On being immersed: The Pleasure of Being: Washing, Feeding, Holding

Abstract

Machon considers the ways in which immersive practice offers experiences of intimacy and immediacy in performance, which has evolved new approaches to audience interaction and appreciation as a result. The chapter begins with an overview of the key terms and defining features of immersive theatres, first introduced in Machon’s Immersive Theatres (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), to show the way in which such work prioritises embodied interaction in the event itself and in any consequent appreciation of the work. Machon’s (syn)aesthetic analysis of Adrian Howells’s The Pleasure of Being: Washing, Feeding, Holding elucidates the practice further and offers critical reflections that address the risks and ultimate pleasures for the audience-immersant and artist-immersant alike. This chapter is dedicated to the life and work of Adrian Howells (April 1962-March 2014).