Punchdrunk

This article is about an immersive theatre company. For the medical disorder known as "punch drunk", see dementia pugilistica.

Punchdrunk logo

Punchdrunk is a British theatre company, formed in 2000, the pioneer of a form of "immersive" presentation in which the audience is free to choose what to watch and where to go. This format is related to "promenade theatre".

The company's artistic director is Felix Barrett and its executive director is Colin Marsh. Company members include associate director and choreographer Maxine Doyle, enrichment director Peter Higgin, producer Colin Nightingale, sound and graphic designer Stephen Dobbie and design associates Livi Vaughan and Bea Minns.

Innovations

In a Punchdrunk production, audience members are free to roam the performance site, which can be as large as a five-story industrial warehouse, and can either follow the performers and themes (any of them, for there are usually multiple threads at any particular point in time), or simply explore the world of the performance, treating the production as a large art installation. Former Secretary of State for Culture James Purnell cited Punchdrunk as an example of "access and excellence" in modern British theatre.

History of productions

• The Cherry Orchard (2000)

• The House of Oedipus (2000)

• The Moonslave (2000)

• Johnny Formidable: Mystery at the Pink Flamingo (2001)

• Midsummer Night's Dream (2002)

• Chair (2002)

As part of The Deptford X Festival of Contemporary Art this adaptation of Eugene Ionesco's play Les Chaises (or The Chairs), was performed in the Old Seager Distillery in Deptford.

• The Tempest (2003)

The Old Seagar Distillery was once again used by Punchdrunk for this adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest. The production used five floors of the warehouse to create a dark vision of Prospero's island.

• Sleep No More (2003, 2009-10, 2011)

For the 2009-10 Boston production, see Sleep No More (2009 play).

For the 2011 New York production, see Sleep No More (2011 theatrical production).

Punchdrunk transformed the Beaufoy Building in London, an old Victorian school to tell the story of Macbeth in the style of a Hitchcock thriller, using reworked music from the soundtrack of classic Hitchcock films.

In 2009-2010, Punchdrunk reinvented Sleep No More, in an expanded version, in association with the American Repertory Theatre. It won Punchdrunk the Elliot Norton Theatre Award for Best Theatrical Experience 2010.^{[citation needed]}

In December, 2010 it was announced that Punchdrunk would reinvent "Sleep No More" in New York City's Chelsea district in a former nightclub space. The first performance of this brand new production took place on 7 March 2011 at 530 W 27th Street, New York, New York 10001.

• Woyzeck (2004)

At the 2004 Big Chill Music Festival Punchdrunk presented an immersive adaptation of Georg Buchner's Woyzeck.

• The Firebird Ball (2005)

A production inspired jointly by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Stravinsky's The Firebird. The production took place at Offley Works, a disused factory in south London.

• Marat/Sade (2005)

Appearing again at the 2005 Big Chill Music Festival, Punchdrunk created a treatment of the Peter Weiss play The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade.

• Faust (2006-7)

Punchdrunk presented Faust from 10th October 2006 until 31st March 2007; an adaption of Goethe's Faust Part One, relocating the action of the play to a small town in 1950s America, which took place across five floors and 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m²) of a derelict archive building in the London neighborhood of Wapping. The production won the 2006 Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Designer.

• The Masque of the Red Death (2007-8)

A co-production by Punchdrunk and BAC, Battersea Arts Centre, Masque of the Red Death was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's stories and ran at Battersea Old Town Hall from 5th October 2007 until 12th April 2008. While each performance culminated in a ball scene, Friday and Saturday night performances were followed by Red Death Lates, an elaborate afterparty with interactive performance, celebrity guests, live bands and cabaret.

• Tunnel 228 (2009)

A collaboration with the Old Vic theatre, in the abandoned tunnels beneath London's Waterloo station.

• It Felt Like A Kiss (2009)

Commissioned by Manchester International Festival, It Felt Like A Kiss was a Punchdrunk collaboration with documentary maker Adam Curtis and musician Damon Albarn. It Felt Like A Kiss won Punchdrunk the Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best Special Entertainment.

• The Duchess of Malfi (2010)

A co-production by Punchdrunk and English National Opera which opened on 13th July 2010 in a vast, decommissioned pharmaceutical headquarters at east London's Albert Dock.

• The Crash of the Elysium (2011)

A one-hour show for children aged between 6 and 12, made in collaboration with the television series Doctor Who.

• Sleep No More NYC (2011)

A two-and-a-half hour-long performance inspired by Macbeth, set in three abandoned warehouses on West 27th Street in New York City, which are transformed into a 1930's-style hotel called the McKittrick.

• Black Diamond (2011)

A travelling performance that took place across 7 venues in East London between July 3rd and September 1st to launch Stella Artois Black.

• And Darkness descended... (2011)

A site-specific performance that took place in the tunnels beneath Waterloo Station to launch the Playstation game, Resistance 3.

See also

• Site-specific theatre
• Postmodern theatre

External links

• Punchdrunk official homepage
• National Theatre information page on Faust
• National Theatre information page on The Masque of the Red Death
• New York Times review of Faust
• Guardian newspaper review of Masque of the Red Death