Contemporary playwrights are turning more toward the non-linear and “poetic” in their approach to the stage. Immersive theatre has taken the lead in bringing the audience into the performance, “since 2011, when Punchdrunk Theater launched its version of “Macbeth,” entitled “Sleep No More”  as if retold by Alfred Hitchcock and Isadora Duncan, in a formerly abandoned club in Chelsea renamed the McKittrick Hotel.” (New York Theatre, Immersive Theater, October 4, 2020)

Devised Theatre is another theatrical approach which likely began with Commedia del Arte in the 16th C but is reemerging a number of contemporary theaters as a more poetic or organic development of a theatrical experience. What is devised theatre?

Devised theatre is, in a word, collaborative theatre. It’swhen a team of artists work together to devise a show and usually take it from its inception to completion.

Andrew Cooper, So What Is Devised Theatre and Why Do I Love It So Much?

The result of this “devising” for the audience is often a poetic experience of a contemporary issue, merging an imaginative use of language and “found” dialogue with dance, music, and all forms of artistic expression. For example, The Anthropologists in NYC “create original, ensemble-devised theatre using improvisation, composition and highly stylized movement inspired by found text, source material and artifacts (paintings, songs, poems, etc.) and guided by rigorous dramaturgy.” (The Anthropologists)

At Blue Moon Plays, we applaud the development of new artistic experiences, especially in this era of restrictions and limitations on our theatrical experiences. When we emerge, post-pandemic, I hope that we will be riding like Venus on the Seashell ready to embrace reborn and reimagined stage adventures which have the ring of truth and beauty.