David Shearing

I don’t think we’ve yet unlocked the full power of immersive experience beyond the neoliberal framing that the brilliant Adam Alston critiques. There is still so much potential for work that connects, shifts perspectives, and reimagines how we encounter performance and each other.

It’s interesting to see how the form continues to take hold across the world. It’s a reminder that, while we do embrace a range of different theatrical forms in the UK, they are rarely supported in the same way as the majority of theatre production.

22년째 이어지는 체험의 마법… 왜 '슬립노모어'는 여전히 유효한가 | 한국일보 이머시브 공연 슬립노모어가 서울 매키탄 호텔에서 개막하며 큰 관심을 받고 있다. 관객이 직접 참여하는 체험형 무대로 한국 공연계에 새로운 트렌드를 제시하고 있다.

Sleep No More by Punchdrunk arrives in Seoul. I was invited by this publication to comment on the form. My PhD explored audience immersion and design, and I’ve previously written about Punchdrunk.

m-hankookilbo-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/m.hankoo...

Thanks Eleanor, hard to capture such a complex series of practice in one short piece. But a little contribution

Delighted to share this piece I’ve written for The Stage, which explores how we might better centre and value design-led performance within the UK’s theatre ecology.

Exercises for a ‘New Beginning’ (2025)

This weekend we met our incredible cohort of Luxembourgish young people who lead our production. Join us for the international premiere of ‘New Beginning’ which runs at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, 16–18 May.

theatres.lu/fr/newbeginn...

For 2 years, I’ve been an artist mentor for Future Lab, a European network of 12 venues + 14 artists collaborating to reimagine how theatre engages communities. Loved seeing the results in Luxembourg this weekend!

futurelaboratory.eu

A deeper look into New Beginning | Variable Matter Bold, transformative events and experiences, placing people at the heart of the process.

I wrote this pre-production piece exploring the process and collaboration www.variablematter.com/a-deeper-loo... I need to do an update!

Great to see @variablematter.bsky.social ‘New Beginning’ illustrate how HE and industry can innovate together in complex times. A brilliant partnership between Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch.

- Collaborating with Little Ilford School to engage young people in design-led performance and developing open access teaching materials.

- Exploring how design-led performance might inspire new forms of VR storytelling.

As part of this next phase, we’ll explore:

- Sustainable touring practices working with local and natural materials.

- How mid-scale theatre can evolve design-led storytelling to address the climate emergency.

New Beginning | Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg

Excited to receive support from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama to continue the impact work around Variable Matter's ‘New Beginning’ (2023).

It will be remade in partnership with Les Theatres de la Ville de Luxembourg theatres.lu/fr/newbeginn... in May 2025.