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Woolwich: How Punchdrunk creates immersive shows to delight audiences

As The Burnt City enters its final months, we catch up with founder and artistic director Felix Barrett

The Burnt City has been seen by more than 200,000 people in Woolwich

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Scroll down for Part One, if you prefer.

>> PART TWO <<

If you’ve started reading here, welcome. There is no right or wrong way to experience this article.

Just your eyes, these images and words and, perhaps, a sense of bewilderment when you reach the end at a place of your choosing.

Feel free to leave at any time. Or not.

Time, it turns out, is short. Punchdrunk has announced that it will welcome its final audience for The Burnt City on September 24, 2023.

Tickets for the final performance (at the time of writing) were selling fast and cost £145 per person.

Other shows in the remaining three months had availability from £45. VIP and premium option are also available.

There are a limited number of tickets for Royal Borough Of Greenwich residents priced at £25. These are released on the last Friday of each month, for performances in the month ahead.

Now all of that tiresome admin is out of the way, why don’t we have Felix (see Part One) tell us what impact he hopes the show will have on those who see it?

He said: “I would like people to feel that childlike awe and wonder that you get as kid when you go and explore your grandfather’s attic.

“You’re told you’re not allowed, but you know that serious wonders lie up there and you brave it anyway.

“You’re by yourself, you open the door, it’s very dark and full of clutter. There’s something in the far corner and you venture over there.

“It’s thrilling, terrifying, exhilarating and it’s full of magic. That’s our aim.

“As adults, much of the magic has been removed from life because of our responsibilities. We’re trying to give that back to our audiences.”

Read Part Three for a bit of history and a smattering of inspiration

Punchdrunk founder and artistic director Felix Barrett

START READING HERE

>> PART ONE <<

This isn’t exactly a typical article structure.

But then its subject matter isn’t a typical show.

Since it opened in March 2022, more than 200,000 people have seen theatre company Punchdrunk’s latest offering – its first at Woolwich Works, the organisation’s permanent global home.

The Burnt City is a sprawling creation.

Masked audience members are free to explore around 100,000sq ft of warehouse space, transformed for the production into an enormous, intricately detailed set in which the show’s multitude of performers appear and disappear.

Founder and artistic director of Punchdrunk, Felix Barrett said: “The show is based on the fable of the fall of Troy and the collapse of that mythical metropolis.

“It’s a future noir sci-fi thriller, told across 120 rooms, which audience members are free to explore in their own time.

“It’s part haunted museum, part real world living movie and part adult adventure playground.”

Audience members wear masks immediately marking them out from the performers who go about their business without acknowledging the watchers.

Audiences are free to explore the show in whatever order they choose

“Most of our performers are contemporary dancers and there’s a big soundtrack, so it’s like you’re inside a movie,” said Felix.

“It’s a gestural, physical language, rather than the intellectual side of your brain having to process it, so it transcends language.

“It takes at least 200 people to run a performance.

“There’s a big cast, a big group of front-of-house stewards, the stage management team, all the backstage departments – design, costume, lighting and sound.

“It takes a village, that’s for sure, but that’s what’s necessary to create single moments for the audience members.

“Different people in the same building will have different experiences.

“I want people to treat the show like a gallery or a museum but one where everything has come alive at night.

“It can have a clear story if you follow a single character but there are myriad narratives to uncover.

“We don’t want to prescribe a certain way to do it, and there’s no right or wrong way to watch the show.

“The reason why you enter through the bar is important, because that’s your safe space, so, if it all gets too much, you can go back, have a nice drink and watch the band.”

Read Part Two to find out why booking sooner rather than later would be wise

The Burnt City features an enormous cast of contemporary dancers

>> PART THREE <<

“At The Globe theatre in Elizabethan times, if you didn’t like the show, you could throw a cabbage at the performers and leave – I thought that was empowering,” said Felix. 

“I created Punchdrunk in 2000 because although I’m a theatre buff and I love it, I was a bit disillusioned with the stuff I was seeing.

“So I asked how we might give the audience control and tried to set out to create something where they were the epicentre of the work.

“Ideally I wanted to create something which could bring the hairs up on the back of the neck.

“What I’m interested in is trying to flip audience expectations and to give audiences a night out which they wouldn’t easily get elsewhere.

“I always want to break the rules of conventional theatre – to try to make sure that there are secrets to unlock.”

