A brief history of immersive theater in Russia. Mystical show “The Returned” Theater where you follow the actors

Anna Kovaleva

14 min.

On December 1, 2016, the world premiere of the new immersive play “The Returned” took place in the Russian capital.

You should hurry - after 50 performances in Moscow, the production will leave Russia and go to New York!

What happened?

On December 1, 2016, the world premiere of the new immersive play “The Returned” took place in the Russian capital. Moscow is the first city whose residents had the opportunity to watch this mystical show. However, you should hurry - after 50 performances in the Mother See, the production will leave Russia and go to New York: in the spring, the ambitious directing team of the young theater company Journey Lab begins rehearsals for the American version of the show, which is scheduled to premiere in the fall of 2017.

Who put on this mystery show? The play “The Returned” is the result of a creative collaboration between young American directors Victor Karina and Mia Zanetti from the New York theater company Journey Lab and Russian producers Vyacheslav Dusmukhametov and Miguel, choreographer and mentor of the show “DANCE” on TNT. Sounds in the mansion classical music

, authored by composer and leader of the band Therr Maitz Anton Belyaev.

We met the directors of the production, Mia and Victor, in the theater bar: at the very beginning, all spectators are invited to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the performance in a small speakeasy bar located in the basement of the mansion. Guests gradually get used to the twilight, and anticipation increases curiosity. However, you can return to the bar at any time during the action or stay there for a cocktail after the show to discuss what you saw with other viewers of the show. I was lucky: I discussed what I saw directly with those who owned the idea and implementation of this project in Russia.

Why did Moscow become the location for the world premiere of the show? In fact, “The Returned” ended up in Moscow thanks to a happy coincidence. Original idea put immersive performance V New York

In order to stir up interest, prepare the American public for Ibsen and make a small “teaser” for the future performance, at the beginning of 2016, Journey Lab members Victor Karina and Mia Zanetti decided to stage a kind of prequel to the future production in New York. The play was released under the name The Alving Estate. The prequel sent everyone who came to the events preceding the action of the classic play by the Norwegian playwright: it was important for the directors to show what underlies the experiences of the characters and clearly demonstrate how events from the past influence the present. Tickets for the performance sold out quickly, and the critical response was surprisingly positive. By a lucky coincidence (at least for the progressive theater audience of Moscow), the current creative producer of “The Returned”, Anastasia Timofeeva, turned out to be at this performance, and she was very impressed by what she saw.

The idea of staging a large-scale immersive performance in Moscow has long been with the choreographer Miguel, known to the Russian public from the popular TV project “Dancing” on TNT. Miguel visited the cult immersive show Sleep No More in New York more than once and was determined to do something similar in Moscow. Together with TNT producer Vyacheslav Dusmukhametov, Miguel organized a meeting with young participants of Journey Lab, the authors of The Alving Estate, and invited them to create a joint immersive project in Moscow. Already in the spring of 2016, active work began in the Russian capital on creating the world premiere of the mystical play “The Returned.”

What is an “immersive performance”?

Immersion (from the English immersive - creating the effect of presence, immersion) is definitely one of the main trends contemporary art. Immersive theater is no exception; it is a kind of logical result of several trends in progressive directing and in the field of popular urban leisure.

The main feature of an immersive performance is the ability to create the effect of completely immersing the viewer in what is happening and involving him in the plot of the production. At any moment, participants in the action can begin to directly interact with the audience - the actors can hug you, blindfold you, take your hand or take you to another room. Sometimes, in order to take the viewer out of their comfort zone, it is enough just to look into their eyes for a long time. Distinctive feature immersive productions are that the audience ceases to be just observers in the auditorium and becomes full participants in the entire action. By the way auditorium In the world of immersive theater in the traditional sense of the word, there is no such thing either; the action of the promenade theater develops simultaneously in several different locations.

In the case of The Returned, the play takes place in a mansion early XIX century in Dashkov Lane in the center of Moscow. A team of talented decorators and costume designers managed to recreate an interior that absorbed the spirit of the times. The house has four floors and about 50 rooms, each of which enchants the action, combining the energy of progressive theater, the visual aesthetics of cinema and amazing special effects.

How did the work on the project go?

