Participatory and Immersive Theatre Practices at the Beginning of the XXI Century

The main difference between traditional and contemporary («Postdramatic» in terms of Hans-Thies Lehmann) theatre is the role and position of spectator. According to this, in contemporary theatre we may find two types of practices: participatory and immersive. Participatory performance is defined as a form of theatre where the audience is able to affect material changes of the work in a way that goes beyond the inherent interactivity in all live performance. Immersive theatre may be defined as form of theatre where audience inhabits the space of play alongside the actors. Multi-sensory environments, physical interiors and the audience member’s movement through them become the part of the work's dramaturgy. Our aim is to analyze participatory and immersive practices in contemporary theatre. The paper draws on several Russian and European performances, which based on these practices. In our work we investigate professional critical reviews, spectator’s articles and interviews with the creators. We are interested not only in these particular practices, but also in conditions and sociocultural contexts within which they were formed and became popular.