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Promenade Theatre

Modern example

Origins of Promenade

Pro's of Promenade

Definition

This 2016 lexus promotion shot in 360 degree film demonstrates promenade/immersive theatre on an unsuspecting audience. The audience can be as little or large as possible and in the case of the lexus promotion. A small audience highlights the cars target audience and also makes the performance very personal.

As long as there has been theatre, there have been performances in locations other than a purpose-built theatre.

The First promenade performances consisted of tradesman acting out bible stories on carts to educate illiterate medieval towns folk centuries ago.

The origins of immersive theatre go back to the beginnings of modern theatre in the 19th century. Call-and-response, when a leader puts out a call and an audience calls back a pre-ordained response, has long been a concept in music, adding a participatory element. In the centuries that followed, things like murder mystery theatres and haunted houses also put their intended audience into an environment and allowed them choice in how they viewed the story.

The 60's saw many amateur independant backstreet productions of promenade theatre in many towns and cities due to the "individuality" and "freedom of speech" vibe that the decade had.

Promenade theatre/Immersive Theatre is extremely versatile. With no formal stage, and the audience and actors occupying the same space, it allows for experimentations with both new and old plays, and explores what the theatrical experience can entail for an audience. In moving the audience around throughout the performance, promenade theatre also pushes boundaries of setting in a way that can’t be achieved in regular theatre. - http://www.ayoungertheatre.com/behind-the-scenes-promenade-theatre/

The main pro's of Promenade Theatre are that the audience are always going to be left talking about the performance after they have seen it, due to the non conventional layout of the performance. The other pro's are that you do not need to have a specific location as you move into many locations. Also the actors and audience develop a better relationship as the audience and actors share the same space.

Promenade

Theatre Companies

Origins continued

Cons of Promenade

The main Con of Promenade theatre is that because the scenes move between different locations; the tension of the piece could be broken and te energy that was built up in the last scene, lost. To stop this from happening the locations need to be fairly close to eachother and if possible the actors need to interact and continue the story during the walk to the next location to help keeep the tension and rebuild the pace of the piece.

One of the most celebrated promenade plays was "1789", an epic work about the French Revolution created by "Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Soleil" (1970); the production used five stages and involved the audience as members of the mob.

UK-based theatre company "Punchdrunk" are known as pioneers of the form of immersive theatre. They have been producing immersive and promenade theatre since 2000 in the UK, they found worldwide fame after "Sleep No More", their 1930’s film noir adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, was unanimously well-received.

https://space.org.uk/2014/08/04/what-is-immersive-theatre/

PunchDrunk: est 2000, Based in London

http://punchdrunk.com/

Grid Iron Theatre: est 1995, Based in Edinburgh

http://www.gridiron.org.uk/

Under Construction: est 2006, Based in Oxford

http://www.underconstructiontheatre.com/

HappyStorm: est 2010, Based in Salford

http://www.happystormtheatre.co.uk/#

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