For six months, young American directors Victor Karina and Mia Zanetti worked in strict secrecy with Russian artists and trained them in innovative immersive theater techniques. It is noteworthy that many of those involved in the production have never seen wandering performances before.

The technique used by the director's tandem of Victor and Mia is widespread in the United States, but for Moscow it was new. The actors were taught how to interact with people correctly - during the work on the project, the entire team performed a number of exercises to emancipate. For example, one of the tasks for the artists was to lie down in the middle of the Moscow metro and calmly observe the reaction of passers-by.

Unlike the sensational immersive “Black Russian” by Maxim Didenko, there are obviously no famous media figures in the play “The Returned”. At the casting, actors were recruited according to completely different criteria. They evaluated the artists based on how they control their body, how they interact with the crowd, how they look at passers-by - they were looking for those from whom it was impossible to take their eyes off. For example, one of the tasks at the casting was to do something to make the actor want to follow him. In total, more than 900 artists from all over the country took part in the casting for the show. The best were chosen: 31 were involved in the project professional actor and a dancer.

Interestingly, neither Mia nor Victor speak Russian. Although, by their own admission, this was not a problem. The main thing was to make sure that actor play was understandable regardless of the language the characters spoke.

What's at the heart of The Returned?

The show is based on the play “Ghosts” or “Ghosts” by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, written back in 1881. For a long time the play was banned both in Europe and in Russia for its excessive “naturalism”. “Ghosts” was first staged only in 1903. "Ghosts" - no simple piece, this is a bold and extremely social story about the collapse of the ethics of Protestantism, or rather about how, behind the façade, very ideal life(at first glance) mental suffering and tossing are hidden.

Important preparations are underway in Fru Alving's house - in the near future they should open a shelter built with the money of the widow of the venerable Captain Alving in memory of him. In honor of this, the captain's relatives and old family friends gather together, but mystical events and ghosts, as if returning from the past, tragically change the fate of the characters in the play. Knowledge of the plot is a serious trump card in the hands of the viewer, eliminating possible questions in advance and allowing you to connect disparate episodes into a mosaic.

Ibsen himself said that the title of the play should be translated as “Those who returned,” which, by the way, was reflected in the Russian title of the show. Interestingly, when the show leaves for the USA, it will have a new title, presumably “Give me the sun” - this is one of the lines of Oswald, the son of the deceased captain.

Why are there so many explicit scenes in the show?

The show actually has some shocking explicit scenes at first (yes, the show is 18+). Spoiler alert: don't miss the orgy that happens during the action. I missed it, although, I must admit, I always miss all the orgies :)

Remember that the number of explicit scenes you see depends only on you. According to the creators of the project, the original text requires frankness - many of the works of the Norwegian Ibsen are built around what is read between the lines and, as a rule, remains behind the scenes. The scenes of a sexual nature are not random: they highlight different moments in the history of each of the characters. For example, sensual scenes highlight difficult life paths young Oswald and his father and help the viewer understand why and how the son inherited his father's lifestyle. Thus, explicit scenes are intended to demonstrate how a person’s deepest desires can lead to dire consequences for himself.

Sexual elements are a kind of provocation. Explicit scenes have a special effect on the viewer psychologically, forcing him to forget about what seems forbidden and look at the world with a fresh, open look, free from the judgment of other people. The authors of the project idea want everyone who comes to feel like some kind of ghosts in the house on Dashkov Lane, who can watch the heroes in their moments of greatest weakness and vulnerability. Thus, explicit sex scenes help the viewer to better understand what is going on in the souls of the characters and show the internal struggle of the characters more deeply.

An interesting story happened with the teaser for “The Returned.” According to the organizers, Russian TV channels refused to broadcast the show's teaser on TV, considering it too explicit. Thus, the teaser premiered online on Instagram. However, this did not stop the teaser from collecting more than 50 million views in the first day of broadcast.

So is it worth going to the show?

