In this interview Casey Jay Andrews, designer of Viola’s Room – the latest production from the immersive theatre company Punchdrunk – discusses the concept and motivation behind it.
Punchdrunk is an award-winning immersive theatre company that creates theatrical experiences that are designed to make audiences feel fully absorbed in a fictional world.
In most theatres, you sit down in your designated seat and watch the action unfold in front of you. With Punchdrunk, they take over a whole building, fill every room and space with intricate sets and ask the audience to explore it for themselves. Previous shows, which usually take place only once every few years, have included The Duchess of Malfi (an immersive opera); The Burnt City, which retells the story of the Trojan war; and The Burrow – based on Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes.