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(PHONE RINGS)

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(SECOND PHONE RINGS)

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(THIRD PHONE TRILLS)

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(FOURTH PHONE RINGS)

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MAN: Listen to me.

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I'm going to show you something
you've never seen before.

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I'm going to blow the whole thing...

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to kingdom come.

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(GUNSHOTS)

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(UNSETTLING MUSIC)

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Punchdrunk isn't really
like any other theatre company.

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You find yourself in another world.

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It's dark, mysterious, it's sexy.

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It's bloody.

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It's a beast of a show.The epic
and the intimate work really well.

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I came out having had my mind blown.

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The detail in the sets...

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It's like jumping into the film.

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You are your own movie director.

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Punchdrunk is about falling
backwards

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with your hairs standing up
on the back of your neck.

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The sense of when a boxer
is punched in the face,

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and is in sort of a different
time and place

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before they hit the floor.

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The starting point to every
single project

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is always the building
as the beginning.

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(DOOR CREAKS AND THUDS)

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I will literally go in and let

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the emotional architectural blueprint
of the building guide me around.

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From that comes a framework
that you can sort of play into

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if you let the building tell you what
it wants to have performed inside it.

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You can never, sort of, explore
a building for a second time.

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The response happens once
and once only.

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Over the years, we've used
postal sorting offices,

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we've used hotels,

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we've used many office buildings.

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Warehouses are,
sort of, the defining ones.

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I would say probably four-fifths
of them...

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are all demolished, gone.

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There's something kind of beautiful

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about that ephemeral nature
to this work.

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Oh, this is good.

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Yeah. The, sort of, dominance
of Mother Nature.

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The natural world has
literally started to invade.

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(OMINOUS MUSIC)

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(MUSIC BECOMES INTENSE)

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(SILENCE)

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(DOOR LATCH CLUNKS)

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(PEOPLE CHATTING)

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It's an absolute pleasure
to be meeting you all here.

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I'm Felix.
It's so nice to see you all.

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I'm directing the show with Maxine.

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Maxine.
I'm directing the show with Felix.

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I'll just quickly say that
we did announce the show today.

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ALL: Whoo!

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'We knew this was the show
we wanted to do in London.

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'And, actually, what was
amazing was finding Woolwich

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'and not only finding one building,
but two buildings,

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'to tell the story
of the fall of Troy.'

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This is where your new home
will be.

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This is Greece. And that is Troy.

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'It was such a unique, sort
of, alignment of the stars

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'that it was worth the wait.

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'From a first walk-through
of a building,

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'it's then a minimum of nine
months to a year,

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'of a deep dive into the world
of the show

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'until we're anywhere near ready
for opening night.

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'Today we've about 100 people on site

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'who are transforming these amazing
old military munitions stores

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'into a cityscape.

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'We are actually building the walls

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'of what will become
antiquated streets,

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'once the scenography is put on top
in the months to come.'

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This will be the main piazza,

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uptown Troy, and that will
become a department store.

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This is our sake bar. Sorry.

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This building here is Greece,
the land of the victors.

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This will all be
vast, brutalist columns.

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And then if you spin around, the
other end of our abstracted cathedral

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is going to be the shower block.

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I think what's interesting
is that in doing our first show

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in, sort of, eight years
in our hometown,

83
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and actually finally being
able to do a show in London

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in a building that is not going
to be demolished imminently,

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as all the rest have,

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it certainly has gone up in scale.
But it is nerve-wracking.

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(LIVELY PERCUSSIVE MUSIC)

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Punchdrunk is entirely different

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from anything that preceded it
and has followed it.

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The depth and the range

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and the hugeness of the experience

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means that they are, I think,
in a completely different world.

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(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)

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Punchdrunk created their own genre,

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and I guess it's been called
immersive theatre.

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It's the inclusion of
the audience member,

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the participation,
the deconstruction of the play.

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They took it to a whole new level,

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took theatre experience
to a whole new level.

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It is very hard to describe
the show to someone

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that has never been
to a Punchdrunk show.

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The performance happens
around the building.

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There is no stage.
There is no elevation.

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We are all in one space.
The space is the stage.

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It's an immersive experience,
is not interactive.

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So you just come in
and you wear a mask.

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The mask came about as a fix
to a show that wasn't working

108
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back when I was doing my finals
at Exeter.

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I was trying to figure
out how to solve the problem

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of distinguishing between performers
and audience members

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in a multi-space environment.

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I thing Felix had a brilliant,
brilliant epiphany idea

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when he began putting audiences
in a mask,

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moving them around spaces freely,

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and, most significantly,
I think, giving audiences agency.

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In Punchdrunk,
everything's up for grabs, really.

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There are a few ground rules.

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You know, you're not meant to talk,
you keep the mask on.

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You obviously don't interfere
with the actors.

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And then beyond that,
you're the star of the show

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because you're wandering around
and seeing things

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and it's your perspective
that defines what happens.

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If you want to follow this person,
follow this person.

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If you want to watch the set,
look at the set.

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We're in a space like this right now

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where there's so much information

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that people can see,
that they can touch.

