Immersive Theatre
The Fourth Wall
“the invisible scrim that forever separates the audience from the stage.”[1]
Proscenium arch theatre[2] is where the audience watches a performance through an invisible fourth wall that separates them from the action, rather like watching a TV program.
This is called realism[3] and is what is generally meant by “traditional theatre.”
The fourth wall can and has been broken through as far back as ancient Greek theatre where the chorus spoke out to the audience.
Billie Piper lounges against the fourth wall in Yerma at The Young Vic, 2016 [4]
How is immersive theatre different?
Immersive theatre is different to proscenium arch theatre as there is no fourth wall for the actors to break down, instead the audience begins their experience of the show by walking across it and into the performance space.
Charlie Tims of Punchdrunk describes how audiences “cross a threshold which usually, but not always, assumes a physical form. Sometimes it is literally a door, other times… it is a more perfunctory change of lighting, but the effect is the same: “You are going somewhere else now.”[5]
In immersive theatre the fourth wall is not invisible, instead it is a physical thing that when looked at by an audience member is more akin to being in a 360 degree photograph experience where because of your in-world location you are no longer aware of where the stage ends and the world beyond the wall begins.
Once they have passed into the performance space the audience are immersed and a new dynamic between audience and theatre is created.
If within an immersive environment the audience are ignored by a performer this must be accepted as a “rule” of the immersive world.
If a performer breaks this rule whilst in the immersive world to talk to an audience member this is not the same as breaking the fourth wall it is an aspect of the inworld reality.
Who built the wall? Can it be crumbled?
Travelling acting troupes[6] were a large part of working-class entertainment before the development of the Music Hall and pantomime. These shows would often take place in open spaces such as town centers or in taverns and the boundary between performer and audience was not clearly defined: "For thousands of years, most performance spaces were jerry-rigged, borderless, and naturally lit, the audience not a fixed, paying group but an amorphous mass that came and went at will."[7]
Even in the plays of Shakespeare there are soliloquies and monologues[8] where the fourth wall seems to disappear:
Mark Rylance performs a soliloquy from Shakespeare's Richard II at The Globe [9]
The convention of proscenium arch theatre was first put into written theory by Denis Diderot in his 1758 book Discours sur la poesie dramatique[10]: “When you write or act, think no more of the audience than if it had never existed. Imagine on the border between the scene and the spectators a big wall. Play as if the curtain was never opened.”[11]
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This was the beginning of officiating the convention of realism in theatre and it was over a hundred years before mainstream theatre began to consider breaking this convention. Prolific theatre building in England began in the eighteen-hundreds (many of which still operate as theatres today) for the entertainment of the growing middle-classes.
This growth established the convention of traditional theatre in a way that ingrained it in our understanding of what theatre is today and has left many struggling to deconstruct “the old fourth wall, that invisible, theoretical barrier.”[12] It also established what was acceptable as performance and what was not and therefore implemented a hierarchal system upon theatre that was deeply connected to class.
Middle class audiences at a proscenium arch theatre [13]
As society changed towards the end of the nineteenth century and the working classes began to have some leisure time and money the pantomime and music hall tradition grew. Within pantomime,[14] perhaps where the thinnest fourth walls are found, there is a magical blurring of reality and the theatrical that transports audiences into a new version of reality as it “invites volunteers from the audience to join the action on stage.”[15] Music hall performances involved audiences by getting them to sing alone, joking with them and addressing them directly.
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Today the music hall is gone whilst pantomime is generally seen as an event for children. Pantomime is deeply connected to the travelling performers who brought performance to ordinary people who would not traditionally have had access to a threatre. Pantomime is still something that almost everyone is taken to as a child regardless of class and is often our first experience of theatre.
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David Rumelle as Sarah in Dick Whittington demonstrates the tradition of audience participation in pantomime, 2004.[16]
Some immersive theatre practitioners consider pantomime’s conventions a hindrance as “it was outside the realms of serious theatre because it was audience participation...because of their frame of reference”[17] which has been responsible for keeping reviewers and potential audiences away.
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Perhaps theatre practitioners do not want to admit the connection between immersive theatre and pantomime and working-class theatre because the theatre establishment tells us this is not highbrow enough. Instead many talk about their work being connected to certain twentieth century practitioners who created works that aimed to break down the fourth wall and empower working-class audiences in new more intellectually developed ways. There are arguements made for and against the origins of immersive theatre which aim to explain it's development into a mainstream and successful practice, here we explore the three most relevant theatre theories and the discussions surrounding them.
