Scenic designer Casey Jay Andrews on Punchdrunk's Viola's Room

In this interview Casey Jay Andrews, designer of Viola’s Room – the latest production from the immersive theatre company Punchdrunk – discusses the concept and motivation behind it.

Punchdrunk is an award-winning immersive theatre company that creates theatrical experiences that are designed to make audiences feel fully absorbed in a fictional world.

Watch: What does the audience think of Viola’s Room? | Vox Pop

In most theatres, you sit down in your designated seat and watch the action unfold in front of you. With Punchdrunk, they take over a whole building, fill every room and space with intricate sets and ask the audience to explore it for themselves. Previous shows, which usually take place only once every few years, have included The Duchess of Malfi (an immersive opera); The Burnt City, which retells the story of the Trojan war; and The Burrow – based on Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes.

And now the world-famous immersive theatre company is back with Viola’s Room: their latest, and most intimate, production. Written by Booker Prize-shortlisted Daisy Johnson, and narrated by Helena Bonham Carter, Viola’s Room, reimagines a classic gothic mystery in which a princess escapes her engagement party and discovers a maze in the palace grounds, where she pledges her soul to the moon. It distils two decades of Punchdrunk’s work into an intimate sensory adventure.

Barefoot and wearing headphones, audiences feel their way through a labyrinthine installation as an unseen narrator reveals a story of innocence lost and obsession unleashed.

To watch Casey Jane’s interview, click below.