For Felix, that process is rooted in the bricks and mortar of the places Punchdrunk performs.

“The company’s shows have called disused warehouses, private houses, an old school and tunnels underneath Waterloo Station home.

“It has made work in locations as far flung as Shanghai and New York.

“A theatre is a blank canvas, but a building is already quite detailed, so we look at all the architectural detail and how we can harness that power, accentuate it and make it stronger for the audience,” said Felix.

“First of all I walk the building, let myself be guided by it and then chalk out the safest place and the most threatening part.

“You’re left with a beautiful, existential tour of a space, and then we start to put a story across it, with the source material.

“Then you start to dream about the environments and the worlds.

“We definitely do world building before we do narrative arc – we’re closer to a video game than a play.

“The word ‘immersive’ came from that genre of entertainment originally.”

Read Part Five for a look into the future

The Burnt City is based on the fable of the fall of Troy

>> PART FIVE <<

“We’ve been nomadic for 23 years, and although we’ve got buildings we can settle into in New York and Shanghai, we’ve never had that in London, where we’re from,” said Felix. 

“To have a home base is extraordinary, so I’m excited about us starting to break new ground, asking questions about the future of the theatre – how we surprise our audience so that we can create something nobody has seen before – that’s our main objective.

“We’re going to start playing with and experimenting with new projects. In a computer game, you can often take your character and go anywhere you want in a world.

“I think the future is taking that empowerment and applying it to real live shows.

“It took us six or seven years to get into our home in Woolwich and open our first show.

“Now it’s almost hard to imagine us not being in Woolwich – we absolutely love it. 

“We’re hungry to make more work. This really is a new dawn for Punchdrunk” 

No. There was no Part Four

  • Find out more about Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City via this link
Punchdrunk’s permanent home is at Woolwich Works in Woolwich

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
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Woolwich: How Woolwich Works is relishing the prospect of an uninterrupted season

Vast multi-arts complex at Royal Arsenal Riverside has venues for performance, rehearsals + recording

The exterior of Woolwich Works main building
The exterior of Woolwich Works main building – image Timothy Soar

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“Activity” is the word buzzing around the lips of James Heaton as we sit in Beanfeast – one of the magnificent exposed brick spaces that form part of the vast Woolwich Works complex.

For the CEO of the Woolwich Creative District Trust – set up to independently operate the site on a not-for-profit basis – it’s a welcome change, given the challenging stop-start conditions of two years of pandemic restrictions. 

Now though, even largely empty on a sunny Wednesday morning in April, there’s a life about the place – the vibration of possibility in its walls. 

That’s something James and his team intend to nurture and feed as the months roll by until its performance spaces, rehearsal studios, recording facilities, cafe, bar and offices are all humming with the industry and pulse of cultural creation. 

what is Woolwich Works?

James confessed at the start of our interview that, despite having been in post for nearly three years, he’s yet to find a rapid way of answering this question – testament, perhaps to the sheer scale of the project he’s steering.

“Woolwich Works is physically five buildings on the Royal Arsenal Riverside development in south-east London,” he said.

“They’re all former military buildings and are Grade II or Grade II* listed. The site overall is about 20 years into its redevelopment by Berkeley Homes.

“With Woolwich Works, Greenwich Council wanted to achieve a number of things.

“Fundamentally the beginning of this project was looking at these historic buildings and their situation and taking the view that it was important to preserve these spaces in public use for the benefit of everyone in the borough and beyond.

“A decision was made to develop the focus of these buildings as being around an arts and culture offer. Ultimately that’s how we’ve got to where we are.

Woolwich Creative District Trust CEO James Heaton
Woolwich Creative District Trust CEO James Heaton – image Jon Massey

“Three of the buildings, all joined together – The Cartridge Factory, The Laboratory and The Carriage Works – are home to phenomenal immersive theatre company Punchdrunk, which has just launched its first show at the site and is also resident at Woolwich Works.

“The spaces have been joined together and audiences walk into a whole world and navigate themselves around it. 

“Then, on the other side of No. 1 Street, there’s our main building, which has four wings around a central courtyard. That houses a number of venues, rehearsal studios, a recording studio and offices. We also have space in The Academy building next door.”

In addition to Punchdrunk, Woolwich Works is also home to the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO), the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, Protein Dance and Chineke!, an orchestra of predominantly black and ethnically diverse classical musicians.

