Reframing Immersive Theatre James Frieze Editor Reframing Immersive Theatre

The Politics and Pragmatics of Participatory Performance Editor James Frieze Liverpool Screen School Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool, UK

ISBN 978-1-137-36603-0 ISBN 978-1-137-36604-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-36604-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016957738

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identified as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or here- after developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub- lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.

Cover illustration: © non zero one

Printed on acid-free paper

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Macmillan Publishers Ltd. The registered company address is: The Campus, 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW, Notes

Thanks to Jenny McCall, Paula Kennedy, April James, and Amy Jordan at Palgrave. Adrian Howells died while this book was being written and is greatly missed. References to his practice have been left in the present tense.

v Contents

1 Reframing Immersive Theatre: The Politics and Pragmatics of Participatory Performance 1 James Frieze

Part I Participant as Co-designer: Critical Reflections 27

2 On Being Immersed: The Pleasure of Being: Washing, Feeding, Holding 29 Josephine Machon

3 In the Body of the Beholder: Insider Dynamics and Extended Audiencing Transform Dance Spectatorship in Sleep No More 43 Julia M. Ritter

4 Troubling Bodies in Follow the North Star 63 Ruth Laurion Bowman

vii viii Contents

5 Experiencing Michael Mayhew’s Away in a Manger: Spectatorial Immersion in Durational Performance 77 Roberta Mock

6 Integrating Realities Through Immersive Gaming 93 Lindsay Brandon Hunter

7 Negotiating the Possible Worlds of Uninvited Guests’ Make Better Please: A Hypertextual Experience 103 Elizabeth Swift

8 Outdoors: A Rimini Protokoll Theatre-Maze 119 Esther Belvis Pons

9 Immersed in Sound: Kursk and the Phenomenology of Aural Experience 129 George Home-Cook and Kristian Derek Ball

Part II Facilitating Immersive Performance: Ethics and Practicalities 135

10 Reflections on Immersion and Interaction 137 non zero one

11 Caravania!: Intimacy and Immersion for Family Audiences 145 Adam J. Ledger

12 A Dramaturgy of Participation: Participatory Rituals, Immersive Environments, and Interactive Gameplay in Hotel Medea 151 Jorge Lopes Ramos and Persis Jade Maravala Contents ix

13 She Wants You to Kiss Her: Negotiating Risk in the Immersive Theatre Contract 171 Richard Talbot

14 The Fourth Wall and Other Ruins: Immersive Theatre as a Brand 193 Rachael Blyth

15 Immersive Performance and the Marketplace: The Hit 199 Sherrill Gow and Merryn Owen

Part III Where Material Meets Magic: Theories, Histories, and Myths of Immersive Participation 203

16 Spectral Illusions: Ghostly Presence in Phantasmagoria Shows 207 Nele Wynants

17 Playing a Punchdrunk Game: Immersive Theatre and Videogaming 221 Rosemary Klich

18 Proximity to Violence: War, Games, Glitch 229 James R Ball III

19 The Promise of Experience: Immersive Theatre in the Experience Economy 243 Adam Alston

20 Differences in Degree or Kind? Ockham’s Razor’s Not Until We Are Lost and Punchdrunk’s The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable 265 Geraldine Harris x Contents

21 Coriolan/us and the Limits of ‘Immersive’ 289 Andrew Filmer

22 Participation, Ecology, Cosmos 303 Carl Lavery

Bibliography 317

Index 335 Notes on Contributors

Adam Alston is Lecturer in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Surrey. His research explores the aesthetics and politics of audience participation, immersion and productivity in theatre and non-theatre­ settings, and the histories, aesthetics, and phenomenology of complete darkness in theatre. He is the author of Beyond Immersive Theatre: Aesthetics, Politics and Productive Participation (Palgrave MacMillan, 2016), and is currently working on a collection co-edited with Martin Welton titled Theatre in the Dark: Shadow, Gloom and Blackout in Contemporary Theatre (Bloomsbury, 2017). James R. Ball III is an assistant professor in the Department of Performance Studies at Texas A&M University. Previously, he taught theatre history and perfor- mance studies at the University of Maryland, College Park and New York University (where he earned his PhD in 2012), reported on the work of the UN Security Council for securitycouncilreport.org, and directed interactive and immersive per- formances with his company, 2 Distinct Motions. Rachael Blyth has performed in and produced theatre, live art, transmedia, music videos, and films. A graduate of Central Saint Martins and the University of York, she resigned from British theatre and film company FoolishPeople in late 2012. Kristian Derek Ball is a sound artist, designs sound and composes for theatre, film and multimedia. He is a professional member of the Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA.org) and Artist Lecturer of Sound Art at Muhlenberg College, School of Art. www.kristianderekball.com. Ruth Laurion Bowman is a recently retired Associate Professor of Performance Studies in the Department of Communication Studies at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA.

