Check out an emerging style of theatre--Immersive Theatre from The American Theatre Wing.
Leave a comment below discussing what were some of the interesting ideas you learned about. Application: Think about how this style of theatre might be interesting for you (either in past or future productions). How COULD you have seen it used in past productions or in future productions?
I thought this video was very interesting, and it showed me a whole new kind of theatre. I loved learning about the unexpected aspect of immersive theatre: that you never know what is going to happen until the audience is really there. The proximity of the audience can prevent movement of the actors, but it can also change the acting to make it so specific and minute. It sort of reminded me about Bunraku, as there is so much precision in the performance because the audience is so close.
ReplyDeleteLooking at a past production, I think immersive theatre would have been really interesting to use in Baalzebub. As actors, we were pretend cooking and eating, for example, which we could have all done live with the audience next to us, sitting in the circle with us. I'm specifically imagining the scene where Sam and Isis have prepared food and are handing it out to Ray's gang; the contrast between the plain rice that we would be serving and the delicious descriptions that we were speaking would become clearer and amplify the significance of the scene.
When looking at future productions, I definitely want to find a way to incorporate immersive theatre into my solo project. I think it really challenges you as a theatre practitioner to think outside of the box, and push both you and the audience.
Immersive theatre is truly fascinating. I believe I had my first contact with this particular theatre form when we watched The Container on Digital Theatre Plus, and even then it took me a while to wrap my mind around the concept of completely erasing the line between the actors and the audience. However, due to our Directors Alive project, I was able to better understand this concept of an immersive, boundless theatre, for I studied the theorist Antonin Artaud, who also believed in the elimination of the physical boundaries of the stage as a form of deepening the relationship between the spectators and the performers.
ReplyDeleteAnother aspect of the Immersive Theatre that really intrigued me was how it enables a further exploration of the senses, allowing the audience to have a more vivid experience of the show. In order words, by physically approximating the audience to the actors and the set, Immersive Theatre is able to create a highly sensory environment in which the spectators and the performers hear, see, smell and touch the same things at the same time. This same stimulation of the senses could have been applied to Seedfolks as all of the scenes evolved around a huge garden, which is a place with really distinct smells, sounds, tastes and textures.
In regards to future performances, I believe that we can apply Immersive Theatre to our show, The Giver. For example, we could have the audience participate in the Ceremony of Twelve or design a set that creates more intimacy between the actors the spectators, which would a lot like the one for Baalzebub.
This video from The American Theatre Wing was extremely interesting to watch as I am not very familiar with immersive theatre. Some of the interesting ideas I learned about was about the impact this type of theatre has on the audience. I liked what they said about this being a "performance in which the audience finds themselves within the world...they have agency." This type of performance gives the feeling to the audience rather than TRYING to give them the feeling, because the proximity completely changes the dynamic. The safety of the 4th wall and the seats in the house create a divide so the audience can empathize with the characters. But when they are standing in the space, in the story, the audience is given the feeling. The impact on the actors is also a really interesting factor in immersive theatre. The intimate encounters with the performers the audience get (such as talking to them, touching them) is the perfect environment for everything to go wrong in a performance. Especially since actors have been trained to project their performance across a proscenium, this needs to be broken down as the audience is completely in the actor's face. The actors need to be able to trust the dynamic between the audience and themselves as they can never determine where the audience will stand or what they will say.
ReplyDeleteConsidering how this style of theatre could have impacted past productions, I think immersive theatre would have been interesting to use in Seedfolks. We already included a show in-the-round, where the actors would sit with the audience. So we did have intimacy and included the audience in some ways. However, I think by doing immersive theatre we could have done more of this. For example, in the opening scene where all the characters were walking around, bumping into each other it would have been really interesting to include the audience in this, to make them feel the isolation and confusion the characters felt at the beginning. Then in the final scene where all the characters are having a party, dancing, having a barbecue, including the audience by characters grabbing audience members, dancing with them, serving them food, etc. could have emphasized the theme of inclusion and really solidify the joyful ending to the play.
When looking towards future productions, I am planning on focusing on Brecht as my theorist. Audience interaction is an important aspect of it, but focusing on immersing the audience into the political message portrayed in the performance, rather than the performance itself. I really liked the concept of an unconventional stage where the audience is around the actor. I think immersive theatre is an extremely creative way to include the audience and create an intimate relationship between the actors and the audience.