Immersion and Participation in Punchdrunk's Theatrical Worlds [Hardback]

Immersion and Participation in Punchdrunk's Theatrical World provides an intimate account of the company's award-winning productions and practices. Examining Pundrunk's role as pioneers of immersive theatre in the UK through a range of their productions including Sleep No More and The Drowned Man besides earlier works including Kaberoi, The Borough, Faust and The Duchess of Malfi, the book presents an original theoretical framework for understanding what it is that makes theatrical experience immersive.

Central to the book is a study of how the company's immersive experience is produced through careful design of interaction as a component of physical and digital scenography for participatory audiences. Based on detailed ethnographies of the making cultures of the company and their live and online audiences, the book interrogates the relationship between the detailed aesthetics of interaction and the experience of immersion in Punchdrunk's work. Reflecting on differences in the material cultures of digital and physical making and what they mean for interaction design in theatre, the book introduces a framework for understanding immersion and shows how Punchdrunk's work with audiences and immersion provides a blueprint for next-generation interaction design that meets challenges associated with scenography for interactive multimedia environments.