INTERACTIVE THEATRE

Run time: 90 min - 5 hrs

Where audiences don’t watch stories — they shape them.

This workshop introduces artists and practitioners to the design of interactive and experiential theatre. Through theory, case studies, and hands-on exercises, participants explore how space, audience agency, play, and game mechanics transform spectators into active contributors. The workshop covers immersive environments, participatory dramaturgy, narrative agency, and ethical frameworks for audience engagement, guiding participants from concept to pitch while balancing creative freedom, structure, and care.

Skills:

  • Interactive & experiential dramaturgy

  • Audience agency design

  • Immersive spatial design

  • Participatory game mechanics

  • Rehearsing an interactive piece

Knowledge:

  • Experiential and interactive theatre theory

  • Game design and play psychology

  • Audience participation ethics and safety

  • Spatial dramaturgy and UX principles

  • Contemporary performance and post-digital culture

Francesca graduated with an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, specialising in Interactive Theatre. She has recently designed the ACE-funded show The W.I.G. of Life, where, within an immersive space, audiences were able to change the outcome of each performance, through an interactive technology device. She has also helped shape other interactive performances such as Overwritten: A Technological Metamorphosis, Terras: Monstrous Feminine and has been leading an alternative comedy night at Riverside Studios, using principles of Interactive Theatre.