Alongside the cafe, performances typically take place in either the 1,504sq m of the Fireworks Factory – a flexible auditorium that can be set up in any number of configurations – or Beanfeast, a smaller, narrower venue on the first floor with views over the Thames.

what’s the intention? 

“Woolwich Works is a multi-arts venue with lots of different spaces so we can present a varied performance programme,” said James.

“We have the resident companies and they will contribute to that as well as running various creative and community initiatives that offer opportunities to people living locally.

“These might be in schools or, for example, in our recording studio which will be the last thing to open here.

“We have world-class facilities and resident companies, but we’re also community focused, so if you’re someone who lives nearby and who wants to dip their toe into music, film or design, then we’ll facilitate that with formal training alongside mentoring, coaching and the chance to work with professionals. 

The Fireworks Factory at Woolwich Works in full swing
The Fireworks Factory at Woolwich Works in full swing – image Chris Morgan

“Underpinning everything we do is that we’re a catalyst for collaboration. The aim is to create an ecosystem and we’re already seeing people working together. Our role at the trust is partly to cultivate that. 

“The aim is that the professional, the community and the emerging all come together – whether through work experience, jobs, volunteering or performance opportunities –  to help build pathways and open up the arts to everybody. We want to bring those opportunities to people who may be under-represented or who think they can’t access them.”

what’s coming?

“The near future is rooted in the fact that we’re looking at a horizon where things are relatively stable,” said James.

“We’ve never had that before and, next month, the building starts to get really busy. Almost everything gets going in May and stays running.

“We have what was our festive cabaret – The Grotteaux – opening as a springtime show instead and that looks bonkers, fantastic and eclectic. 

“Our comedy, music and family programmes will continue throughout, and we’re really looking forward to the whole site being animated at the same time.

The main venue can be used in multiple ways
The main venue can be used in multiple ways – image Timothy Soar

“Then, in July, we’re launching what I’m hoping will become an annual festival here called Woolwich Words And Sounds.

“For that we’ll be programming the whole building with all sorts of different live music, comedy, literature and spoken word performances.

“We’ll have singer Alice Russell and also an amazing jazz saxophonist called Bob Mintzer who’ll be playing some of his big band repertoire with NYJO covering the last 40 years.

“Part of the thing that’s exciting about Woolwich Works is that its layout really lends itself to a festival model – there’s a big area of outdoor space and we want to have some food, drink, deckchairs and free music out there for people to listen to.”

open for business?

“The trust is a true not-for-profit, which means it has to sustain itself and look after the buildings through earned income,” said James.

“That means we do commercial hire for events – dinners, conferences, private celebrations and meetings – all the things you’d expect a big venue to cater for. 

“We’ve had a few weddings and, of course, we’d like a few more. But we’re also here for the creative community with lots of rehearsal space available.

“The sector as a whole needs these spaces and the aim is to be available to artistic companies that aren’t based here.

“The idea is that doing this will also contribute to the ecosystem because when we have companies in residence for four or five weeks, inevitably they will meet other, like-minded people in the cafe or around the building. 

“Creative people become more creative when they’re in touch with other artists.

“In the end, our success will be seen in the people who have progressed through Woolwich Works and who have gone on to do great things.

“It will be the stories of those people who found their opportunities here and were supported to find their life within the arts.”

Punchdrunk's The Burnt City is playing at Woolwich Works now
Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City is playing at Woolwich Works now

SHOW TIME

The Burnt City, Punchdrunk at Woolwich Works

Immersive theatre company Punchdrunk has opened its show at Woolwich Works, with tickets now booking into December.

The Burnt City transports audiences to the Trojan War with two distinct, detailed worlds to explore packed with mysterious characters to meet.

Troy is reimagined as a dense sci-fi city with an aesthetic inspired by Fritz Lang’s Mertropolis, while Greece is a wasteland filled with jaded soldiers and eerie memories of ancient gods.

Presented as a promenade performance, ticketholders are free to wander these environments at will, interacting with the characters over 100,000sq ft of space

The production is the company’s first show in London since 2014 and its most ambitious to date, reuniting the team behind Sleep No More including original cast members from that show.

Performances last up to three hours, with six arrival times at 10-minute intervals. 

Shows on Tuesdays-Fridays start at 6.30pm, Saturdays 1.30pm and 6.30pm and Sundays 4.30pm.

Tickets typically cost £66 with limited “rush tickets” available for £25 for every performance through Time Out.

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