Reimagining Macbeth Through Immersive Storytelling: Audience Autonomy, Embodied Spectatorship, and Accessibility in Sleep No More
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/1559bs23Keywords:
Sleep No More; immersive theatre; Macbeth; audience autonomy; embodiment; accessibility.Abstract
In Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More (SNM), audiences wander through dark hallways, chase performers across different floors, and assemble individualized interpretations of Shakespeare’s Macbeth through bodily participation and immersive engagement. Rather than positioning spectators as passive observers, the production promises audiences a high degree of autonomy and agency to physically navigate the performance environment and construct individualized interpretations of the narrative. However, this paper argues that immersive theatre presents a paradoxical form of audience autonomy. By examining collective environments, embodied spectatorship, and spatial limitations in both the New York and Shanghai productions, this study suggests that audience autonomy within immersive theatre is relational and interdependent, emerging not through isolated individual choice but through ongoing interactions shaped by collective movement, bodily engagement, and spatial conditions.
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