Punchdrunk are an international immersive theatre group that perform interdisciplinary work based around classic texts, adapting them into large-scale physical performances. Each audience member is given a mask to wear throughout, which instantly alienates them from the performers, making this an individual experience for each person.
Instead of their performance storylines and characters, I have chosen Punchdrunk as a Case Study for their techniques to creating performance and I am inspired by how their projects are defined by how much one participates as an audience member; the experience one takes away with them completely depends on how much they interact with the piece. There’s no set storyline to follow, therefore each experience will be different from the last. What excites me about this method of performing is that as an audience member, there is no restriction and you can experience a moment for as long or short as you please and can move between pieces depending on your preference.
They create new places within original locations- such as an indoor forest within an old warehouse within Faust[1]. Their transformative techniques inspire me for my own project as I look to make use of space out of the context their currently used in. For example, using a theatre space and transforming it into smaller rooms to create new spaces contrasting to the original theatre space that makes you forget its original use.
Within every Punchdrunk performance, the level of detail is mesmerising. Each prop, costume, room, etc links back to the original story in some way- there is nothing left to chance or anything purely for aesthetic purpose, it is all fully thought through. They use the sense in a lot of their performances, which include smells to highlight time periods or change of location (the smell of the fir trees in their indoor forest in Faust) or taste through.
I want each part of my project to have this level of attention to detail- to interrogate each of my choices and have valid reasoning for them instead of them being for aesthetic value.
I'm especially interested in The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable, throughout the performance the aesthetics within it are extremities of what each scene is about. Every piece is completely exaggerated and ultimately overwhelming. This has inspired me to play with breaking down my project into each small detail and seeing how these would work as extreme exaggerations[FC1] .
Their headline on their website is: “These things are mysteries not to be explained but you will understand when you get there alone”[2] This is my main interest in Punchdrunk’s work, how they create everything for the audiences experience instead of the performer and how the border between spectator and actor is continually crossed. I do not want my project to be for me, I want it to be for my audience and for them to be fully immersed in a world I have created for them.
[1]David McCormick, Punchdrunk- Faust, https://vimeo.com/19408848 [accessed 01/04/2017].
[2] Punchdrunk, https://www.punchdrunk.org.uk/ [accessed 25/03/2017].
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