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Performing Science and the Virtual This dazzling new book from Sue-Ellen Case looks at how science has been performed throughout history, tracing a line from eleventh-century alchemy to the twenty-first-century virtual avatar. Theatre and science are deeply interwoven in the European tradition, both in historical development and in strategies of representation. As science and new technologies become more pervasive in the social world, whilst at the same time retreating into their own specialized disourses, performances of their power provide a familiar, active interface with them. Performing Science and the Virtual reviews how these performances borrow from spiritualist notions of transcendence, as well as the social codes of race, gender and economic exchange. In this daring and wide-ranging book we encounter Faust, glimpse Edison in his laboratory, enter the soundscape of John Cage and raid tombs with Lara Croft. Case looks at the intersection of science and performance in a way that unsettles our assumptions across these disciplines. Sue-Ellen Case is Professor and Chair of Critical Studies, Theater UCLA, where she also directs the Center for Performance Studies. Performing Science and the Virtual Sue-Ellen Case First published 2007 by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park,Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2007 Sue-Ellen Case All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Case, Sue-Ellen. Performing science and the virtual / by Sue-Ellen Case. – 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Science—History—19th century. 2. Science—History—20th century. 3. Science—History— 21st century. 4.Technology—History—19th century. 5.Technology—History—20th century. 6.Technology—History—21st century. 7. Science and the arts. 8.Technology and the arts. 9. Science—Social aspects. 10.Technology—Social aspects. I.Title. Q125.C3837 2006 500—dc22 2006020716 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0–203–96716–X Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0-415-41438-5 (hbk) ISBN10: 0-415-41439-3 (pbk) ISBN10: 0-203-96716-X (ebk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-41438-8 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-41439-5 (pbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-96716-4 (ebk) For Susan Leigh Foster, divine choreographer Contents List of illustrations Acknowledgments x xi Introduction 1 Prologue Theater’s rebirth 7 All the world’s a theater: war and science 10 Act One Alchemy 15 From mercurial change to monetary stasis 18 Coding and decoding: Isaac Newton, alchemist 20 Gender and sex in alchemy 26 Alchemy’s antagonist: Ben Jonson 27 The gender divide: The Roaring Girl 30 Faust: the new paradigm of alchemy 32 Faust I: the fall from Goethean science 35 Proliferation of virtual spaces 39 Faust II: transcendent gender and money 41 Virtualizing the feminine gender 45 The apotheosis of gender 46 Eurythmy: erforming Goethean science 49 Entr’acte The price of admission 51 Act Two Grassroots performances of science 58 Accessing the virtual plane 60 The advent of the avatar 62