Monday 1 August 2011

Improbable's Monthly D&D Satellite - What are we doing about Interactive, Immersive and Gaming Theatre

July 21st at Battersea Arts Centre
Hosted by Tassos Stevens
Facilitated by Lucy Foster


Below are a list of issues that were raised during the evening, where they are highlighted means that a report has been typed up against it.

1. Is there scope to create a new kind of summer festival, with pervasive entertainment at the centre, not as an add on?
2. Theatre Maker V's Audience/Participants - How much to give and how much to expect?
3. Headphones and Instructions?
4. Can we develop/is there an established scale within interactive/immersive theatre?
5. What about content and narrative?
6. How do you entice people to trust you and to want to participate when they came not expecting to?
7. Use it to explore the future of humanity.
8. How do we make it less niche?
9. Can we animate BAC's foyer? Commission info and ideas pitch.
10. What possibilities does technology offer for immersive theatre?
11. What responsibility do artists have to take care of playing audiences?
12. What can/should we learn from LARP (Live Action Role Play)
13. How the hell do we explain immersive/interactive theatre?
14. What is the role of the playwright in this work?

Is there scope to create a new kind of summer festival, with pervasive entertainment at the centre, not as an add on?

Discussion of Summary:

Thanks to everyone I spoke to for your thoughts, ideas and enthusiasm. Summary of some of things that were discussed is:

- Use well recognized tropes, themes and plotlines to allow
- Build up to a climactic / significant event
- Create a ‘spectrum of involvement’ (thanks for the term) for people with different levels of engagement
- Put festival-goers into teams or ‘camps’, each with their own backstory role to play
- Give everyone involved in the festival – from the bands, to the support staff to security (?!) backstories and nuggets of information to give out
- Bring the festival locations / tents into the story so that people feel they are involved just by watching
- Issue invitations from the characters in the story – appeals / cries for help / challenges etc
- Give people who buy a ticket a prop / item of costume at the same time
- Create content providing backstory and reasons to engage in the run up

Anyone who didn’t speak to me last night but has an interest in getting involved or just coming along please email me at ben@tseffect.com….