Definitely yes, but be prepared - this is a bold performance. "The Returned" is the first full-fledged immersive production in the tradition of the cult theater team Punchdrunk, which laid the foundations for the world's immersive theater. The trend towards total immersion is one of the most noticeable trends in the modern entertainment industry, but it seems that for the first time in Moscow the genre of promenade theater was treated so thoroughly and taken so seriously. After the performance, the audience is left with an interesting aftertaste and a feeling of fascination with everything that happened. In the bar after the performance, spectators share their feelings with friends, comparing their experiences of what they saw: memories of the mystical show are put together in a mosaic, like pieces of a puzzle. I want to return to the mysterious mansion on Dashkovo: there are too many unsolved mysteries left.

The premiere of “The Returned” aroused great interest not only among the audience, but also among the professional theater community of Moscow. The show became the headliner of one of the most prestigious theatrical events capital - festival of the New European Theater NET.
Well, yes, the play will be shown only 50 times, and then taken to the USA.

What should you do before watching?

1. Get acquainted with Ibsen's play. If you're familiar with the story and characters beforehand, you'll be able to truly immerse yourself in the house's secrets without having to try to keep up with complex plot lines. For context and immersion in the right atmosphere, you can watch several films by David Lynch and read about the strict mores of society at the end of the 19th century.

2. Get tickets for more early time(spectators enter in 3 rounds). The earlier you arrive, the more time you will have to explore everything. Viewers themselves determine the time they will spend in the house on Dashkovovo. You can stay within the walls of the mansion for only an hour, but three hours may not be enough to see everything. The space and decoration of the house is a completely self-sufficient museum of European culture and life late XIX century (bravo to artists Ruslan Martynov and Ivan But).

Looking at the scenery is no less exciting than following the progress of the play. The rules encourage spectator curiosity: no one will mind if you read the letter that lies on the table or rummage through the suitcase of one of the characters. You can try on Fru Alving’s jewelry, you can sit at the dinner table with the characters, or watch up close as the actress preens and admires herself in front of the mirror.

3. Wear comfortable shoes without heels - be prepared to walk a lot, and there are also quite a few stairs in the house. Sometimes, in order to keep track of the characters, you even have to run.

4. Share with friends and don’t set a goal to see everything. This strategy will allow you to see a different set of episodes, and, rest assured, it will be more interesting to compare them later. Be sure to stay for a cocktail at the bar and discuss what you saw with other viewers. As for different viewing strategies, there are several options. You can choose the actor you like and follow him: this way you will witness one, but full-fledged storyline. Another behavioral tactic is to settle in one of the many interesting locations, meeting and seeing off characters who are brought there by the logic of the plot. If you are used to swimming against the tide, then feel free to choose the path of an explorer: this is an excellent chance to look at all the numerous props of the house, read letters written in calligraphic handwriting, the content of which complements the remarks of the characters in the production, and leaf through the books that you find along the way. It all depends only on your desires and imagination.

5. Don’t be afraid to be left alone with the characters - it’s really more interesting. You should be curious all the time, don't constantly follow the majority of the audience. Watching what is happening in a crowd of other spectators is not as interesting as exploring everything yourself. There are many secrets lurking in the remote corners of the house, just waiting to be revealed.

6. Be open. The more you bare your soul, the more you will receive in return.

“The Returned” is a unique performance that gives a feeling of freedom and complete involvement in what is happening. This is a bold theater where the main thing is not the spectacle, but the personal dramatic experience.

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editor and journalist, the last romantic of planet Earth

Immersive performances are one of the recent trends. It's simple: immersive is a production during which the viewer is immersed in theatrical performance. Actors interact with the audience, and the audience can influence what happens on stage. Premieres of immersive shows that allow you to take a fresh look not only at theater, but also at reality, appear constantly. Many of them take place in Moscow noble mansions, others go to theater stage. The immersive element is being implanted into musicals, quests, excursions and even restaurants. The most famous production in the immersive genre, which has already become a classic, is the New York performance Sleep No More, created by Punchdrunk. The show is based on Shakespeare's Macbeth and takes place in a fictional five-story hotel. They say Sleep No More - The best way spend the evening in New York.

What interesting immersive productions are taking place in Moscow and St. Petersburg?