Bertolt Brecht
(1898 -1956)
Brecht developed his Verfremdungseffekt [26] theory where techniques are used to distance the audience from the action and to“call attention to the artificiality of the performance.”[27]
His theory was revolutionary as it actively redefined the way theatre practitioners interacted with audiences by acknowledging their existence and role within the performance.
Whilst Brecht did want to involve the audience in the production he wanted them to be conscious for the whole performance that they were at the threatre being presented with a fiction.
This keeps the audience critically aware that society's conventions are being questioned and challenged.
“Brecht famously said he wanted theatre to be more of a boxing match and I think we achieve that…because the audience full on argue with each other.”[18] - Owen Kingston of Parabolic Theatre
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Kingston believes that immersive theatre takes Brecht’s theory of treating audiences as “spectators”[19] who are encouraged to heckle, engage intellectually and “think about what they are seeing”[20] objectively rather than just feel to the next level. Brecht believed that when an audience watched a naturalistic play they “lost the ability to think and to judge”[21] as they forgot themselves to the emotional fiction behind the fourth wall.
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Those that agree with Kingston believe that by being positioned within the fourth wall the audience don’t passively watch a narrative unfold, instead they actively play a part in shaping it and influencing the outcome. This creates and encourages debate within a fictional environment that “recreates the atmosphere of the shouting and cheering at a boxing match”[22] in the spirt of Brechtian theory.
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When I asked Kingston why he thought Brecht had never moved the audience into the same space as the performers he argues: “I just think it’s about having thought of the possibility that the audience and the actor can inhabit the same space... nobody thought of that."[23] Whilst this might be true some argue that Brecht's theory is in direct conflict with immersive theatre as "the whole notion of an immersive experience is to be immersed."[24]
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Ross Chandler who works for immersive theatre company Les Enfants Terribles says on considering Brecht the forefather of immersive: "you could adapt it but he [Brecht] would just be spinning in his grave."[25]
Immersive theatre creates a highly false environment where it is often unclear who is a performer and who is a spectator and encourages audiences to lose themselves within this alternative world.
When Brecht said he wanted audiences to be as spectators at a boxing match he was referring to their conscious involvement in what they were experiencing and how that allowed for a truely self-aware reaction to what they were seeing. What an immersive theatre audience experiences during a show is in direct conflict with this aspect of Brechtolian theory.
AUGUSTO BOAL
(1931 -2009)
Boal wrote “Theatre of the Oppressed”[28] in 1973 where he argues that proscenium arch theatre represses the audience as they cannot express themselves and that to free an audience they must be turned from spectators into “spect-actors.”[29]
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Boal “argued that mainstream theatre was an instrument of ruling-class control, aimed at sedating the audience”[30] and that if theatre aimed to “rehumanize humanity”[31] the audience would recover their capacity for action which in turn would place them equally with the performers.
This was the first time in that the audience’s opinions were included within the development of a production and had an actual effect upon the outcome of a performance. This is a trait shared with immersive theatre where audience interaction with performers has the potential to influence the plot.
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Some immersive theatre practitioners such as Gareth White[32] and Owen Kingston[33] argue that Immersive Theatre is a continuation of Boal's theory.
One aspect of Boal’s practice is called forum theatre[34] and involves showing a piece of theatre to an audience and then inviting them to comment and make changes to the narrative. Similarly by positioning the audience within the play and allowing them agency to influence and change the narrative immersive theatre can be seen to be enacting a type of forum theatre.
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However with forum theatre the audience is observing and analysing during the performance and remain physically separate to the performance. In an immersive theatre show an audience has arguably less influence than in forum theatre where they are far more active in altering narrative. Immersive theatre maker David Rosenberg has argued that "agency is an... illusion in theatre shows"[35] which contrasts with Boal's Forum Theatre where there is no falsity about it.
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Boal's invisible theatre [36] can be seen as being connected to some immersive theatre practice and to happenings.[37] Invisible theatre occurs in places where theatre doesn't usually happen such as a shopping mall or a park and is not obviously theatre. If you witnessed it you would probably not realise it is theatre but the theory is that it would influence your opinion about an issue due to the highly naturalistic setting in which it is experienced.