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So it's very different
than watching from a chair.

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I mean, I think if Punchdrunk
is being true to its name,

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it is trying to play around with
disorientating audience

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and making people feel slightly
out of their comfort zone,

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but it all being done in a way
that actually leads them

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to become very engaged
with what's happening.

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We're aiming to produce the physical
response from the audience.

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That's when we think we're giving
them their money's worth,

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to give them a tingle,

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a shiver, maybe tears,
maybe laughter.

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You might take this as a sort
of test of your personality,

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whether you're a follower,
or a seeker,

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or somebody who waits.

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But you can, by following
a particular character,

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trace the path around
the whole of the building

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and trace a path through the story.

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(SINISTER MUSIC)

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The mind is a maze, isn't it?

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The mind is a dark,
mysterious maze of winding streets

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that are only seldomly lit
by knowledge, experience,

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ultimately, memory.

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Memory lights our way
through this dark maze.

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And every time that I come back,

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it's as though...
the power is gone out...

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as if I'm drowning in a pool
of darkness, as if...

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I'm dead.

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With all of the mask shows
that we have created,

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there's always been a strong
collection of source text,

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so Sleep No More,

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perhaps the show that we
have become most known for,

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is based on Shakespeare's Macbeth.

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(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)

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The Masque Of The Red Death, we draw
on Edgar Allan Poe's short stories.

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The Firebird Ball was based
on Romeo And Juliet,

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a slightly lighter touch
and feeling.

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And then The Burnt City is based
on, essentially,

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two classic Greek tragedies:

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Agamemnon by Aeschylus;

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and Hecuba by Euripides.

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And those two plays
actually chart the same moment

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of collapse of the legendary
metropolis that was Troy.

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There's a huge amount of planning

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that goes into
the pre-production part

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of these large-scale mask works.

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Felix and I, for The Burnt City,

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we spent a long time in a room
with lots of paper

174
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working out character journeys
through the space.

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It starts as a big document
on the wall that's scrawled on.

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Down the side, it has each
character, and across the top

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it has the scenes 1 to 11.

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And if you follow each
character along,

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you see each of these headings
and you know in space

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which room they are going to be in.

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So, this is our master doc,

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this is our loop charts.

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And over the course
of a three-hour show,

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it's actually made up
of a one-hour show

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that loops three times.

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This is the closest
we get to a script.

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Often there'll be gaps.
As we get to the characters

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that we know less about,
then it becomes much more creative.

189
00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:02,320
And sometimes,
if I'm honest, it's...

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You would just see: "In the bistro
between seven and eight.

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00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:08,920
"Good luck.
Find something interesting to do."

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The point about Punchdrunk
is it's never ceases.

193
00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:15,800
There are stories going
all the time,

194
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but I think the main criticism
is that people

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00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:23,280
often have a feeling
that they've missed the main point.

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And my response to that is there
is no main point to Punchdrunk.

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Everything is the point,
so that it's a blizzard of detail

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00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:38,920
made up as our life is made up
of tiny punches of experience.

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(ENIGMATIC PERCUSSIVE MUSIC)

200
00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:07,720
(MUSIC BECOMES UNNERVING)

201
00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:44,760


202
00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:52,000
One of the amazing things
about working on a show

203
00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:55,360
is the group of people that make it.
It really takes a village.

204
00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:59,680
There's creativity exploding
out of every scene.

205
00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:05,240
With Punchdrunk shows you're
creating a world that's not static.

206
00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:08,360
And I think having that
level of creativity and passion

207
00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:11,200
means that the world is constantly
alive and evolving.

208
00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:13,720
I want to try.

209
00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:15,840
When we're making a show like this,

210
00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:17,960
just to walk around the building,

211
00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:20,040
you'll overhear snatches
of conversation

212
00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:24,280
between people dissecting
the meaning of a glance,

213
00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:26,800
the minutiae of an interaction.

214
00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:28,600
It's a thrilling thing
to be a part of.

215
00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:37,640
So, Peter Hall, I remember reading
a biography of his many years ago,

216
00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:41,680
and he said that 90% of
good directing is casting.

217
00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:44,120
And I went, "Ting."

218
00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:47,280
That is absolutely where
we come from in Punchdrunk.

219
00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:51,960
Welcome to our collection of sick
buddies; half museum, half maze.

220
00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:53,320
(LAUGHTER)

221
00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:57,320
Its wild in here, it really is.
I'm Lily's mom.

222
00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:59,600
(LAUGHTER)

223
00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:02,760
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)

224
00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:08,200
(ENERGETIC DRUM MUSIC)

225
00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:10,640
After the mask,
the second big trademark

226
00:14:10,680 --> 00:14:12,560
of Punchdrunk is the choreography.

227
00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:15,840
Generally, in Punchdrunk shows
the performers are dancers.

228
00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:19,120
They have this incredible
kind of dancers' physicality.

229
00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:21,560
They look like, kind of,
otherworldly figures

230
00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:23,640
because they can do things
with their bodies

231
00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:26,240
that, you know, you and me can't do.