"The Returned"

Place: Moscow, Dashkov lane, 5

Mar 1, 2018 at 8:18 am PST
The immersive performance “The Returned” is based on the play “Ghosts” by Henrik Ibsen. Entourage in old mansion where the action takes place is thought out to the smallest detail. There is no scene here, and in order to follow the plot, you sometimes need to move quite quickly through the smoky floors, from room to room. However, you can stay put and follow the hero you like, gradually becoming more of an actor than a spectator. The production was carried out by choreographer Miguel, inspired by Sleep No More and trying as accurately as possible to comply with all the principles of immersion bequeathed by Punchdrunk.
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"Faceless"
Place: St. Petersburg, Palace embankment, 20
Mar 4, 2018 at 1:54 PST
“The Faceless Ones” was originally created as a prequel to the play “The Returned” and, as planned, should have been more compact. But the site - a mansion on Palace Embankment - began to dictate its terms. Was it possible to do something modest in these luxurious interiors! Based on Ibsen’s “Ghost,” about 600 (!) scenes are played there.
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"Candidate"
Place: Moscow, Tsvetnoy shopping center
Nov 3, 2017 at 9:00 am PDT
The show was made by the famous impresario Fyodor Elyutin, who previously invited us to the exciting Moscow adventure Remote Moscow. “The Candidate” is a play about choice. Several candidates, five rounds, in the final of which the viewer must make a choice in favor of one or another candidate for an elected position. Each viewer will have to understand how susceptible he is to the opinion of the majority, how controlled he is or, conversely, prone to nonconformism.
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Performance-dinner “The Mirror of Carlos Santos”
Place: Moscow, st. Bolshaya Dmitrovka, 32
Mar 5, 2018 at 11:45 PST
The dinner with wine and meat is preceded by an immersive theatrical show, scripted by Maxim Kurochkin and directed by Talgat Batalov. Responsible for the food is chef Ruslan Zakirov. Gastronomic performance, restaurant in three acts, last supper- whatever they call this mysterious dinner! As always with immersive shows, it's best to know as little as possible in advance. A total of twelve people take part in the Spanish-inspired dinner. They have to go through an exciting quest and then have a snack.
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Opera promenade “The Queen of Spades”
Place: Moscow, st. Yauzskaya, 1/15, building 1
Mar 6, 2018 at 7:30 PST
Play " Queen of Spades"Directed by Alexander Legchakov, in the role of Herman - Pyotr Nalich. Words by Pushkin, music by Tchaikovsky. Each performance has exactly 54 spectators, like a deck of cards that drove poor Herman crazy. Scene - old manor Goncharova - Filippov, which, symbolically, Natalya Goncharova’s grandfather lost at cards.
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"Not that kind of quest"
Nearest date: different quests happen every day
Place: Saint Petersburg; Each quest has its own address. For example, “White Cross” goes to Zhukovsky, 20
Jan 1, 2018 at 5:12 PST
The St. Petersburg team “Netakoyquest” makes unique quests in which stories are more important than riddles, or rather answers. There are no props in these quests, and the plot is thought out better than many TV series. Many participants say that they were not just interested, they were literally reborn. It’s worth going here not to show your wits, but for the atmosphere and the opportunity to suddenly find yourself inside a story about Lilya Brik and Vladimir Mayakovsky, for example.
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The phenomenon of immersion (from the English immersive - “creating the effect of presence, immersion”) is one of the main trends in the modern entertainment industry. Today, literally everything has become immersive: it no longer seems like something out of the realm of science fiction supplemented and a virtual reality; about computer games everything is clear; The cinema genre is slowly but surely becoming immersive (if you’re in London, be sure to check out Secret Cinema); The first immersive books have already appeared; City quests are becoming more and more popular. Immersive theater has become a logical result of several trends – both in contemporary directing and in the field of urban leisure.

An immersive performance creates the effect of complete immersion of the viewer into the plot of the production; it is a theater of involvement, where the viewer is a full participant in what is happening. At any moment, the actors can begin direct interaction with the viewer - for example, they can blindfold the viewer and take them by the hand to another room and leave them there, they can hug or kiss, or they can simply look eye to eye for a long time.

Remember Shakespeare’s famous formula: “The whole world is a stage, and the people in it are actors”? In immersive theater there is no auditorium in the traditional sense of the word, which means there is no so-called “fourth wall” separating the actors from the audience. The action of the promenade theater develops simultaneously in different locations. Directors, in turn, offer the public new behavioral scenarios, giving them a more active role: spectators of wandering performances can choose their own route - one or another plot line - and move from one location to another, and in some cases even influence what is happening . Such a performance is made up of different plots, just as pieces are put together in a mosaic.