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Happenings and immersive theatre often occur in unexpected locations and often without announcement. They rarely have as political a message as Boal and are more likely to entertain or promote a product or service.
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Once these events begin it is obvious that they are contrived acts of theatricality whilst Boal's invisible theatre work is incredibly subtle. Today some theatrical stunts are as inconspicuous as invisible theatre but are publicised afterwards via social media which moves the event outside the parameters of invisible theatre and is in conflict with Boal’s theory.
There are several branches to Theatre of the Oppressed[38], some include:
Forum theatre
A short performance exploring a social or political problem. It is repeated and this time the audience can put forward alternative ideas that change the narrative. There is a neutral facilitator who enables this, allowing plausible interventions to be implemented.
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Image theatre
A sculpture moulds other performers “bodies as clay”[39] through touch to “create human sculptures.”[40]
Invisible Theatre
Theatre that takes place somewhere that theatre doesn’t usually happen. The performers hide the fact that it is a performance so to observers it seems like a real event.
Legislative theatre
Where spect-actors voice their opinions to institutions so that the flow of power between them influences legislative decisions and traditionally powerless voices are heard.
Communism and Capitalism
The major contrast immersive theatre has with the work of Brecht and Boal is that theirs stems from a communist ideology that aims to empower the disenfranchised.
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Immersive theatre in England works within a capitalist structure and often has great commercial success[41] compared with traditional fringe theatre. Immersive theatre company Punchdrunk makes a huge amount of money, catering to large audiences for long seasons and transferring their work to Broadway and China[42].
Despite being incredibly successful and popular most immersive theatre is enjoyed by the middle classes and rarely reaches working-class audiences so cannot achieve what Boal and Brecht would have wanted it to: radically empower and change the lives of the proletariat.
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Some of Punchdrunk's enrichment projects[43] are more in line with the theories of Boal and Brecht as they actively work to empower traditionally marginalised groups such as the elderly on their Greenhive Green[44] This project created an environment that enabled the members of a care home to engage with each other, families and the community in new ways and influence aspects of the care home activities.
Arguably the reason Punchdrunk can provide such successful enrichment programs are because they have had such commercial success and are able to divert profits and resources towards them. The themes of their commercial shows do little to challenge the political status quo and promote the socialist beliefs of Brecht or Boal which form the centre of both of these practitioners’ theories and work.
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Peter Brook
(1925 -present)
“I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.”[45] Peter Brook, theatre director, 1990
Brook’s theory focuses on who chooses to be the audience as well as the performer as he suggests that if you are actively watching someone else in any capacity, from a shop assistant demonstrating a product to a man cycling a bike you have actively become an audience.[46]
The idea that everything you do or spectate is in some way a form of theatre is interesting because it implies that you have the power to change and influence how others interpret this theatre. It also suggests that theatre is all around us constantly waiting to emerge uniquely for each of us and that we are a part of an unknown performance and greater narrative.
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There is no literature written about Brook on whether he has had any influence over immersive theatre but what is interesting is the idea that theatre can occur in any space at any time.
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Immersive theatre often shares this premise, especially low budget immersive theatre such as Land of Nod[47] that takes advantage of the everyday landscape of a location to create the set for the show.
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However, there has been an influx of immersive theatre shows such as Coney's A Small Town Anywhere[48] that have no actors present but are still successful which defies Brook's theory. Immersive games such as The Game is Now[49] use video footage and recordings to shape narrative and communicate with audiences.
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J.Sundbo, the author of Handbook on the Experience Economy, uses theatre as a lens to explain how to create better experiences but does not touch on the concept of immersion: “if your economic offering is an experience, then for you work is theatre…Whenever workers perform in front of the watching eyes of customers, they are acting – whether they know it or not, whether they do it well or not, they are acting. They must act in a way, therefore, that engages each guest with each and every interaction.”[50]
This is a practice that has been used to great effect by some companies such as Geek Squad who install and repair tech products in the home but turn up in costumes (uniforms) on Squad cars or motorbikes and refer to themselves as agents.[51]
A more simplistic version of this is the growing trend for open kitchens in restaurants as “customers want your restaurant to be theatre, venue and socializing spot.”[52]
Brook’s theory is slightly different to Sundbo’s as he focuses on who chooses to be the audience as well as the performer as he suggests that if you are actively watching someone else in any capacity, from a shop assistant demonstrating a product to a barista making your coffee you have actively become an audience.[53]
So where does immersive theatre come from?
