Interactivity and Immersion: Theoretical Approaches

Abstract

Description based upon print version of record. This book is the first full-length monograph to focus on Punchdrunk, the internationally-renowned theatre company known for its pioneering approach to immersive theatre. With its promises of empowerment, freedom and experiential joy, immersive theatre continues to gain popularity - this study brings necessary critical analysis to this rapidly developing field. What exactly do we mean by audience “immersion”? How might immersion in a Punchdrunk production be described, theorised, situated or politicised? What is valued in immersive experience - and are these values explicit or implied? Immersive Theatre and Audience Experience draws on rehearsals, performances and archival access to Punchdrunk, providing new critical perspectives from cognitive studies, philosophical aesthetics, narrative theory and computer games. Its discussion of immersion is structured around three themes: interactivity and game; story and narrative; environment and space. Providing a rigorous theoretical toolkit to think further about the form’s capabilities, and offering a unique set of approaches, this book will be of significance to scholars, students, artists and spectators. Acknowledgements; Contents; Chapter 1 Immersive Theatre, Immersive Experience; General Introduction; Approaches to Audience; Approaches to Audience: Theatre and Performance Studies; Approaches to Audience: Film, Television and Cultural Studies; Approaches to Audience: Punchdrunk and Immersive Theatre; Approaches to Immersive Experience; Approaches to Immersive Experience: Immersion and Cognition; Immersion and Philosophical Aesthetics: The Sublime and the "Revered Gaze"; Approaches to Immersive Experience: Immersion and Computer Games; Outline of the Book; References Chapter 2 Interactivity and Immersion: Theoretical ApproachesIntroduction(s) to Interactivity; Digital and Multimedia Performance; Improvisatory Theatre and Pervasive Gaming; Social Contexts of Interactivity: The Experience Economy and the Theatrical Event; Computer Games: A Multivalent Model; In(teractive) Conclusion; References; Chapter 3 Interactivity and Immersion in The Drowned Man; Cognitive Interactivity; Functional Interactivity; Explicit Interactivity; References; Chapter 4 Fan Interactivity: Communicating Immersive Experience; Conclusion: "Thank You Punchdrunk!"; References Chapter 5 Follow the Story: Narrative and ImmersionAn Introduction to Narrative Theory(s); Defining Narrative; Story, Plot, Discourse; The Importance of Causality; Character and Plot; A Linear Case Study of Narrative and Immersion: The Crash of the Elysium; Elysium: An Internally Coherent Immersive World; Elysium: Structural and Soundtrack Linearity; Conclusion: Narrative and Immersion, Form and Story; References; Chapter 6 Exploring Multistories: Narrative, Immersion and Chronology; A Short Introduction to Narrative and Time Immersive Experience, Structure and the Question of Chronological OrderTwo Immersive Endings; References; Chapter 7 Play the Story: An Approach to Narrative in Immersive Theatre; Introduction to the Narrative "vs" Ludology Debate; Narrative "vs" Ludology in Sleep no More; Games and Stories: Two Kinds of Treasure Hunt; Conclusion: "Level Design Is More like Theatre Design Than Anything"; References; Chapter 8 Environment and Site-Specificity: Space, Place and Immersion; Introduction to Theories of Environment and Immersion Cognitive Studies and Neurobiology: The Environment of the Embodied MindSite-Specific and Environmental Theatre: Memory, Ecology and the Theatrical Event; Immersion and Environment in the Borough; Immersion and Environment in the Drowned Man; Conclusion: Immersive Environment(s); References; Chapter 9 Conclusion; References; Bibliography; Index