232
00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:29,040
There's always been a beautiful
synergy in dance

233
00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:30,960
and visual art, I think, anyway.

234
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,120
And dance has been
a very progressive art form

235
00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:36,360
in terms of site and building.

236
00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:39,520
You know, it's always been engaging
spaces in a different way.

237
00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:41,880
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)

238
00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:47,040
Dance operates
on a sometimes more poetic,

239
00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:49,720
dreamlike landscape,

240
00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:52,280
less easily defined and pinned down

241
00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:55,480
than a dramatic text than word.

242
00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:57,840
So I think this offered something

243
00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,080
that suited the kind of world
Felix was creating

244
00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:02,880
with light, sound and set.

245
00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:06,200
I love the beginnings
of the process.

246
00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:10,040
When we get the performers
together in the studio,

247
00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:14,800
we start to develop movement,
ideas, actual material

248
00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:18,680
in partnership with other people
or solos.

249
00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:22,560
It starts with improvisations
and they roll and rumble on

250
00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:24,680
until, before you realise it,
you're actually

251
00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:27,480
improvising a scene within the show.

252
00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:35,720
I often start working
more specifically on the finale.

253
00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:38,640
We both like to feel like
we know where we're going.

254
00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:43,200
So I begin to create the steps
and really try

255
00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:44,920
and get a sense of nuance.

256
00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:49,600
Maxine leads
a lot of brilliant exercises

257
00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:53,960
that kind of set up a common
language across the whole company.

258
00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:56,680
So it would be things
like states of tension.

259
00:15:56,720 --> 00:16:00,400
States of tension,
essentially, it's about tempos

260
00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:02,480
and speed and rhythm

261
00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:06,760
and how we can use that
as a performer to tell stories.

262
00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:08,720
It ranges from one to seven,

263
00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:12,880
from very low state of tension to
an incredibly high state of tension.

264
00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:17,240
And Max would offer us
to use it within our work,

265
00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:19,640
within our loop,
and be, like, in this moment,

266
00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:22,120
"What state do you think
your character is?"

267
00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,040
So rather than portraying it
emotionally,

268
00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:27,720
how can your physicality
really show

269
00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:30,480
how this person is feeling,
or what the action is?

270
00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:33,960
OK, let's try it
from the same place, please.

271
00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:40,600
I play Polydorus, the son of Hecuba.

272
00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:44,440
And the state of tension
has really been, like the framework

273
00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:46,200
of this character.

274
00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:49,480
It helps to go through the gears.

275
00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:52,800
When I'm being drunk,

276
00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:57,840
I'm in state to when he gets
taken over by Chronos.

277
00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:01,320
The movement quality
is a bit more staccato.

278
00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:04,200
There you go. That's it.

279
00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:08,640
And then it feels like, again, this
can have... Yeah, that's right.

280
00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:12,680
Whereas when Polyduras dies
and comes back as a Fury,

281
00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:15,080
he's a bit more expansive.

282
00:17:15,120 --> 00:17:18,720
The speed has, like,
a cutting quality to it.

283
00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:28,160
It's been nice to identify
those different states

284
00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,560
and try to find the root of them.
Yeah.

285
00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:39,760

There's A Fool Born Every day

286
00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,800
(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICK)

287
00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:49,640
As far as our set design
and our world aesthetic goes,

288
00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:52,240
for the major productions,
for the masked shows,

289
00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:55,760
we've always looked back to the past
for our influences.

290
00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:59,640
to sort of create a nostalgic,
dream-world quality.

291
00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:02,320
With Masque Of The Red Death,
it was Edgar Allan Poe

292
00:18:02,360 --> 00:18:04,080
and the turn of the century.

293
00:18:04,120 --> 00:18:09,040
With the Drowned Man,
it was 1960s Hollywood.

294
00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:11,560
With Sleep No More
it was 1930s Scotland.

295
00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:15,960
This is the first time that we've
looked forward to an imagined future.

296
00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:21,280
The starting point is filmic
references as much as anything else.

297
00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:23,320
(ETHEREAL ELECTRONIC MUSIC)

298
00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:27,640
In The Burnt City...

299
00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:29,920
we looked a lot at Blade Runner.

300
00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,400
It has that beautiful,
Ridley Scott palette,

301
00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:35,960
that sort of neon-drenched
landscape.

302
00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,560
And we looked to Metropolis.

303
00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:40,960
(UNSETTLING ORCHESTRAL MUSIC)

304
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:46,000
They were key filmic sources
for the aesthetic,

305
00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:49,920
but, yeah, again, the atmosphere
and territory we were in.

306
00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:55,400
Metropolis as a source material
also gives us a period of time

307
00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:57,880
and a sort of socio-political
starting point

308
00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:01,440
on which to view the plays through.

309
00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:04,600
It's almost like the key
that unlocks the show.

310
00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:06,640
(MELLOW AMBIENT MUSIC)

311
00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:13,600
I think in the way that
Punchdrunk approaches set design

312
00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:17,160
is, you know, we sort of always
discuss our method

313
00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:20,480
as being part architecture,
part interior design,

314
00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:23,200
part fine-art installation.

