As elusive as they can seem I had my very first 1:1 during the first hour or so of my second visit to The Drowned Man . In fact, during my first show, back in October 2013, I was actually witness to two people being chosen for the Doctor/PA 2:2 scene, however I thought they were being taken through a concealed exit and would just come out in a different room. How wrong I was! The idea that two randomly chosen audience members would be locked in a darkened room, made to dance with strangers and had torches shone in their faces was not something that I'd really considered could happen. I'd studied, created and experienced a decent range of non-traditional performance during my degree and I wrote about live art projects, Happenings and the Fluxus movement but I was way out of the theatre loop. I had forgotten what was possible. Punchdrunk were re-opening my eyes in so many ways. Over the 9 or 10 months that I regularly visited the show I was also studying Person Centered Therapy
What has prompted my latest desire to pour out my thoughts and feelings onto the internet is my recent involvement in the fan community of Punchdrunk's 'The Drowned Man'. Well, actually my involvement in going to see the play came first (and quite by accident), but for me the two things go hand in hand. Despite the show being an intensely personal and individual experience (you are told specifically to 'ditch your friends, go it alone'), it is the strong community of dedicated, enthusiastic and, dare I say it, a little 'obsessive' fans (and cast members!) that fueled the burning passion I have for the show and the mythology surrounding it. The late night theory forming, the heated discussions on Facebook, the agonizing over tiny details or cast combinations, the plotting and planning your next visit over endless tea and cigarettes...this was not just theatre, this was life. In addition, my own experience of the show came at a time in my life when I was ver