Sense of closure
“If audiences… [are] supposed to finish with a scary conclusion, and they’re already scared then there’s no journey for them to go on…to have a distinct beginning, middle and end you have to be able to manipulate an audience member’s feelings to give them that journey.”[1] The Punchdrunk Encyclopaedia
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This sense of closure can be narrative or emotional in nature. The audience just needs to feel that the experience has left them with a sense of closure, even if with that they are hungry for more. This sense of a satisfying end to the experience should be there whether an audience has a long or short interaction during the experience.
Conflict with agency
This is where audience agency can become tricky, if someone is wondering about doing their own thing or witnessing a lot of stuff in a random way they may not be exposed to a narrative that they can follow. Felix Barrett, Punchdrunk’s artistic director has argued that “Rather than an audience crafting their own narrative they are peeling back layers of story, almost archeologically.”[2] This isn’t always a problem as proven by Punchdrunk but even with their largescale shows’ audience members are given a short premise that they can apply to everything they see.
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Being shown something in the wrong order isn’t the problem, many movies and books feature flashbacks and disjointed storylines and part of the pleasure for the audience is the realisation of how it all connects or relates to a central theme. Even when the narrative is disjointed or fragmented there will still be a strong structure to it.
Connecting up the narrative
One ways that immersive theatre shows overcome this issue is to provide a short premise which will influence the lens that the production is viewed through by the audience member who will connect what they see back to this initial idea.
Exploration
Peter Higgin of Punchdrunk says that “Discovery is key…you want the audience to feel like they are discovering things alone and for the first time… We engineer a state of discovery, giving audiences the thrill of finding a clue or making a narrative connection.”[3] What many people don’t realise about immersive theatre is that whilst the audience feel very free it is all within a highly structured world where great control is being executed upon all elements, including the audience.
Dreams
Punchdrunk shows always have a dreamy dark wonderland quality to them and a sense of otherworldliness despite the world’s they create being filled with recognizable objects, themes and aesthetics. Whilst we’re not saying that creating a dream land for an experience would always be the most appropriate approach an element of dream culture within it can help blur reality. “The dreamlike quality frees the audience from having to understand or interpret. Instead just feel”[4] which can potentially be more powerful than just following a straightforward narrative.
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In dreams ordinary objects can become magical or gain a power that they wouldn’t in everyday life.
Atmosphere
Punchdrunk’s Felix Barratt writes that the most important starting point for any production is to consider “what do we want the audience to feel? It has to resonate with the senses, the stomach, not the head”[5]
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It is important to consider the emotional peak of the experience and to work back from “the zenith of the crescendo”[6] as it is easier to work back from this point than to figure out how you get to an unknown end. It will make building the structure of the experience easier and help to transport audiences to the alternative world through the narrative element.
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As mentioned in the agency section of this handbook the atmosphere can be used to set up an audience to have a desired emotional response which fits in with the narrative journey.
The Imagination
Punchdrunk suggest asking yourself “How can you manipulate the audience imagination to fill in the gaps?”[7] which is an interesting concept as it suggests using narrative and scenic elements to trigger the audiences imagination so that they are ones creating their own experience within the provided framework.
It has also been put forward that “the audience’s imagination and actor’s improvisation mean there are a multitude of ways to create a scene”[8] resulting in the creation of one off events that is entirely unique to each audience member.
Simple Plotlines
A way that many immersive theatre shows navigate the issue to narrative is to provide a simple plotline or premise that is presented to the audience upon entry, this provides the audience with a context to the space.
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In their document Approaches to Immersive Narratives Punchdrunk advise to “Keep the story simple…have a clear, straightforward story to tell…consider using the structure of familiar/well known tales”[9] and to consider the following:
Myths and legends
Fairy tales
The works of Shakespeare
Or “choose one of the Seven Basic Plots"[10] as a starting point:
Overcoming the Monster
Rags to Riches
The Quest
Voyage and Return
Comedy
Tragedy
Rebirth
[1] Machon, J. 2019. The Punchdrunk Encyclopaedia. 1st edition, Routledge, Abingdon.
[2] Machon, J. 2019. The Punchdrunk Encyclopaedia. 1st edition, Routledge, Abingdon.
[3] Machon, J. 2019. The Punchdrunk Encyclopaedia. 1st edition, Routledge, Abingdon.
[4] Machon, J; Stammers, N; Thompson, C. (2014) Punchdrunk Enrichment Preliminary Report. Punchdrunk Enrichment and Middlesex University
[5] Machon, J. 2019. The Punchdrunk Encyclopaedia. 1st edition, Routledge, Abingdon.
[6] Machon, J. 2019. The Punchdrunk Encyclopaedia. 1st edition, Routledge, Abingdon.
[7] Machon, J. 2019. The Punchdrunk Encyclopaedia. 1st edition, Routledge, Abingdon.
[8] McMullan, T [2014] The immersed audience: how theatre is taking its cue from video games [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/20/how-theatre-is-taking-its-cue-from-video-games [Accessed 15th October 2019]
[9] Anonymous at Punchdrunk, unknown date. Approaches to Immersive Narrative Document. [received via email 6th August 2019]
[10]Anonymous at Punchdrunk, unknown date. Approaches to Immersive Narrative Document. [received via email 6th August 2019]