The immersive theatre company Punchdrunk’s latest production will come to Woolwich next month – turning audience members into players in a video game.
Lander 23 will feature “ true video game mechanics” and bring immersive theatre into “unchartered territory”, the company says, meaning that tickets for the first two weeks of the show have been discounted to allow for “rigorous testing”.
It is played in teams of four, with online tickets sold in pairs.
The show, about a spaceship and its crew that have vanished while harvesting a new and valuable energy source, will reuse the imaginary world of Troy from The Burnt City, Punchdrunk’s first show at the Royal Arsenal.
Tickets will be £23 for performances from September 17, rising to “standard pricing” – up to £48.75 – from October 3. Most of the early shows had already sold out within an hour of the show being announced to the media.
Felix Barrett, Punchdrunk’s artistic director, said: “To make a video game live is the holy grail for me; to take the complete submersion in a world and the endless choice of where you go, who you talk to, how you choose to play the game, and to make that real. The future is inevitably tech-driven – how can we, as a company that is built on the magic of live experiences, create something that is not just as compelling as an evening on Fortnite or Zelda, but that elevates that experience to something more engrossing.
“Something which fires up both hemispheres of the brain, removes the passivity of sitting in a chair, and has a far longer-lasting impact. That’s our ambition for Lander 23 – to create the ultimate antidote to screens: instead of sitting on the sofa in front of your TV, what would happen if you threw away your controller, stepped inside the game and became your own avatar – relying on your ingenuity, dexterity and courage to survive. In real time. In real life.”
Punchdrunk came to Woolwich in 2022 as part of the £45 million Woolwich Works project, although in different buildings to the main venue. It has a lease until 2027, but Lucy Whitby, the company’s co-executive producer, told councillors in January: “We’d love to stay longer.”
Tickets are on sale via the Punchdrunk website. Single tickets are available by calling the box office on 020 8191 1431.
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