315
00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:26,920
It's all these things together
because we're creating this world

316
00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:29,280
that you can explore completely.

317
00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,000
I guess with our installations,

318
00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:36,600
a lot of them are sort of leaning
into the abstract world of the show,

319
00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:39,440
which is another really
important element for us.

320
00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:43,760
Felix always comes to us
with the lens

321
00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:45,960
through which he wants
to tell the story.

322
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,880
So we have this sort of parallel
future metropolis there.

323
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:52,600
In the instance of this show, not
only are we doing Greece and Troy,

324
00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:54,880
but the whole thing
is set in the Underworld.

325
00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,800
So, what's that layer, and how can
we have those images or references

326
00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:00,920
in our head as we're creating?

327
00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,400
If you want to solve the riddles,
the mystery box of the show,

328
00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,480
every single room will have something

329
00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:09,720
that reveals
the fact we're in the Underworld.

330
00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:11,360
If you're in the sake bar,

331
00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:13,320
you might look at one of the bottles
and realise

332
00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:15,360
that it's not a Japanese rice wine.

333
00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:18,680
It's actually water from one of
the five rivers of the Underworld.

334
00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:21,000
The majority of the audience
won't ever look at that,

335
00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:24,160
but the fact that it's there
gives it an authenticity,

336
00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:26,600
and it means
that the one audience member

337
00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:29,680
who does decide to read as much as he
wants of what that bit of copy says

338
00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,040
gets the reward of a bit of detail

339
00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:36,120
that Bea's beautiful mind
has solved for us.

340
00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:38,160
(SLOW DRUMMING MUSIC)

341
00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:43,040
One of my favourite spaces
is the tenements.

342
00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:47,160
That's a location that's pulled
directly from the Underworld.

343
00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:49,200
So the tenements represent Tartarus,

344
00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,720
and the characters that were sent
to Tartarus as their punishment.

345
00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:56,680
So this is Salmoneus's room.

346
00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:59,440
He was put in Tartarus

347
00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:01,120
for impersonating Zeus.

348
00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:05,200
So he was obsessed with trying
to recreate thunder and lightning.

349
00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:09,280
In our, kind of, interpretation
of that story

350
00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:11,360
he's obsessed
with creating electricity,

351
00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:13,920
but in this, sort of, intense,
crazy way.

352
00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:17,600
So, you can see that all the plug
sockets are sort of fused together.

353
00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:21,160
Shall we go down to the Danaides?

354
00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:25,280
So, the story of the Danaides
was that they were

355
00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:29,600
50 sisters who were
betrothed to 50 brothers.

356
00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:33,440
And on the wedding night, 49 of them
murdered their husbands.

357
00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:39,720
The punishment was
to fill up a bath eternally,

358
00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:41,600
but it had a crack in it.

359
00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:44,960
And this is our nice,
yellowing tape technique,

360
00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:48,080
which we've perfected
over the last decade

361
00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:50,720
to get just the right kind
of yellow on our tape,

362
00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:53,240
so it looks nice and old.

363
00:21:57,120 --> 00:21:59,000
There's something,
I think, interesting

364
00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:02,200
that happens psychologically for
the audience in a Punchdrunk show.

365
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:05,240
It's almost
like a mindfulness exercise

366
00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:10,120
to be surrounded by a world
that is clearly physically real,

367
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,840
and you can pick up the objects
and they are real objects.

368
00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:16,480
And this is a real smell
and this is a real taste

369
00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:18,280
and this is a real touch.

370
00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:20,760
But, you know, at any moment

371
00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:24,760
that everything around you
is a conscious, artistic decision;

372
00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:26,400
you know it's not real.

373
00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:30,960
And that's essential to produce
this sense of wonder.

374
00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:39,680
(HIP HOP MUSIC)

375
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:49,080
So, when we enter a building,
it feels like a special day.

376
00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:51,640
We have this thing called
hide and seek.

377
00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,360
All the performers are just
let go in the space.

378
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:58,920
We are, in a way, to kind of have
your own gut response to the space.

379
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,360
And then you can carry that through

380
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:03,760
to the rest of your creating
of that character.

381
00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:10,720
Felix and I and Cath really become,
kind of, editors, actually.

382
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:12,600
It's like cooking a really
rich banquet.

383
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:16,600
You know, you have all of
these pots cooking at the same time,

384
00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:19,560
and some pots needs a bit more love
and attention and care,

385
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:21,840
and other pots,
you can just leave them.

386
00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,360
Gradually, you start to accumulate
the show and the information.

387
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,480
(UNNERVING MUSIC)

388
00:23:34,360 --> 00:23:38,120
As a performance practice
within these works,

389
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:41,080
we work a lot with touch
and partner work.

390
00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:44,440
We like to try and create in
an atmosphere where there's trust,

391
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:46,600
and then there's openness,

392
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:48,640
because ultimately in some scenes

393
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,480
we're seeking quite an intense level
of sensuality.

