The Walkabout Project

Tully Hyams shares the story of Durham’s newest student theatre company

Immersive theatre. What is it and why Durham? About a year ago, Max Shanagher and I decided to write a play about Oscar Wilde, to be staged in Durham with a twist. This was not going to be an ordinary play with the audience sitting in the Assembly Rooms. We had a di erent idea. We took inspiration from Punchdrunk, the world-famous production company now with permanent premises in Woolwich Works in London. This group pioneered the immersive theatre genre in the early 2000s, while its founders were studying at Bristol. In our eyes, Durham could do well to follow suit, with a new kind of performance that puts audiences at the heart of the action.

Immersive theatre is all about discarding the typical conventions of drama. It gives audience members the agency to explore their own role within a story and the choice about how they engage with it. You can stand on the sidelines and observe from a distance, or get up close to a scene with the actors all around. The fourth wall is gone, and in its place we find all kinds of new creative opportunities. Costume and set design take on whole new importance with an attention to detail that can either make or break the immersive illusion. Actor improvisation animates narratives that must maintain a degree of adaptability to accommodate the whims of each unique audience. Tech must welcome new control, applying lighting and sound all with the utmost sensitivity to sustaining the immersion.