ABSTRACT
As this book appears, we seem to be living through a media revolution, which may prove no less dramatic than that of the 1890s, when moving pictures first reached screens around the world (Christie 2017-2018). What the current revolution – if it is one – offers is “immersion,” with “experience” and “sensation” as its currency. Some manifestations of this recently available in London have been essentially theatrical, ranging from Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City, an epic recreation of the fall of Troy set in giant abandoned warehouses, to the more bathetic Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience, in which guests participate in a recreation of a popular 1970s BBC television comedy about a dysfunctional seaside hotel, or Mamma Mia! The Party, “an immersive Abba-themed dinner experience set in a ropey taverna on an idyllic Greek island” (Lukowski 2022). 1 These might be considered an updating of the older concept of “promenade” or “site-specific theater.” 2
