The Burnt City in Development: Rehearsal as Mythopoiesis

This chapter is the first of two rehearsal studies of Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City, both of which focus on the company’s process of transforming classical literature into immersive experience. In it, I employ the autoethnographic research methodology of Spectator-Participation-as-Research, drawing upon my involvement with the production as dramaturg and embedded researcher. I document, in chronological order, moments from the creative development of The Burnt City from the research and development phase through to preview performances. I interrogate the approach that Punchdrunk took to creating The Burnt City and argue that the richness and complexity of Punchdrunk’s production meant that it equated not just to a piece of classical reception but was its own megatext. As such, I suggest that Punchdrunk’s creative process equated to a form of contemporary mythopoiesis, or mythmaking. Understanding how process informs product when it comes to the creation of theatrical performance illuminates debates surrounding how a work can be experienced and theorised. My rehearsal study of The Burnt City thus gives a sense of how a performance of the scale and scope of The Burnt City was put together, and the type of engagement with ancient literature required to create a narrative universe of sufficient complexity to facilitate an immersive experience.