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International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

208136

Play the story

an approach to narrative in immersive theatre

Rose Biggin

pp. 157-176

Abstract

This chapter proposes an entirely new theoretical approach to the question of 'story" in immersive theatre. Drawing from the field of computer games studies, Biggin introduces the (so-called) debate between narrative (or narratology) and ludology, two approaches to studying the role of story in games, arguing that this approach is highly applicable to immersive audience experience in theatre by its emphasis on the relationship between game mechanics, structure and story events. The usefulness of this model to immersive theatre is illustrated with analysis of Punchdrunk's Sleep No More (2011–) and its 2012 partnership with MIT Media Lab exploring "long distance-real world interconnected theatrical immersion". The chapter concludes by demonstrating further overlap between immersive theatre and games, including current artistic activity in this area.

Publication details

Published in:

Biggin Rose (2017) Immersive theatre and audience experience: space, game and story in the work of punchdrunk. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Pages: 157-176

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-62039-8_7

Full citation:

Biggin Rose (2017) Play the story: an approach to narrative in immersive theatre, In: Immersive theatre and audience experience, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 157–176.