noproscenium.com: Immersive friends, do you ever get tired of explaining what you do on your nights out to friends and relations? “No, no, it’s not that weird,” has become a bit of a refrain in my life, as I go to more and more immersive shows. Among my office-mates, I’ve begun attracting comparisons to Stefan, Bill Hader’s Saturday Night Live character, cheerleading New York’s hottest (and most surreal) attractions.
6 comments:
This performance has me pretty interested. Having an immersive theatrical experience with little to no talking can really be intimidating to an audience member who has hesitant to play or is new to this kind of performance. When the cast has dialogue that continues on and interact with each other, it takes the pressure off new audience members. Something about having silent performers can make the experience feel like its high performance art and can be intimidating. I had the privilege of being able to go to Sleep No More over the summer, and the silence of all the performers did make it pretty intimidating at first, and made me feel sort of isolated. However, there was also reduced pressure of having to react, since there was nothing to respond to and a sense of no judgement because of the silence.
I am interested in how this experience was able to tour. There must have been many logistics involved in making sure this interactive experience fits into each venue it enters. I would be interested in seeing a breakdown of how the logistics of the production change or adapt given each different location.
The depiction of the production is really catching my eyes. Having attend some of the immersive theater, I can not help but agree the author with the point that is is really hard to squeeze out word explaining what it was all about. After all, one major feature of the immersive shows is that it differs from person to person. Not that other forms of theater can be described more easily, just the intimate experience delivered by immersive arts are even harder to express. Then it comes down to why the author felt this article should be published, and with this chance he introduced an immersive theater production that is closer to what most people expect to see in the theater. In the article, the public imagination of immersive theater is discussed, and putting "The Sleepy Hollow Experience" to comparison with them really emphasized why this show is more friendly to newcomers.
Wow this looks like such a fun event!! I live about an hour away from Sleepy Hollow and I’ve been there several times for various events. I went to an event once where ghost stories were read aloud in an old church in Sleepy Hollow once. It’s a great place to go shop or hang out around Halloween. I love the idea of an immersive retelling of the famous story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. I also really appreciate how they used their space and landscape. Immersive theater and haunted houses are so exciting and fun to feel like you’ve been fully transported into another world. I absolutely love going to haunted houses with friends! Based off of the pictures in the article the scenery and light is stunning! I really hope that I will be able to see the Sleepy Hollow Experience next fall or some year that I’m home!
I love this article and I love immersive theatre. Granted, I think it is very hard to do “right.” I understand that I am not the ruling authority on what constitutes “right” or “wrong” for theatre, but I know that a lot of immersive theatre has the tendency to try too hard and lose the actual meaning in their pursuit to be innovative and modern. There is a fine line between making an audience think and just making an audience confused and lost. And immersive theatre can teeter on that line very easily. THis article really addresses that point. I love seeing this beautiful stepping stone into the wonderful and powerful world of immersive theatre. More people need to see immersive theatre, because that will help the genre grow and allow incredibly connective pieces to blossom into more of the mainstream. Theatre is a great break from the cold, digital world we live in, and immersive theatre is the perfect foil to that.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Immersive: “providing, involving, or characterized by deep absorption or immersion in something (such as an activity or a real or artificial environment)” (Merriam-Webster). Immersive does not mean weird, immersive is not satisfied by putting something in the round or making an audience sit on the floor, and immersive certainly does not have to be emotionally painful or dark. This piece actually seems like it has a compelling argument to call itself immersive theatre! The piece is suitable for all ages, which I do love, and it involves several practices that could deeply involve an audience member, such as site-specificity, conversation, and promenade play. The images of the costumes and scenic elements are absolutely beautiful, and so detail oriented. I am impressed that all of the actors actually do play their instruments, and I enjoy the audience engagement and interaction with the music. All in all, immersive theatre and audience interaction is not something I tend to enjoy (surprise), but I think that this group is on to something and ensuring that the priority is the story they are trying to tell and the environment they are trying to create.
I read this article honestly as someone who has grown up right near Sleepy Hollow, spending many a childhood falls at the great pumpkin blaze so I was very interested in what this newcomer to the world of immersive theatre to the ‘the Sleepy Hollow Experience’. I loved hearing about this experience as someone who isn’t the biggest fan of immersive theatre due to it's in your face nature. I loved hearing about a counterpoint to shows like ‘Sleep No More’, which I honestly have no desire to see. The limited audience interaction is really what sold me on this show as someone who hates audience participation. It was great hearing about how this show tours and adapts to the spaces it performs in as well as hearing about the performance of it in Sunny Irving’s estate - a home I am quite familiar with and can picture quite well. Lastly, it was great to hear about all the details that the production company thought of when mounting this production.
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