But why do we break down the fourth wall? What is the rationale for doing so?
Wednesday, October 09, 2019
The Second-Order Problem: A Participant-Centered Approach to Immersive Design
But why do we break down the fourth wall? What is the rationale for doing so?
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So many articles posted here have centered on “innovative” and “immersive” productions that (at least attempt to) incorporate the audience into the show, and one question that consistently comes up from those articles is “why?” Traditional theatre has the audience omnisciently watching scenes played out from behind an (albeit, invisible) wall; the world of the play presumably exists with or without the audience there to observe it, and the audience does not affect that world in any way. One quote from the article that stood out to me was, “But still the question remains: once the fourth wall is gone, can you as a creator justify the audience’s existence in the world?” And also, “How is the piece creating conversation with the participants?” What is the point? Who are the participants in this world and why do they matter? These questions must be answered by any production looking to incorporate the audience members, not just create immersive theater for the sake of the buzzword.
I agree with Bridget’s question and wanted to read this article as someone who is turned off by immersive theatre because I am scared of being viewed by everyone/doesn’t want to make a fool of myself in front of everyone. I love that the author calls out the immersive theatre for not always knowing why it is immersive/not actively answering the question of why being immersive. I think a lot of new theatres come out of wanting to be different and new and edgy but a lot of the times don’t serve the design/show in any way shape or form. I love how the article talks about how bad immersive theatre is bad for creating the audience’s perception of what immersive theatre should be. I feel like I one hundred percent fall into this category and hope maybe one really good immersive theatre experience can change my mind. Overall, this article did a really good job at looking at why immersive theatre is flawed and how to improve it.
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