Immersive Theatre

I'm a massive fan of Punch Drunk and all things immersive. About six years ago, I dragged the kids to a production of the Mask of the Red Death at the Battersea Arts Centre, where we had to wear silly masks and follow actors around a massive building. I recall being scared out of my brains, as a few of us were locked in a small room, and one of the actors announced, 'We're going to have a seance'.

Shit, no.

It was fine though, as one of the kids, P, lent over and said, 'Hello, Billychica.' I can't remember exactly, but I'm sure that scared the living daylights out of me.

Roll on a few years and I'm based in New York and have been to a few more of these immersive thingies... Punch Drunk have a long-term production called Sleep No More and also did a short run in London, which I managed to catch when I was home.

Similar to six years ago, I dragged friends here to a production called Speakeasy Dolls House, which was set in a bar with spirits served in teacups and beer served in mugs. That was fun, as we were given lines and parts in the play.

Drowned Man in London was immense. Huge, incredible, you would need to go 4/5 times to make a dent in it. Punk Drunk, they are getting fancy.

Baby sister is in town again and was her birthday last night, so we took her to Then She Fell. A play based on Lewis Carroll's story and set in a former hospital. The amazing thing with this production is that there are 14 other people in the audience. You are number 15. I spent a lot of my time going, 'This guy is acting just for me, wow!'

Of course, there might only be 14 other people watching the play, but somehow there is always that eager beaver who has to get up-close-and-personal to the actors. There was one woman, tall, massive hair, who got moved out the way by an actor in the first 10 minutes. Moron!

Anyway, I love immersive theatre. Drop me a note if you hear of others...