Whilst some immersive theatre practitioners may see their work as a direct continuation of Boal or Brecht as there are shared elements within their physical practice they are separated by their theoretical intentions.
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Immersive theatre practitioners might create work that can provide debate around social and political issues or are inspired by Brecht and Boal’s work but these are at the cost of the conscious scrutiny of the piece by the audiences that these two theorist’s require.
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No immersive theatre practitioner has claimed Brook as their forerunner but immersive practice seems to share more commonalities with his theory which was developed, like immersive theatre, within a capitalist environment.
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Ultimately “what immersion does best, is engenders empathy in people, because you’re living through the thing, you’re not just watching it from a distance.”[54] Brecht, Boal and Brook never moved an audience from the position of onlooker to one of participant whilst the traditions of working-class theatre such as travelling players and pantomime do.
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It is ironic that whilst seeing their work as a continuation of communist theatre maker’s works and managing to successfully democratize the theatre experience for an audience immersive theatre practitioners and reviewers have ignored how heavily working-class British theatre has influenced their work.
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[6] Becker, T. Kulkarni, K.A [2017] Beyond the Playhouse: Travelling Theatre in the Long Nineteenth Century. Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film. 44 (3-7)
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[17] Lynch, E. Kingston, O [2019] Interview with Owen Kingston, Artistic Director of Parabolic Theatre Company
[18] Lynch, E. Kingston, O [2019] Interview with Owen Kingston, Artistic Director of Parabolic Theatre Company
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[22] Marchant, S [unknown] Theatre Studies – Brecht [Online] Available at: http://www.dreamdust.co.uk/work/boxing/ [Accessed 21st October 2019]
[23] Lynch, E. Kingston, O [2019] Interview with Owen Kingston, Artistic Director of Parabolic Theatre Company
[24] Lynch, E. Chandler, R & Engle, C [2019] Interview with Ross Chandler and Catherine Engle.
[25] Lynch, E. Chandler, R & Engle, C [2019] Interview with Ross Chandler and Catherine Engle.
[26] Encyclopaedia Britannica [2019] Alienation effect [Online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/art/alienation-effect [Accessed 21st October 2019]
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[32] White, G [unknown] On Immersive Theatre [Online] Available at: http://crco.cssd.ac.uk/id/eprint/143/1/On_immersive_Theatre_white.pdf [Accessed 23rd November 2019]
[33] Lynch, E. Kingston, O [2019] Interview with Owen Kingston, Artistic Director of Parabolic Theatre Company
[34] Cardboard Citizens [1991] Theatre of the Oppressed [Online] Available at: https://www.cardboardcitizens.org.uk/theatre-oppressed [Accessed 23rd October 2019]
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[36] Mandala Center For Change [unknown] Theatre of the Oppressed What is Theatre of the Oppressed [Online] Available at: http://www.mandalaforchange.com/site/applied-theatre/theatre-of-the-oppressed/ [Accessed 24th October 2019]
[37] TATE [unknown] HAPPENING [Online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/h/happening [Accessed 16th November 2019]
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[40] Mandala Center For Change [unknown] Theatre of the Oppressed What is Theatre of the Oppressed [Online] Available at: http://www.mandalaforchange.com/site/applied-theatre/theatre-of-the-oppressed/ [Accessed 24th October 2019]
[41] Neher, E [2016] The New Immersive Theatre [Online] Available at: https://hudsonreview.com/2016/05/the-new-immersive-theater/#.XeBUsuieRPY [Accessed 21st November 2019]
[42] Fishwick, S [2019] Sleepless in Shanghai: How London’s immersive theatre pioneers Punchdrunk became a surprise Chinese hit [Online] Available at: https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/theatre/londons-immersive-theatre-punchdrunk-china-a4057601.html [Accessed 21st November 2019]
[43] Tims, C [2016] DOORWAYS a review of Punchdrunk Enrichment projects 2013- 2016 [Online] Available at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5595a402e4b0d1b573e6d6e2/t/5825ad3a46c3c4a876b8df41/1478864193016/DOORWAYS.pdf [Accessed 3rd August 2019]
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[45] Brook, P. 1990. The Empty Space. 3rd edition. Penguin Books, Middlesex.
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[54] Lynch, E. Kingston, O [2019] Interview with Owen Kingston, Artistic Director of Parabolic Theatre Company