Immersive theater in the world

Sleep No More – an impersonal “total” performance

The legislators of the immersive theater genre are considered to be the London group PunchDrunk, famous for immersing the viewer in a space similar in atmosphere to mysterious paintings legendary film directors Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch.

One of the most famous performances genre of immersive theater is the famous production Sleep No More, which has been capturing the imagination of New York audiences for many years now. The show is based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth. The play is on in the huge abandoned five-story McKittrick Hotel, which sometimes resembles an endless labyrinth of suddenly materialized nightmares. Upon entry, everyone who comes is asked to put on a white Venetian mask, which they undertake not to remove during the entire production. Viewers are left to their own devices in the setting of a psychiatric ward, a cemetery and a 1930s hotel, where performance and installation meet site-specific choreography.

The multi-layered action is mesmerizing: in Sleep No More you can easily feel like a voyeur and see how ghostly characters make love, kill each other, and wash off blood in the bath. Here you can do everything that is strictly prohibited in a traditional theater - touch the scenery with your hands and come into contact with the “props”, but you need to be prepared for the fact that the residents of the abandoned hotel can come into contact with you.

Then She Fell – an intimate solo adventure

Contemporary immersive theater cannot be imagined without the productions of the creative production team Third Rail Projects, known for its experimental performances in unusual locations combining elements of theater, dance, sound and art installations and unusual choreography.

One of the team's most ambitious productions is Then She Fell, set in an abandoned mental hospital in Brooklyn, New York. Unlike Sleep No More, where about 300 impersonal spectators are left to their own devices, Then She Fell has a much more intimate and intimate setting. This performance, based on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, involves 8 actors and only 15 spectators, who are divided into small groups, whose routes are thought out and verified by the directors. The interaction with the audience here is as literal as it gets: spectators of the play can easily find themselves one on one with the actor, say, while brushing the hair of the actress playing Alice.

The production team of Third Rail Projects recently presented to the public their new immersive performance in New York - Grand Paradise - a production about a family going on vacation to a resort where various metamorphoses occur to them.

What immersive things are there in Moscow?

If you are not yet familiar with participatory theater, then a reasonable question is: how to choose a production for your first try so as not to be disappointed? Here are four of the best immersive performances currently playing in the capital.

1. "Your game»

This summer, the Belgian theater team Ontroerend Goed and impresario Fyodor Elyutin (who previously brought the city promenade performance Remote to Moscow) presented Moscow with a new individual interactive experience for one person, “Your Game.” The performance lasts about 30–35 minutes and is performed in the Tsvetnoy department store. A Game of You – that’s what the play is called in the original – has already been performed at theater festivals in Edinburgh and Avignon, but the Russian version is different in that it takes place not in an art cluster or theater building, but in a busy shopping center.

“The most exciting performance of the season... is you,” says the project’s website. Indeed, it is hardly possible to think of a more quick way look at yourself through the eyes of another person and understand how you appear to others.

2. "Black Russian»

In September of this year, one of the main theatrical newsmakers of recent times, Maxim Didenko and theater company Ecstàtic presented to Moscow the first immersive musical based on the unfinished novel by A.S. Pushkin "Dubrovsky". The space of Spiridonov’s ancient Moscow mansion turned into Troekurov’s house, which had its own ballroom, dining room, bedroom, bathhouse, office, barn and even a forest. At the beginning of the performance, all spectators are divided into three groups, which follow different routes for the heroes of the play, and are given appropriate masks - owls, deer and foxes.

According to the creators of the play, “Black Russian” is, first of all, a performance of sensations that affects the viewer at the level of all senses. So, in the barn there is the smell of freshly cut hay, in the kitchen there is the smell of pancakes and meat, in Masha Troekurova’s bedroom there is the smell of flowers. Spectators are treated to black dumplings, herbal infusions and other delicacies.