394
00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:55,320
And then there's all the work that
we sort of did about, actually...

395
00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:58,680
Yes, you're giving a massage,
so you're seducing him,

396
00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:00,560
you're giving him
a sensation of pleasure,

397
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:02,280
but you're kind of breaking
him down.

398
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:04,240
You're making him more vulnerable.

399
00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:06,720
There's a materiality
that is really nice.

400
00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:10,560
If you don't have
a real sense of play

401
00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:13,240
and trust with each other
as performers,

402
00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:15,560
it's difficult to generate
that kind of material.

403
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:19,320
(FOREBODING SOUNDSCAPE)

404
00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,320
In Punchdrunk there is a real,
sort of, sensuality

405
00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:47,480
to the shows
and to the interactions,

406
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:51,120
and I think it's, kind of, quite
an unparalleled experience, really.

407
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:53,720
There's something quite siren-like

408
00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:55,920
about the way the performers go
about it.

409
00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:58,720
You know, if they were boring,
you'd ignore them.

410
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:01,040
But, of course, they're incredibly,
sort of, alluring.

411
00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:06,080
So, our massage feels very,
kind of, sensual.

412
00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:10,680
It gets sensual, and at the same
time it can be aggressive.

413
00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:13,960
Agh!

414
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:21,760
(DREAMY HARP CHORDS)

415
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:26,920
So, this sense of touch and intimacy
is a feature of all of our work.

416
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:32,000
In The Drowned Man, the play of
touch communicated stories

417
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:33,960
of passion and jealousy.

418
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:40,760
In Foust, we explored the seven
deadly sins, one of which was lust.

419
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:45,280
It's a work that is driven by
a character's pursuit of pleasure,

420
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:49,920
and part of this manifests itself
as sexual desire.

421
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:51,720
I remember saying at the time,

422
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:57,240
Foust was one of the most important
experiences in the country,

423
00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:01,080
not just theatrically, but in
the country, of all experiences,

424
00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:04,120
which was
as all Punchdrunk shows are,

425
00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:07,680
not an adaptation of a legend,
or a story,

426
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:09,640
but a response to it.

427
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,280
Foust was the first time
working with the National Theatre,

428
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:15,720
and that was amazing.

429
00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:17,600
This is fascinating
because this is...

430
00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:20,560
This felt like the moment

431
00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:22,680
that we were starting to be accepted

432
00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:24,800
outside of, like,
the fringes of the fringe.

433
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:29,240
And it was extraordinary
to be in the National's brochure.

434
00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:33,440
And it shifted us through the gears
of the scale of work we could make.

435
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:37,000

Sing, Sing, Sing

436
00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:45,880
One of the things that I've always
loved about Punchdrunk

437
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:48,640
is our sense of ambition and drive.

438
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,280
And from pretty early on,
we were really motivated

439
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:54,400
to create a work
in the heart of New York City.

440
00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:57,400
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)

441
00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:04,920
The idea of pushing out and trying
to find a new audience

442
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:08,680
in a new city was hugely exciting.

443
00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:13,080
It was a new crowd to pull the rug
of expectation away from

444
00:27:13,120 --> 00:27:17,840
Sleep No More was due to open
in New York, I think, for six weeks.

445
00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:20,720
And those six weeks turned
to six months,

446
00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:24,280
and now it's 11 years on
and still going strong.

447
00:27:25,360 --> 00:27:27,080
The reason behind the success

448
00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:29,080
is that simply
there's nothing else like it.

449
00:27:29,120 --> 00:27:31,600
And, certainly, when it arrived,
there was nothing like it.

450
00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:35,120
They created a new element
within theatre

451
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:38,040
and people clearly love it.

452
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:40,920
It is of no surprise to me
that it runs and runs and runs.

453
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:47,200
The most recent version of Sleep
No More is playing in Shanghai.

454
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:48,880
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)

455
00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:51,280
We had no idea, actually,
whether it would work

456
00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:53,480
in such
a different cultural context...

457
00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:57,120
..but we were really
excited about the challenge,

458
00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,440
especially because it was
such a great opportunity

459
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,400
to collaborate
with local Chinese designers

460
00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:05,080
and dancers and producers.

461
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:10,560
In Shanghai, the audiences
are absolutely extraordinary.

462
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,720
Within the first year, 100 Club
had been organically set up

463
00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:16,000
for people who'd seen the show
100 times.

464
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:20,560
We put in new characters,
put in a whole new bit of narrative,

465
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:22,560
a whole new chunk of soundtrack.

466
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:24,960
We're constantly wanting to improve.

467
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,280
We never once say that it's complete

468
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:33,080
because there's always a pure...
a depth of emotive power you can hit.

469
00:28:33,120 --> 00:28:36,440
And maybe that's what drives us.

470
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:38,480
(UNSETTLING MUSIC)

471
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:47,560
Because our approach is so filmic,
and it's always been the idea

472
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:51,040
of trying to put an audience
inside a living movie,

473
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,920
we knew we wanted to try working
on screen itself,

474
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:56,800
and see how you could
break the rules of that form.

