Karl Saks "Schema"

The history of theatre, from ancient Greek amphitheatres to modern theatrical forms, has shown that ‘watching’ in theatre happens through sound, because it is the voices that make the spectacle visible. Theatre relies on the effective transmission of sound waves to reach the audience’s imaginative ear, whether through the performer’s voice and movement, sound design, or even the noise of the audience piercing the silence.
In philosophy, on the other hand, sight and hearing are often contrasted: the eye makes sense of the world, while the ear perceives it in a limited way. “Schema” explores the interaction between visual and auditory information, their potential collision and mutual enrichment. One of the points of departure for “Schema” is the technical and poetic description of historical artworks, as well as performative and affective interpretations. It is a musicality that unfolds from the description of images.

“Schema” explores the phenomenology of hearing and listening in theatre. “Sound is to be understood as inherently disturbing, and theatre is to be understood not as an uninterrupted programme of reception, but as a constant oscillation between ‘engagement and disturbance’” (Ross Brown). It can be argued that audiences hear everything but listen selectively, and that these selections are the result of the physical peculiarities of audience members’ hearing, dramaturgical setting, subjective preferences, and cultural choices. Involvement and distraction are not limited to hearing, but extend to general fluctuations in attention and the bodily activity that accompanies them – a physical oscillation which in turn forms a new background noise: audience noise. This cyclical process feeds back to the collective ‘scene analysis’.

“Schema” is a dialectical interplay between the observable, the audible and the intelligible. However, this dialectic is not an end in itself – it paves the way to pure experience. It sharpens the viewer’s impulsive and innate empirical perception, inviting them to trust it. The world is not, and cannot be, finitely describable. What matters is what is chosen to be described – and how.

Karl Saks is a freelance choreographer, dancer and sound designer.
He graduated from Tartu University Viljandi Culture Academy, Performing Arts Department in 2009; Estonia Art Academy, New Media Department (MA) in 2017 and started his doctorate studies at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre at 2021. Saks works as a lecturer at Tartu University Viljandi Culture Academy.
He has collaborated with other creatives as a sound designer, dramaturg, performer, directors’ assistant and co-director. He is part of a musical collective Cubus Larvik.

Author, director: Karl Saks
Dramaturgical assistant: Hendrik Kaljujärv
Performers: Johhan Rosenberg, Pääsu-Liis Kens, Anne Türnpu, Netti Nüganen, Artjom Astrov, Michaela Kisling
Sound designers: Karl Saks, Artjom Astrov, Michaela Kisling
Sound technician: Raido Linkmann
Light designer: Hanna Kritten Tangsoo
Scenographer: Johannes Säre
Designer: Jaan Evart
Voices: Inga Salurand, Taavi Eelmaa
Technical support: Artur Schernthaner-Lourdesamy
Project managers: Kaie Olmre, Kaie Küünal
Co-producers: elektron.art, Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Karl Saks
Big thank you: Epp Aareleid


Premiere: 12.02.2025 at 19:30, Kanuti Gildi SAAL
Supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture


In Estonian with English subtitles.


The performance at 15.02 will be followed by an artist talk, moderated by Jaak Tomberg.