3. "Moscow-2048»

“MSK 2048” is a new large-scale reality game from the famous “Claustrophobia” quest network and the director of “Gogol Center” Alexander Sozonov. "MSK 2048" develops the concept of an immersive promenade theater that combines role-playing game, promenade theater and quest. The plot takes place in a world that has experienced a global catastrophe; all players are refugees who want to quickly move from the radioactive wasteland to Greater Moscow. To enter the city you need a visa, which can be obtained at the asylum checkpoint.

It's hard to think of a better way to feel like a video game hero "in real life"! "MSK 2048" completely erases the barriers between actors and spectators, stage and auditorium, game conventions and real life. The players become the boss actors own unique stories, fulfilling the tasks of the actors - the outcome of the game depends on everyone.

4. "Russian tales»

“Russian Fairy Tales” - a promenade performance from Alexander Sozonov and Ilya Shagalov, staged in Russian folk tales from the famous Afanasyev collection. “Fairy Tales” is showing at the Gogol Center. The artists spent more than a year on an expedition around the country to see how Rus' lives and listen to live vernacular. The result is a live immersive promenade performance that combines different genres– sketches, observations, fantasies of the young acting generation on the theme of Russian fairy tales, philosophical parables, ballads, serenades, romances, bard songs, rock and rock and roll.

“Russian Fairy Tales” is shown throughout the theater simultaneously. Before the start of the performance, the audience chooses their path from three proposed ones - there are three groups of spectators, three verified paths and three different viewing experiences. In the finale, everyone unites in a large hall, the epilogue of “Russian Fairy Tales” is the same.

Today, theaters and independent groups increasingly begin to offer spectators performances off stage, outside the building, in some cases without actors at all, and often those that cannot be watched in their entirety. At the end of last year, Moscow was literally overwhelmed by a wave unusual performances- promenades or so-called “walking streets”. Immersive theater has become the most discussed phenomenon in the sphere of urban culture, and even those who had never been interested in actively shared their impressions of watching it. theatrical life. Interest in the genre has awakened with renewed vigor, and in the wake of the immersiveness trend, many capital theaters have decided to expand their repertoire, offering the public current non-traditional productions and new behavioral scenarios.

Immersive theater is, first and foremost, a theater of involvement(from the English immersive - creating the effect of presence, immersion). Often the intention is to work with different organs of human senses — this is a kind of multisensory theater, where special attention is paid to the visual component, sounds, smells. Such a production is unlikely to be the same for different people — this is purely individual experience, which directly depends on the individual. Immersive theater can be playful, more like an attraction, or non-fiction, resembling a kind of social experiment.

A more “traditional” option — gaming immersive theater- assumes the presence of actors in a given space in which certain rules of the game apply. There are several parallel developments storylines-the performance is made up of different plots, just as pieces are put together in a mosaic. As a rule, spectators are free to actively explore the surrounding interiors and objects, and can take part in performances with actors — provided that they are invited to do so. No one forces you to make direct contact: you can always be in the role of a passive observer. Non-game option immersive theater goes beyond the usual framework of the idea of theater: in such a theater there may be no actors at all — there may be moderators, guides, presenters. Spectators become participants in a certain performance, where they are the main characters, and their behavior serves as the main source of the plot of the production.

Moscow managed to see a variety of productions in the genre of immersive theater. The first performance of the new genre in Russia is considered to be “The Day of Leopold Bloom” at the School of Dramatic Art — a 24-hour performance based on “Ulysses” by James Joyce. The bright performance “Normansk”, created by director Yuri Kvyatkovsky at the Center named after. Meyerhold based on the book by the Strugatsky brothers “Ugly Swans”. There were also productions where there were no actors at all (a promenade around the city “Remote Moscow” by Fyodor Elyutin and Rimini Protokoll), excursion performances (“Radio Taganka” directed by Semyon Aleksandrovsky), a production for one spectator (“Your Game” by Fyodor Elyutin and Belgian team Ontroerend Goed). The audience also remembered the play “Away. Europe" from Rimini Protokoll, which takes place in an apartment, shown as part of the "Territory" theater festival.

Today in Moscow there is a whole range of immersive productions for every taste. What to watch in search of interesting sensations?