475
00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:59,760
So it was incredible
when we finally got there.

476
00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:01,880
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)

477
00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:09,160
The Third Day was about one man:

478
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:14,040
Jude law eventually
getting trapped on island.

479
00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:17,000
Felix had an idea
and wanted to discuss it with me,

480
00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:20,160
and said, "Wouldn't it be wonderful
if you could have a television show

481
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:22,280
that would draw
and lure an audience in

482
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,840
that would then become
an interactive experience,

483
00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:29,160
and somehow you would encourage
your audience to visit...

484
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,320
the place, the town, the village,
the island, whatever it may be,

485
00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:34,280
within the drama.

486
00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:36,480
It was to be a live festival,

487
00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:39,160
a live event in the middle of...

488
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:42,960
..six episodes of TV.

489
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,800
The audience were welcome
to join the island

490
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:48,840
and be a part of the festivities.

491
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:52,600
We then got caught up
in the COVID pandemic.

492
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,640
We had to try and make it work,

493
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,840
and in many ways you could say it
was almost more interesting

494
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:02,800
and more in keeping, in a way, with
Punchdrunk's first foray into film.

495
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:06,800
We decided to, rather than have
5,000 audience on the island,

496
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:10,160
we would have one audience member,
which was a roaming camera.

497
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,800
We would run the whole festival,
as we were planning it,

498
00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:16,800
with Jude performing nonstop.

499
00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:21,600
And a single camera followed us
around live for 12 hours,

500
00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:25,920
so people could tune into the drama
of my character's journey.

501
00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:30,720
Basically,
making a piece of slow cinema

502
00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:33,560
and one continuous tracking shot
that charted

503
00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,640
from 9am to 9pm.

504
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:40,840
We really didn't have a clue as to
what was going to happen on the day

505
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:42,560
because once we began,

506
00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:45,360
there was no way of stopping it.
It's almost like the train's going

507
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:47,800
and you just have to keep on
pushing forwards.

508
00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:52,960
It felt live and dangerous in a way

509
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,160
that none of us had anticipated.

510
00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,120
I can't think of any experience
I've had like it,

511
00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:02,080
being in that world with them.

512
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:05,680
It was an interesting crossover
between character and self

513
00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:10,760
because physically there was
such a demand on me,

514
00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:12,720
and I have vivid memories of it.

515
00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,720
And you have that from experiences
on stage or being on a film set,

516
00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:19,360
but they're very short.
And there was an unusual,

517
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:24,040
eerie, sort of, lost quality to it
that for a day I was someone else,

518
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:27,160
literally, physically experiencing
what this person was experiencing

519
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:31,240
rather than myself, even though it
was me, if that makes sense.

520
00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:36,480
Yeah, I think those 12 hours
were incredibly compelling.

521
00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:39,360
It was almost a new form of cinema,
I think.

522
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,600
A theatrical form of cinema.

523
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:44,640
(FIREWORKS WHISTLE)

524
00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:58,360
(JAZZY DOUBLE BASS)

525
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:10,800
And so as the audience, sort of,
navigate these smaller pathways,

526
00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:14,280
as you get closer to the
instruction of show world,

527
00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:17,920
there's a swell as the
crescendo starts to build,

528
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:21,840
and then as you step in to Greece,

529
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:25,960
you're greeted by a wall of sound,

530
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:27,480
and the show begins.

531
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:29,520
(FOREBODING MUSIC)

532
00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:36,480
Sound has become quite driving
and leading force

533
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:39,960
within the palette of mediums
we use in Punchdrunk.

534
00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:45,720
It's very much about
establishing these omnipresent,

535
00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:49,960
tonal, layered, textural atmospheres

536
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,040
that fill every nook and
cranny, every corner of the space.

537
00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,080
(ANGELIC, CHORAL MUSIC)

538
00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:01,920
In Punchdrunk
sound is very important.

539
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:07,320
It's very rarely mechanically
to do with sound effects.

540
00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:10,320
It's do with a soundscape

541
00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:16,160
that you sense
rather than break off to attend to.

542
00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:21,400
The sense of a storm gathering
and then beginning to roar.

543
00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:24,240
It's overwhelming.

544
00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:30,640
So, we're here in Club.
Scattered in this space

545
00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:33,280
there are echoes of previous nights,
previous deejays,

546
00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:35,280
previous music that was played here,

547
00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:38,000
All the while, Polymestor
is keeping an eye on things

548
00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:40,680
from behind a mirror.

549
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,360
And because these spaces
are essentially, sort of, linked,

550
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:52,080
they do share a similar sound world.

551
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:54,240
We can carry on this way.

552
00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:58,280
This is one of the corridors
of the Love Hotel.

553
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,840
Again, omnipresent sound,
which is just there

554
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:06,440
to, kind of,
support and charge the space.

555
00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:08,480
(INDUSTRIAL DRONING)

556
00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:13,880
This is very much a sort
of backstreet off the beaten path.

557
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:16,360
So, again, the sound is very...
is very...

558
00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:18,960
It's quite gritty, quite grainy,

559
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:20,920
distorted.

