Immersive theater reduces the separation between audience and performance by immersing audiences within the performance itself. Often, this is accomplished by using a specific location (site-specific), allowing audiences to converse with the actors and interact with their surroundings (interactive), thereby breaking the fourth wall. (Immersive theater and interactive theater are not necessarily synonymous; immersive theater may not have interactive elements in it at all, and interactive theater may not be immersive in the core sense.)
In choose-your-own-adventure theater, agency is given to the audience to participate in changing the narrative while the performance is taking place. Bespoke theater, invented by Fondudes, extends participation to pre-production so each show is customized per audience at script level. Modern forms of immersive theater have a wide range of definitions, all based upon the degree and type of engagement found between actors and their audience. There has been considerable debate among critics concerning these definitions of interaction, at the heart of which are concepts such as audience influence, participation, social constructs and roles, and involvement, all depending on the degree of involvement needed for the works progression. Although many critics argue that all art incorporates a certain level of collaboration between its creator and its viewer, immersive theater differs in that audience members are expected to play some level of an active role in the creative process of the work. Immersive theater can take many forms depending on the degree of involvement of the audience, ranging from open acknowledgment of the audience's presence, to the audience's complete freedom of choice in determining the narrative.
Context Three main steps are often identified for creating an immersive and participatory theater experience:
Disintegration of the barrier between audience and actors Placement of audience members into the narrative of the work Removal of social structures dividing known constructs from imagined ones/lack of constructs. One way immersion and interaction is achieved is through the use of "polychronic narrative". This is a narrative in which the participant does not play a main role, as placing them in that position would involve too much volatility and freedom, preventing the telling of a structured story. Instead, the participant is given certain prescribed moments of actions and input. These moments do affect the narrative, but do so in a manner that is more impactful on the participant than any other aspect of the play. Participants are encouraged to be a part of the play, but not a deciding factor. Another way to achieve immersion is by using the word "you" when addressing the participant. This allows for the assigned role within the play to mesh with the actual social role of the participant, blurring the lines of reality. It also allows for a certain amount of ambiguity, as specific attributes such as age, gender, and profession are left unaddressed, and open to relative interpretation. The use of suspense and anxiety can be used to guide an individual participant through a narrative. By removing the participant from their comfort zone, their actions and reactions become influenced by both their instincts and the prompts given to them by the actors. This is used to attain believable reactions from a participant, in addition to maintaining order and structure needed to advance a storyline.
Immersive plays use different types of environments, from large multi-leveled buildings to open areas. The different environments enhance the audience's involvement in the play, by giving them choices of how they want to participate in the theater. Inside the different personalized spaces, the audience can move from room to room. In some immersive plays the interiors can be set up on different levels, where each room can be an entirely different scene of the play. Rooms can be dark, bright, colorful, cold, warm, scented, and crammed in order to accomplish an ambiance desired by the actors. By using light colors which correspond to specific emotions, the actors can capture spectators moods before a word is spoken or movement executed. Performance space can influence how audiences perceive an immersive production.
According to many theater theorists, four major components make the audience feel more integrated into theater performances: "real space," sense, movement, and time. "Real Space" is a component of immersive theater, and actual space is a part of the staged play. If the play is set in a castle, audiences would go to real castle and have people watch it there in order for them to get feeling of being immersed in the theatrical performance. Engaging the senses, such as blindfolding the audience, can heighten the sense of hearing sound. Movement can affect how audiences perceive plot—moving around the theater space immerses the kinesthetic sense. A sense of time can be engaged by creating a sense of time that precedes and post-dates the play.
Examples
Punchdrunk
Punchdrunk is a British theatre company founded in 2000 by Felix Barrett. Their first production that same year was an adaptation of Georg Buchner's Woyzeck, set in an abandoned army barracks. This production set the precedent for future Punchdrunk shows, including the repurposing of large disused or abandoned spaces, the blending of various genres into a cohesive storyline, and allowing the audience the freedom to experience the production at their own pace while wearing specialized masks to encourage exploration and a loss of inhibition. Since then, Punchdrunk has staged many theatrical productions in a variety of locations, including adaptations of The Masque of the Red Death, The Cherry Orchard, Faust, and several different adaptations of Woyzeck.
