Nicholas Hytner to stage immersive GUYS & DOLLS at London's Bridge Theatre, beginning Feb 2023

"Set design by Bunny Christie..."

That's it, color me intrigued.

Yet, environmental and immersive are two very different things...

All I am saying is Denee Benton as Sarah and Bonnie Milligan as Adelaide could solve a lot of our problems.

Hytner says the audience will get to party with the cast, and become part of the show as it takes place in so many famous public spaces. Not sure how that isn’t immersive.

If this is like how they’ve done previous “immersive” shows, there won’t be a stage. The stalls will be removed and the entire ground section will transformed into the staging area.


I can’t wait.

No, I’d think this is different from “Cabaret” since that still has a stage.

ColorTheHours048 said: "I really need the word immersive to stop being used to describe theatre. Even immersive theatre companies have basically stopped using it. It’s just a buzz word. If they were doing a truly immersive production of Guys and Dolls, it would have to be entirely rewritten to support such a structural change."


What you might be missing here is that the British have a separate word to describe shows like Sleep No More, Then She Fell, etc. - those are "promenade" shows. Consequently, I've noticed anecdotally that the British are much more liberal with the word "immersive" - because to them, it's not a category, or a form with its own conventions; it's more of a literal adjective, to be used whenever the audience is made to feel any degree of "immersion" from the design/concept.

Granted, a lot of American companies probably also try to capitalize on the trendiness of "immersive" theatre by using the word too liberally - which is more to your point, I guess. But in cases like this, I think it mostly comes down to the linguistic different above.

Updated On: 6/10/22 at 09:17 AM

Interesting that they are pointedly referencing that the show is (on paper) set in the fifties and they’re leaning into that. I’ve only ever seen one production actually decide to set it there, as opposed to the late twenties or early thirties when the stories were written.

I know this sounds ageist, but how old is Arlene Phillips? I'd be much happier if they found someone Innovative and new to choreograph the show.

ColorTheHours048 said: "I’m not missing anything. I know exactly what they’re talking about because I’m capable of gleaning context. If there is a mix of seats and standing, it’s not immersive in my opinion. If Brits use the word differently, that’s fine, but my point still stands that it’s a buzz word."



I don't doubt that you picked up from the context that they were using the word differently. My point is that there is a specific reason for it, that goes beyond simply bastardizing a trendy term.

Your "opinion" about what counts as immersive is influenced by how the word "immersive" is used in US theatre. Naturally you wouldn't think that "a mix of seats and standing" counts as immersive, just as you wouldn't think a soft, deep fried potato stick counts as a "chip."

And it makes sense that, because we don't have a separate CATEGORICAL term for shows like Sleep No More, anything that doesn't fit into that category would seem like it's diluting the art form.

But because they use a completely different term for the FULLY immersive art form ("promenade shows", it doesn't really matter if they use the word "immersive" as a buzz-word, because for them it was only ever just a loose descriptor. So the other art form of fully immersive theatre is not being diluted, from their perspective, by using "immersive" as a buzz word.

Updated On: 6/10/22 at 10:19 AM

And when the seated audience can’t see the actors because the standing audience is in the way and/or shuffling around? Damn.

BorisTomashevsky said: "And when the seated audience can’t see the actors because the standing audience is in the way and/or shuffling around? Damn."

If the seated audience members are in the sections above the stalls, there won’t be a problem seeing anything.