xi xii Notes on Contributors

Andrew Filmer is Senior Lecturer in Drama, Theatre, and Performance at Aberystwyth University. His research addresses space, place, and location in con- temporary theatre and performance, sites of encounter between architecture and performance, and the performance of running. Andrew is co-convenor of the IFTR Theatre Architecture Working Group. James Frieze is Senior Lecturer in Drama at Liverpool John Moores University, where his teaching focusses on devising, improvisation, performance theory, and contemporary performance. He has collaboratively devised and directed numerous site-responsive performances, including theatrical adaptations of non-fiction prose, poems, online virtual worlds, and other kinds of source-text. He is the author of Naming Theatre: Demonstrative Diagnosis in Performance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), the follow-up to which—on the obsession with evidence in contemporary performance—is in progress (under contract with Routledge). Sherrill Gow is a senior acting tutor and MA supervisor at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and is a PhD candidate at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Previously she worked as a freelance theatre director. Geraldine (Gerry) Harris is Professor of Theatre Studies at Lancaster University, UK. She has published widely on the politics and aesthetics of theatre, drama, and performance. Her latest books include Practice and Process: Contemporary [Women] Practitioners (2007) and A Good Night Out for the Girls: Popular Feminisms in Theatre and Performance (2013), both co-authored with Elaine Aston. George Home-Cook is a Lecturer in Drama at the University of Gloucestershire, UK. His research, which is grounded in phenomenology, focusses on sound, the aesthetics of atmosphere and the interconnections between performance and phi- losophy. George is the author of the monograph Theatre and Aural Attention: Stretching Ourselves (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), which was nominated for the Joe A. Callaway Prize for Best Book on Drama or Theatre 2014–2015. Lindsay Brandon Hunter is Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University at Buffalo. She has published in Text & Presentation, Theatre Survey, and Contemporary Theatre Review and is a past editor of Extensions: The Online Journal of Embodiment and Technology. Rosemary Klich is Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of the School of Arts at the University of where her teaching mainly focusses on contemporary performance practice with an emphasis on multimedia theatre, performance art, and immersive practice. She has published on the topics of new media performance, spectator- ship, audio theatre and post-dramatic theatre, and is co-author with Edward Scheer of Multimedia Performance (Palgrave, 2012). Notes on Contributors xiii

Carl Lavery is Professor of Theatre and Performance at the University of . His most recent publications are ‘On Ruins and Ruinations’: A special issue of Performance Research (2015), Rethinking the Theatre of the Absurd: Ecology, Environment and the Greening of the Modern Stage (2015), and ‘Performance and Ecology: What Can Theatre Do’: A special issue of Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism (2016). Carl also works with the artist Lee Hassall on the image and text piece of Battleship Island and performs with David Archibald in the Glasgow Glam Rock Dialogues. He is working on a monograph for Manchester University Press provisionally titled Interrogating the Human: Theatre Ecologies. Adam J. Ledger is a Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham. He taught previously at University College Cork and the University of Hull, and has directed projects internationally. His research centres on performance practice and his books include Odin Teatret: Theatre in a New Century (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) and The Director and Directing: Craft, Process and Aesthetic in Contemporary Theatre (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming). He is a joint artistic director of The Bone Ensemble: productions include Again, Caravania! and the participatory, immersive performance Where’s My Igloo Gone? Josephine Machon is Associate Professor in Contemporary Performance at Middlesex University, London. She is the author of Immersive Theatres: Intimacy and Immediacy in Contemporary Performance (2013), (Syn)aesthetics: Redefining Visceral Performance (2009, 2011), and has published widely on experiential and immersive performance. Josephine is Joint Editor for The Palgrave Macmillan Series in Performance & Technology. Her broad research interests address the audience in immersive theatres and the creative intersections of theory and practice in experiential performance. Roberta Mock is Professor of Performance Studies and Director of the Graduate School at Plymouth University, where she also convenes the Performance. Experience.Presence (P.E.P) research group. She is the author of Jewish Women on Stage, Film & Television and co-editor (with Colin Counsell) of Performance, Embodiment & Cultural Memory. Her theoretical, historical, and practical perfor- mance research tends to focus on the body, gender, and sexuality. non zero one is a company of five artists formed at Royal Holloway, University of London in 2009. Their work uses interactivity to start conversations and explore relationships. Someone the other day said, ‘We don’t tell stories, we listen to them’, which seemed about right, so we’re going to hang on to it. The company has shown work at the Barbican, the Bush, the National, Tate Britain, and festivals throughout the UK. xiv Notes on Contributors