Notably, they have staged four separate productions of their award-winning adaptation of Macbeth, entitled Sleep No More, in 2003 in London, 2009 in Boston, 2011 in a permanent installation in New York City, and in 2016 in a permanent location in Shanghai through their International arm, in partnership with SMG Live. They also produced the limited television series The Third Day.
Third Rail Projects
Third Rail Projects is a multi-disciplinary American performing arts company under the go-direction of Zach Morris, Tom Pearson and Jennine Willett, who have created site-specific work, immersive theater and experiential performances since 2005. Among more than 50 productions and projects, Third Rail Project's long-running show Then She Fell ran for 4,444 performances in New York City from 2012 until March 2020, when performances were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teen Interactive Theater Education The Teen Interactive Theater Education (TITE) program was established in 2007 to measure the level of decision-making skills and adolescent risk behaviors. The TITE program uses performance, role play and peer education to educate youth on making healthier decision. TITE youth participants do several educational performances to deliver information to youth. Teen participants teach other teens about risk prevention through performances. Lessons include the importance of avoiding risky behaviors, improving risk-avoidance skills and knowledge of the consequences of risky behaviors. The objective is to help youth understand risks and the positive effects of decision-making skills. Theater provides participating youth with immersive experience focusing on "team building activities, experimental learning opportunities which will contribute in developing life skills, critical thinking, relationships and values." A total of 127 students participated and result found that most students reported an increase in knowledge, abilities and belief due to intervention; some reported less overall learning. Research shows that this program can reduce youth risk behavior to improve overall decision-making skills for youth participants, and improve the way the youth approached decision-making process. Decision-making skills increased for participants. Youth who reported more learning as a result of intervention were more likely to have better outcomes in decision-making than those who reported after they participated in the intervention.
John Brown at the NMAH The National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution created an immersive theater about John Brown that explores historical memory and reflection. An "Arbiter", or curator, explains the historical trail of John Brown to visitors. The museum can be a theater where the audience surrounds themselves in the story that involves a historical figure. Theater in museums can help "engage in public on the profound issues of national importance" of the complexity of history." Museums can use immersive techniques to allow audiences to feel like they are immersing themselves in someone's story, to create empathy towards others. Immersive museum exhibits submerge audiences into the story by not only looking at the exhibit but to also being a part of the exhibit and participating in the exhibit at the museum.
The Immersive Theater Bible: Definitive Edition
This project involves what practitioners term an: experiential journal. A text (often hand written) that instructs a reader how to engage with an audience; the journal assumes that the reader is speaking to a group of people and directs its reader to engage them in certain activities and philosophies. The end goal being the reader and the listeners participate in a theatrical exchange giving way to the occasioned rumor that the ITB is a device used to instruct or create new immersive theater performers. The theory continues that anybody reading the ITB that can make sense of its text while keeping the interest of the audience is demonstrating the skills necessary to perform in immersive theater environments. Most contemporary practitioners of immersive theater have contributed to the ITB over the years and there is some discrepancy as to who authored the original work. This arises from the ITB mythos that whoever is reading the text also proclaims to have written it. Other stipulations include having to sell or gift the journal after a month of receiving it and allowing the current owner of the ITB to dictate the value of the journal based on their own experience.
RATS Theatre, Sweden In 2008 RATS Theatre translated the play Antigone into an immersive radio drama to teach lessons in democracy and decision making to youths. Rats used computer technology to elicit feedback from the audience to improve future performances. Rats built two different theatres to hold their shows, one in Husby and the other in Kista (Both cities in Sweden). Husby is in a lower income area and Kista is in a higher income area, which helped them reach out to the youths of two completely different communities. This was important because they were able to use their program to help educate youths. All performances took place in an immigrant suburb, and the interactive decision making gave these students an important lesson in democracy—showing them the democratic process of public decision making. In Husby, 84% of the inhabitants are either not born in Sweden or children of immigrant parents. Inputs from teens was optional but encouraged in order to get more information for the future productions. The RATS program has now expanded into Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. With the goal of helping teens getting involved in theatre can have their opinions help shape the future.