1. “Returned”

In December, the world premiere of the mystical show “The Returned” based on the play “Ghosts” by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen took place in Moscow. “The Returned” is the result of a creative union between young American directors Victor Karina and Mia Zanetti from the New York theater company Journey Lab and Russian producers Vyacheslav Dusmukhametov and Miguel, choreographer and mentor of the show “Dancing” on TNT. This is the first full-fledged immersive performance staged in Moscow in the tradition theater group Punchdrunk, which laid the foundations for immersive play theatre. The action takes place in a four-story mansion on Dashkov Lane, the space of which talented artists and the decorators turned it into an absolutely self-sufficient museum of European culture and life of the late 19th century: looking at the scenery and wandering around the mansion is no less exciting than following the progress of the production.

2. “Black Russian”

Immersive performance based on the unfinished novel by A.S. Pushkin’s “Dubrovsky” was presented to Moscow last September by one of the main theatrical newsmakers Maxim Didenko and producers Daria Zolotukhina and Elena Novikova. The space of Spiridonov’s ancient Moscow mansion turned into Troekurov’s house, which had its own ballroom, dining room, bedroom, bathhouse, office, barn and even a forest. At the beginning of the performance, all spectators are divided into three groups, which follow different routes behind the heroes of the play, and are given corresponding masks of owls, deer and foxes. “Black Russian” is a performance of smells and sensations, an amazing multisensory experience. For example, spectators are treated to black dumplings, herbal infusions and other delicacies.

3. Robbery of “Vek” and Moscow 2048

“The Veka Heist” is a theatrical quest performance from the world’s largest quest chain “Claustrophobia”, in which players will take part in a bank robbery codenamed “Veka”. Participants will find co-actors and amazingly believable scenery that will make you feel like Ocean's real friends: the performance has everything from a classic heist movie. The realism is amazing: you have to bungee jump in a ventilation shaft, crawl tens of meters in a pipe underground, eavesdrop on conversations between guards, bite wires and turn off alarms.

“MSK 2048” is another large-scale game in reality from “Claustrophobia” and the director of “Gogol Center” Alexander Sozonov. "MSK 2048" also develops the concept of an immersive promenade theater, combining role-playing game, promenade theater and quest. The plot takes place in a world that has experienced a global catastrophe, where all the players are refugees who want to quickly move from the radioactive wasteland to Greater Moscow. It's hard to think of a simpler and safer way to feel like a movie or video game hero. Players of both quests become the protagonists of their own unique stories, fulfilling the tasks of the actors of the immersive theater.

4. Questioning / WHO ARE YOU?

Recently, a unique Swiss performance from the Magic Garden company and director Corinne Mayer “Questioning / WHO ARE YOU?” was presented in Moscow. In the program of the capital's Gogol Center, the production arose on the initiative of playwright Evgeny Kazachkov and producer Olga Andreeva. "Questioning / WHO ARE YOU?" It would be a stretch to call it a performance in the traditional sense of the word; it is an interactive performance: you don’t watch it, you yourself participate in it. Your task is to sit opposite a stranger and answer questions in a written questionnaire, inventing the stranger’s life, hobbies and dreams. The performance is somewhat similar to a theatrical experience for one spectator — “Your Game” by Fyodor Elyutin — what is happening is somewhat reminiscent of a psychotherapy session. Thus, when making judgments about other people, about the world around us, a person actually broadcasts himself. This theatrical experience clearly demonstrates how strongly a person is connected to society and how much his own perception depends on the attitude of others.

5. Sweeney Todd, the maniacal barber of Fleet Street

Recently at the Taganka Theater the winner of the “ Golden mask“Alexey Frandetti presented Russia’s first immersive musical “Sweeney Todd, the Maniacal Barber of Fleet Street.” This is the first production of one of the most striking works of the recognized classic of modern musical theater — Stephen Sondheim — on the Russian theater stage. The creators of the performance specially created a large-scale structure that turned the traditional Taganka auditorium into a unique space, more like a cabaret. The audience sits at tables around the stage, and the action takes place on a large table in the center of the hall, sometimes in a cage suspended above, and also between the rows. The audience is assigned the role of observers, but the musical actors feel free and are not at all limited by the stage. Frandetti’s “Sweeney Todd” can seriously compete with Broadway musicals — perhaps this is one of the most interesting performances musical genre recent times.

