Revolutionising Theatre

When studying at Exeter University, Felix Barrett found that the theatre they were being taught and trained to submit to was not revolutionary or what he desired and needed from the stage in the slightest. So, he Revolutionised Theatre.

Due to his burning passion for innovation in theatre and something new on the stage, Barrett founded Punchdrunk, with the macro-intention of completely immersing his audiences in life-changing theatre. The basis of a Punchdrunk production is that every single audience member is considered and has no same experience twice; the way that Barrett has often found this works best, is through the found process he puts his audiences through:

Upon arrival to the usually obscure performance space (which they wouldn't have know much about beforehand), the audience are  given  and sometimes other props or pieces of costume. These masks can sometimes enhance a storyline or plot within a piece, but mostly, they are for concealing the audiences' identity, representing a collective experience that the audience are going through together.

When in the performance space, audience members are essentially free to roam and explore the world of the characters they are following. Punchdrunk  utilise promenade theatre to their advantage; placing actors within a hyper-realistic world, in which the acting is also, hyper-naturalistic. By definition, it would be inappropriate to call a piece of Punchdrunk's work 'naturalistic'. Whilst the style of acting is naturalistic due to it's realism, actors often do interact and have intimate moments with audience members (an example being Viola's Room , where an actor takes a randomly chosen member of the audience into an intimate space and delivers a monologue).

The set also has a very large role to play in Punchdrunk performances (arguably one of the most integral pillars of their work). Everything shown, is there for a reason. Everything serves a purpose. So, as an audience member, one needs to constantly be thinking of symbolism of everything. Everything is also interactive; things are there to be picked up and looked at, which could add to the understanding of a piece.

Part of the magic of a Punchdrunk performance, is the unique audience experience. Whilst it is true that the immersion of their style is highly unique, every single audience member is bound to, and is supposed to have a different experience of a piece