The Drowned Man

Set within the fictional "Temple Pictures", The Drowned Man was Punchdrunk's largest theatre installation, covering 200,000 sq ft., catering for up to 600 audience members per show The production fell within several genres of theatre, including so-called site-specific theatre, promenade theatre, interactive theatre or immersive theatre. == Temple Pictures ==

Temple Pictures was the name of the fictional Hollywood film studio which formed the setting and backdrop of the production. It was physically located at 31 London Street, London, next to Paddington Station, occupying four floors of the building that had previously been a Royal Mail sorting office. As in previous Punchdrunk shows, the audience was free to roam around and explore the sets in their own way, A virtual tour has been crafted using thousands of photographs of Temple Studios, managing to capture the set in all of its intricate detail. == Narrative ==

Creative director Felix Barrett noted that The Drowned Man was "the first time that we've played with the idea of more than one lead narrative". The main characters played out a tragic love story, with the numerous supporting characters embellishing the detail of that story as well as having some independent side-stories of their own. However, the work also drew on several other sources for inspiration, including Nathanael West's (1939) novel The Day of the Locust and Ray Bradbury's (1962) novel Something Wicked This Way Comes. == Critical reception ==

Several reviews complimented the scale of the production and the ambitious use of multiple narratives, while also commenting that the scale could at times make the experience feel fragmented and difficult to follow. The majority of official media reviews were written at the beginning of the show's run in June 2013, and as a result several changes were made to improve the audience's understanding of the story, including handing out slips of paper with a brief outline of the plot at the start. The Daily Telegraph awarded it 5 out 5 stars, asserting that "the masters of immersive theatre have returned with a show that will surely become a cult hit" == Credits ==