Participatory theatre in Riverside

Immersive and participatory theatre involves the audience, blurring the line between reality and acting, facilitating meaning, and evoking powerful responses. A Cold Spread is both audience participatory and site specific theatre. The audience is involved directly, and the location chosen is the play setting.

. Site Specific Theatre

The site is specifically chosen to enhance the performance which would not work elsewhere.

The Railway Children, old Eurostar terminal, Waterloo Station. The production is played in traverse across the track, with the 1000-strong audience arranged on opposite platforms. “We want the audience almost to feel as if they’re waiting for a train to arrive before the show starts,” said Joanna Scotcher, the designer.

. Immersive theatre

The audience is invited into the world of performance, interacting with actors. Whilst they do not take on characters, they are treated as a part of the scene.

You Me Bum Bum Train, LEB Building, Bethnal Green. The play is a mysterious and secretive tour through many scenes where the audience interacts with actors. A single audience member is taken through the scenes alone, pushed in a wheelchair.

. Participatory Performance Event

The audience members are the performance, created by involving themselves in a certain task or situation. They are however not encouraged to be characters.

Dance Marathon at Edinburgh Fringe 2011. This is a four-hour dance competition, inspired by dance-offs of the Depression. A group of performers keep the audience going, providing direction, but the real show is the whole audience busting some moves in front of total strangers.