Immersion

Abstract

This chapter presents various kinds of immersion, in which terms such as presence, participation, curiosity, and reflection are relevant aspects of public communication. It reconsiders some traditional schemes of communication and their applications in theater and performance studies as well as aesthetic theories that underline the position of the beholder. To make ideas of the spectator’s immersive involvement as concrete as possible, it refers to a contemporary trilogy of plays performed as Women in Science, in which various communicative strategies and techniques were employed. The attention is directed toward the watching B(eholder) as constitutive of theatrical communication, while the performing A(gent) can assume a wide variety of shapes. The beholder’s immersion has a close affinity to political activities.