an active dramaturgical component in the context of postdramatic theatre. The work centres on sound as argument, signifier, provocation, code, and a temporal factor.
I write this research from the perspective of my own artistic practice, in which the practices of sound design, directing, choreography and performing arts pedagogy are intertwined. From this position, I have been interested in where sound design choices come from, how sonic information functions within visually saturated theatrical forms, and which concepts and contexts can be used to describe and analyse its operation. One central problem is the limited vocabulary of sound design: in practice, sound is often described through technical parameters or general evaluative terms that do not sufficiently describe its phenomenological effect, dramaturgical function, or relation to the performance as a whole. Alongside this, another paradox of sound design practice in theatre is that many sound-related decisions are shaped by what the eye sees rather than by what the ear hears. The search for answers to these problems and paradoxes, together with the need to develop my own practice, formed the driving force of this research.