560
00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:26,640
(FOREBODING TONES)

561
00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:31,880
For the town, where we're stood
now, will have much bigger scenes.

562
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:35,480
The sound blooms
and explodes into the space,

563
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:39,120
not unlike a, sort of,
big track in a club.

564
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:44,320
'It's always a treat to see how that
affects an audience experience.'

565
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,240
(TECHNO DANCE MUSIC)

566
00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:05,880
(MAN SHOUTING)

567
00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:22,760


568
00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:31,000
In this world where everything
is a couple of clicks away,

569
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:32,840
everything is too accessible.

570
00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:35,880
You can live vicariously
through your friends' Instagram.

571
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:38,040
So to have a real experience,

572
00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:41,200
the likes of which no-one else
will have had,

573
00:35:41,240 --> 00:35:43,800
lives only in the retelling of it,

574
00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:46,520
that feels like it's become
more and more precious

575
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:48,600
over the past couple of decades.

576
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,640
What we've always been trying to do
with every single experiment

577
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:55,400
be it a masked show,
be it, like, an audio experience

578
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:58,640
is to fully empower the audience.

579
00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:00,960
(SOPRANO SINGS ARIA)

580
00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:07,480
The Borough was the 55-minute audio
piece across the town of Aldeburgh,

581
00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:09,320
and it was for one person at a time.

582
00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:11,960
It was all about,
kind of, theatricalising a town.

583
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,280
And if the work was landing
for an audience member,

584
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:17,680
it would make them start to question

585
00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:22,800
every single person
they walked past.

586
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:26,240
Kabeiroi was a six-hour,
living adventure

587
00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:29,080
for two audience
across the streets of London

588
00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:32,240
where the inhabitants
of a city become performers.

589
00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:36,880
That kind of sense of transporting
an audience

590
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:40,000
is at the heart
of so much of the work.

591
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:46,160
We ask a lot of them, actually;
we ask the audience to be live

592
00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:48,360
and present in the moment
with performers.

593
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:51,200
We ask our performers
to be really live

594
00:36:51,240 --> 00:36:53,280
and really present
with the audience,

595
00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:56,240
because often they have to shift
the choreography

596
00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:59,680
or shift the spacing,
or the tempo or the rhythm.

597
00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:03,720
We have some audience who purposely
do things to affect us,

598
00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:06,480
so we have to deal with that
accordingly,

599
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,200
but it is really beautiful
to have them in the space

600
00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:12,360
and to see the story,

601
00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:14,480
and we are affected by them.

602
00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:21,680
The one-on-one element of a
Punchdrunk show

603
00:37:21,720 --> 00:37:27,520
is the most distilled example
of an intimate experience

604
00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:30,200
that an audience can have
within this work.

605
00:37:31,240 --> 00:37:33,880
There are scenes where you learn
something about a performer,

606
00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:35,760
a confession or a secret.

607
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:39,400
You can experience these,
sort of, one-on-one moments.

608
00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:41,640
Often a performer will
beckon you aside.

609
00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:44,200
What that adds to is the sense
that you're having

610
00:37:44,240 --> 00:37:46,560
a special one-off adventure,

611
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:50,280
that what you're seeing is not
what everybody else is seeing.

612
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:53,800
You're just plunged into, like,
that step further.

613
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:58,240
There's a feeling, while having
watched from behind the mask,

614
00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:01,560
that suddenly, with the mask
taken off, that you're you.

615
00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:04,760
And you're exposed
and the performer can see you

616
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:06,920
and can see right into your eye.

617
00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:10,960
No, they've never taken me aside.
I don't know what it is.

618
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:14,520
It's so sad, it's like never being
the person who's stopped at Customs.

619
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:19,760
In Punchdrunk we've always been
really interested and excited

620
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:24,400
by the contrast between
the intimate and the epic.

621
00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:26,720
There's this possibility
for an audience

622
00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:30,440
to have a very solo experience.

623
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:32,920
But then if they want, they can
find themselves

624
00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:35,240
in this shared experience
with many other audience.

625
00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:38,200
So, we create, particularly,
the, sort of, finale scenes,

626
00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:41,480
these moments where
we pull the audience together.

627
00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:43,800
In The Drowned Man
we had a finale scene

628
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:46,760
which was a line dance
with, I think, 40 of the cast.

629
00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:50,800
And the finale for The Burnt City
was inspired

630
00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:54,200
by a series of paintings actually
called The Fall Of The Damned.

631
00:38:54,240 --> 00:38:57,360
But this was the main inspiration
from a Flemish artist,

632
00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:01,000
and, essentially, the challenge

633
00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:06,960
was to, sort of, create a moving
version of this painting.

634
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,280
(INDUSTRIAL DRONING)

635
00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:14,160
The finale is so crucial

636
00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:17,520
because if you think about
the crescendo of a night out,

637
00:39:17,560 --> 00:39:19,560
of the theatrical experience,

638
00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:21,560
what's that peak?

639
00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:23,560
How does it
both have a visceral impact

640
00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:25,320
and an intellectual impact,

641
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:29,360
and how does it tie up with the
entirety of what's gone before?