Today it is becoming increasingly popular in the world immersive theater, also known as a promenade theatre, or a wandering theatre. How does immersive theater differ from traditional theater, and why does it look like a quest or a computer game come to life?

DIVE INTO THE ROGER

The phenomenon of immersion (from the English immersive - “creating the effect of presence, immersion”) is one of the main trends in the modern entertainment industry. Today, literally everything has become immersive: augmented and virtual reality no longer seems like something out of science fiction; Everything about computer games is already clear; The cinema genre is slowly but surely becoming immersive (if you’re in London, be sure to check out Secret Cinema); The first immersive books have already appeared; City quests are becoming more and more popular. Immersive theater has become a logical result of several trends – both in contemporary directing and in the field of urban leisure.

IMMERSIVE THEATER IN THE WORLD…

Sleep No More – an impersonal “total” performance

The London group PunchDrunk is considered to be the legislator of the immersive theater genre, famous for immersing the viewer in a space similar in atmosphere to the mysterious films of legendary film directors Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch.

One of the most famous performances in the immersive theater genre is the famous production Sleep No More, which has been capturing the imagination of New York audiences for years. The show is based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth. The performance takes place in the huge abandoned five-story McKittrick Hotel, which at times resembles an endless labyrinth of suddenly materialized nightmares. Upon entry, everyone who comes is asked to put on a white Venetian mask, which they undertake not to remove during the entire production. Viewers are left to their own devices in the setting of a psychiatric ward, a cemetery and a 1930s hotel, where performance and installation meet site-specific choreography.

Then She Fell – an intimate solo adventure

...AND IN MOSCOW

1. "Your game»

This summer, the Belgian theater team Ontroerend Goed and impresario Fyodor Elyutin (who previously brought the city promenade performance Remote to Moscow) presented Moscow with a new individual interactive experience for one person, “Your Game.” The performance lasts about 30–35 minutes and is performed in the Tsvetnoy department store. A Game of You, as the play is called in the original, has already been performed at theater festivals in Edinburgh and Avignon, but the Russian version is different in that it takes place not in an art cluster or theater building, but in a busy shopping center.

“The most exciting performance of the season... is you,” says the project’s website. Indeed, it is hardly possible to think of a faster way to look at yourself through the eyes of another person and understand how you appear to others.

2. "Black Russian»

In September of this year, one of the main theater newsmakers of recent times, Maxim Didenko, and the theater company Ecstàtic presented to Moscow the first immersive musical based on the unfinished novel by A.S. Pushkin "Dubrovsky". The space of Spiridonov’s ancient Moscow mansion turned into Troekurov’s house, which had its own ballroom, dining room, bedroom, bathhouse, office, barn and even a forest. At the beginning of the performance, all spectators are divided into three groups, which follow different routes for the heroes of the play, and are given appropriate masks - owls, deer and foxes.

3. "Moscow-2048»

“MSK 2048” is a new large-scale reality game from the famous “Claustrophobia” quest network and the director of “Gogol Center” Alexander Sozonov. "MSK 2048" develops the concept of an immersive promenade theater that combines a role-playing game, a promenade theater and a quest. The plot takes place in a world that has experienced a global catastrophe; all players are refugees who want to quickly move from the radioactive wasteland to Greater Moscow. To enter the city you need a visa, which can be obtained at the asylum checkpoint.

It's hard to think of a better way to feel like a video game hero "in real life"! "MSK 2048" completely erases the barriers between actors and spectators, stage and auditorium, gaming conventions and real life. Players become the protagonists of their own unique stories, completing the tasks of the actors - the outcome of the game depends on everyone.

4. "Russian tales»

“Russian Fairy Tales” is a promenade performance from Alexander Sozonov and Ilya Shagalov, based on Russian folk tales from the famous Afanasyev collection. “Fairy Tales” is showing at the Gogol Center. The artists spent more than a year on an expedition around the country to see how Rus' lives and listen to the living folk language. The result is a lively immersive promenade performance that combines different genres - sketches, observations, fantasies of the young acting generation on the theme of Russian fairy tales, philosophical parables, ballads, serenades, romances, bard songs, rock and rock and roll.