Merryn Owen has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and at the Arcola, Manchester Royal Exchange, London’s West End, Europe, and the USA in work ranging from mainstream theatre to one-man shows, large-scale outdoor events, and immersive theatre like The Hit. As a director/devisor, he has created work for the Glastonbury Festival, the Crossing Border Festival in the Hague, and RSC Education and at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Kingston University and immersive club nights for a corporate client. He teaches acting at Arts Ed. Esther Belvis Pons is an independent researcher-artist and educator who holds a PhD in Theatre Studies jointly awarded by the University of Warwick and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She is a member of Artea, a collective of art- ists and researchers from Spain and Latin America that explore the potentialities of pratice-as-research and with whom she has curated events at the National Museum Centre of Art Reina Sofía. She is the co-editor of No hay más poesís que la acción (2015), a book that explores participatory theatre and socially engaged art in the Latin American context. She is also part-time lecturer at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya where she teaches Performing Arts and Technology. Jorge Lopes Ramos and Persis Jade Maravala are Artistic Directors and CEOs of ZU.UK (London) and of Centro Popular de Conspiração Gargarullo (Rio) mak- ing interactive theatre and hybrid art. Their Hotel Medea had three sold-out runs in London (Arcola Theatre, LIFT, and Hayward Galley), won a Prix Ars Electronica Award and a Herald Angel Award, and was Time Out Critic’s Choice Pick of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2011. Jorge and Persis Jade have published on immer- sive theatre, programmed live and digital festivals, and created telematic exhibi- tions for the Olympics in 2012 and the World Cup in 2014. They created DRIFT International, an artist residency for emerging artists interested in multidisciplinary innovation: a DRIFT app is currently being piloted that will enable artist to col- laborate and network via mobile devices. Julia M. Ritter is an associate professor serving as chair and artistic director of the Dance Department at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. She has received two awards for her research on dance and immersive performance, including the 2016 Selma Jeanne Cohen Lecture Award from the Selma Jeanne Cohen Fund for International Scholarship on Dance (USA) and the 2014 Prix André G. Bourassa for Creative Research from Le Société Québécoise D’Etudes Théâtrales (SQET Canada). A three-time Fulbright Scholar, she has presented her dance theatre work internationally. Julia holds a PhD in Dance from Texas Woman’s University. Elizabeth Swift is a writer and theatre director. Her intermedial work for the performance company, Void Projects, has toured extensively in the UK and Europe. She is a Senior Lecturer in Drama at the University of Gloucestershire. Notes on Contributors xv

Richard Talbot is Director of the Performance Research Group, University of Salford, where he is a senior lecturer teaching clowning and comedy performance techniques. He is Co-Artistic Director of Triangle Theatre and is co-author with Carran Waterfield of a handbook for performers produced for the National Trust. He frequently collaborates on museum interpretation projects in the UK and Australia and contributed to Performing Heritage (eds. Jackson and Kidd, 2011, Manchester University Press). He has published on and collaborated with Ridiculusmus frequently over the last decade or so and is one of the performers in their Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland (Touring 2015). Nele Wynants is a postdoctoral researcher at the Université libre de Bruxelles (THEA Joint Research Group) and the University of Antwerp (Research Centre for Visual Poetics). She graduated in Art History, Performance and Media Arts (UGent) and obtained a PhD in Theatre studies and Intermediality (UAntwerp) with a thesis on visual narratives in immersive performance and installation art. She is editor in chief of FORUM+ for Research and Arts, and publishes on contempo- rary artists working at the intersection of theater, media history and science. List of Figures

Fig. 5.1 Away in a Manger: 2pm & 4.20pm (photo by Kathryn Hawken) 80 Fig. 5.2 Away in a Manger: 6.15pm (photo by Lloyd Russell) 86 Fig. 7.1 Afternoon, a story by Michael Joyce 107 Fig. 8.1 Outdoors photo: Gareth Phillips/National Theatre Wales 126 Fig. 10.1 The time out by non zero one (Photo: non zero one) 138 Fig. 11.1 Adam Ledger welcomes visitors to Lower Caravania in his role as Minister of Internal Affairs (Photo: William Fallows) 146 Fig. 12.1 Female guests prepare Medea for her wedding (Photo: Ludovic des Cognets) 161 Fig. 12.2 Guests in pyjamas in their beds in Drylands, part two of Hotel Medea (Photo: Ludovic des Cognets) 163 Fig. 12.3 Guests and hosts share breakfast at dawn (Photo: Ludovic des Cognets) 166 Fig. 13.1 Borderline vultures by Happystorm (Photo: Nick Harrison) 179 Fig. 16.1 Robertson’s fantasmagorie in Pavillon de l’Echiquier, Paris, 1798. Engraving from Robertson’s Mémoires 208 Fig. 16.2 Robertson’s fantasmagorie in Couvent Des Capucines, Paris. Engraving from Robertson’s Mémoires 215 Fig. 20.1 Not Until We Are Lost by Ockham’s Razor (Photo: Nik Mackey) 269 Fig. 21.1 Coriolanus (Richard Lynch) questioned by the first and second citizens (John Rowley and Gerald Tyler) in the market-place (Photo: Mark Douet / National Theatre Wales) 291 Fig. 21.2 Volumnia (Rhian Morgan) and Virgilia (Bethan Witcomb) approach Coriolanus (Richard Lynch) and Aufidius (Richard Harrington) (Photo: Mark Douet / National Theatre Wales) 299

xvii