642
00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:32,560
You need a finale point that draws
everything together,

643
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:35,160
no matter who you've seen,
who you've followed,

644
00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:38,040
if you fail to find any characters,
if you're only going to see this,

645
00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:41,240
how does it feel conclusive
and finite for you?

646
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:51,840
I think Felix and I actually
from the beginning had thought

647
00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:54,640
about this finale
being as a kind of requiem.

648
00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:58,120
It felt important to have a sort
of point of view about loss

649
00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:00,080
and mourning in this work.

650
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:02,800
You know, the winner, and the loser,
and the invaders,

651
00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:05,400
there isn't really any victor
because everyone kind of loses.

652
00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:08,280
So, these people that we've
been following round the building

653
00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:10,880
become, you know,
symbols of loss and grief.

654
00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:13,360
(INDUSTRIAL SOUNDSCAPE)

655
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:26,920
We really wanted this final scene

656
00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:29,680
to have an emotional impact
on the audience.

657
00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:35,640
It was really important to us
that this finale event

658
00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:38,080
stayed with them long after
they'd left the building.

659
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:06,000
(SIREN BLARES)

660
00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:15,720
Having put on Sleep No More
in other cities around the world,

661
00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:17,720
it was always our intention
to try and find

662
00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:19,640
a future home for The Burnt City.

663
00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:22,600
And we saw the most
incredible space in LA.

664
00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:25,600
It was crying out to have that show.

665
00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:30,120
It's amazing
and quite discombobulating

666
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:35,360
to be back in LA trying to get a show
on in this most incredible building.

667
00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:38,040
Do you want to go all the way up?

668
00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:40,840
(FUNKY HIP HOP)

669
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:45,360
It's probably one of the most
extraordinary buildings

670
00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:49,000
that I've ever seen across all
the years of space hunting.

671
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:54,040
And that's why, seven years on,
we're still trying to land it.

672
00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:55,920
Have all got this infrastructure in?
Yes.

673
00:41:55,960 --> 00:41:58,200
It's pretty much identical
all six floors down.

674
00:41:58,240 --> 00:41:59,760
Really?

675
00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:03,440
Wow, this is crazy.

676
00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:11,680
This is the main...
This is the big ballroom.

677
00:42:11,720 --> 00:42:15,400
This is going to be
Clytemnestra's palace.

678
00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:17,800
Whoa.

679
00:42:18,920 --> 00:42:20,920
I wish Livi and Bea could see this

680
00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:23,600
because this is good to go;
move these out the way.

681
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:26,080
I just can't get over,
the sort of, thickness of dust.

682
00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:29,240
It's almost like a bad movie,
isn't it?

683
00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:32,480
It's like a straight-to-TV
attic scene.

684
00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:34,080
Ooh.

685
00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:38,160


686
00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:43,800
It's so weird.
I was realising that probably

687
00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:46,480
we're at a sort of turning point
in our practice,

688
00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:50,160
as this building's testament to,
and, actually, the same with London,

689
00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:52,800
how London took six years
to get it on.

690
00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:57,480
It's such a, sort of,
slow form way of making work

691
00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:01,720
that actually it's time for us
to break that mould.

692
00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:04,040
So, if we can finally get
the show on here,

693
00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:07,960
this will probably be the last
full-site piece that we do.

694
00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:16,720
It's amazing now the, sort of,
theatrical vocabulary has shifted

695
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:19,400
and immersive work is
really very accessible now,

696
00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:21,800
and there's so many different types
out there.

697
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:23,880
Which means it's going
to have to shift.

698
00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:27,360
My hunch is
it's about incorporating tech

699
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:32,040
and it's about even more agency
and autonomy for the audience.

700
00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:37,080
If they're used to wandering
round worlds, bearing witness,

701
00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:40,120
which is, kind of,
present-day immersive,

702
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:43,320
I think the future will be that
there is a new term, a new word

703
00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:47,000
where the audience are the lead
protagonist in their own show.

704
00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:53,800
You are the pivot, and if you don't
move, the show pauses and waits.

705
00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:57,120
And it goes when you go.

706
00:43:57,160 --> 00:43:59,640
That I feel is the actual,
sort of, crux

707
00:43:59,680 --> 00:44:03,120
of the way the future's gonna go.

708
00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:08,400
What excites me is the thought
of making work

709
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:11,120
that no-one else has done.

710
00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:15,960
I want to be able to plant my flag
on the sand dune in the distance

711
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:18,600
that no one else can quite reach.

712
00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:21,840
Because that's the thrill.
If we can get out that far,

713
00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:24,120
and we can bring
some audience with us,

714
00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:28,280
then I hope that the stories they'll
have to tell when they get home

715
00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:30,880
will be worth the journey.

716
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:37,360

Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

717
00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:42,560


718
00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:46,320


719
00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:50,240


720
00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:53,520


721
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:57,560


722
00:44:58,440 --> 00:45:01,960

every one...

723
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:04,120
AccessibleCustomerService@sky.uk