Work
Per Telephone
Maker Margaret Montgomery · Work date 1893 · Medium in person · Role precursor
Description
A stage farce built on a telephone misunderstanding — the earliest telephone play traced in this archive. Jonathan Grobe describes it as the first of many plays turning on the same sexist joke.
Source. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/jj.33941380.8
A PRECURSOR, NOT A PHONE WORK. Staged in a theater with a telephone as a prop. It is here because it establishes the dramaturgy the form later inherits, not because it was delivered by telephone.
Anatomy
Thirteen criteria after Lauren R. Beck. Each carries a source grade: M maker-confirmed, P published, F first-hand, I inferred by the compiler, ? not yet established. Definitions are on the anatomy page.
- Participants listen through headphonesnoP
A proscenium audience.
- Participants move through space as part of the worknoP
A seated audience.
- Audio technology is necessarynoP
No audio technology. The telephone is a prop on a stage.
- Site-, situation- or language-specificnoI
Not tied to a place or circumstance.
- Engages with the history of a sitenoI
No documented past of a real place.
- Created for an urban environmentunknown?
Not established.
Did you experience this? Tell us - Created as an artwork other than theaternoI
A stage play.
- Intended to be understood as theateryesP
A stage farce, presented as theater.
- Accidental real-world sights and sounds are importantnoI
A proscenium production; the audience's surroundings are the auditorium.
- Spectator must participatenoP
A seated audience watches. Nothing is asked of them.
- Has live performers other than the participantsyesP
Actors on a stage.
- Involves game playnoI
No game structure.
- Uses props other than the listening deviceyesP
A stage telephone, handled by the actors.
1 of thirteen are still unknown for this work. If you experienced it, you can settle them in a minute.