Watching, attending, sense-making: spectatorship in immersive theatres
Article
Machon, J. 2016. Watching, attending, sense-making: spectatorship in immersive theatres. Journal of Contemporary Drama in English. 4 (1), pp. 34-48. https://doi.org/10.1515/jcde-2016-0004
Type | Article |
---|---|
Title | Watching, attending, sense-making: spectatorship in immersive theatres |
Authors | Machon, J. |
Abstract | This paper addresses the aesthetic, corporeal and intellectual dimensions of spectatorship in immersive theatre. Immersive work engages audiences at an experiential level and within environments that prompt multisensory engagement and explorative forms of audience participation. Immersive theatre makers, such as De La Guarda, dreamthinkspeak and Punchdrunk, have been making internationally recognised work throughout the twenty-first century. While audience interaction and participation has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention over the past few years, the significance of watching in immersive theatre remains elusive and merits further consideration. Drawing on Immersive Theatres (Machon, 2013) and referencing a full range of practice that is exemplary, this paper describes and defines ‘immersive theatres’ in broad terms. Using Punchdrunk’s The Drowned Man (2014-15) as illustration, it considers the types of experience to be had and the qualities of watching that result in such events. In turn it addresses the type of ‘sense’ individuals can make when they are spectators to their own interactions, attendant to their actions and reactions. |
Keywords | embodied spectatorship; immersive; interaction; Punchdrunk (syn)aesthetics; The Drowned Man |
Research Group | Theatre Arts group |
Publisher | De Gruyter |
Journal | Journal of Contemporary Drama in English |
ISSN | 2195-0156 |
Electronic | 2195-0164 |
Publication dates | |
01 May 2016 | |
Online | 12 May 2016 |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 05 Sep 2016 |
Accepted | 16 Oct 2015 |
Output status | Published |
Publisher's version | |
Copyright Statement | The final publication is available at www.degruyter.com: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/jcde-2016-0004 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1515/jcde-2016-0004 |
Web of Science identifier | WOS:000436519400004 |
Language | English |
https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/86747
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