Rediscovering the Avant-Garde

African Performance Traditions and the Reframing of Western Immersive Theatre

When most people hear the phrase immersive theatre, they think of productions like Sleep No More—audiences wandering through elaborate environments, interacting with performers, and becoming part of the story. For the last two decades, immersive theatre has often been presented as one of the most exciting innovations in contemporary performance.

But what if it isn't actually new?

What if many of the ideas we celebrate as avant-garde today have existed for centuries in African performance traditions?

That question led me down a fascinating rabbit hole. The more I researched African theatre practices, the more I began to realize that many of the techniques currently associated with immersive and interactive theatre—audience participation, fluid performer-spectator relationships, communal storytelling, site-specific performance, and collective authorship—have long been foundational elements of performance across Africa.

In other words, the future of theatre might have something to learn from its past.

The "Revolution" That Already Happened

Contemporary immersive theatre is often described as a radical break from traditional theatre. Scholars such as Josephine Machon argue that immersive performance creates intimacy and immediacy by dissolving the barrier between audience and performer.

Instead of sitting quietly in the dark, audiences move through spaces, interact with performers, and experience stories firsthand. These developments have unquestionably transformed contemporary theatre. Yet many of these same practices can be found in longstanding African performance traditions. Take Yoruba popular theatre in Nigeria. Performances often occur in communal spaces rather than dedicated theatre buildings. Audiences don't simply watch; they participate through song, dance, commentary, and direct interaction with performers. Improvisation allows performers to respond to audience reactions in real time, meaning every performance evolves according to the community gathered there. Or consider Kotéba, a traditional performance form from Mali. These performances use satire, music, humor, and audience participation to examine social issues and political concerns. Audience members influence the direction of the performance, respond openly to performers, and become active contributors to the theatrical event.

Sound familiar?

Many of the experiences that contemporary audiences seek in immersive theatre have existed in these traditions for generations.

The Problem With "New"

One of the most interesting discoveries in this research wasn't simply that African theatre contains immersive elements. It was how often those contributions are left out of conversations about theatrical innovation. Western theatre history tends to tell a familiar story: innovation happens in Europe or North America and then spreads outward. But performance history is rarely that simple. Theatre ideas move across cultures in multiple directions. African performance traditions have influenced global theatre for decades, yet they are often treated as cultural curiosities rather than recognized as foundational contributions to theatrical practice.

This creates a strange situation where techniques with deep historical roots are rebranded as revolutionary once they appear in contemporary Western contexts. The issue isn't simply historical accuracy. It affects how we imagine the future of theatre. If we only look to Western models for innovation, we overlook centuries of theatrical knowledge that could help us solve many of today's challenges.

A Different Kind of Audience Participation

One critique often leveled at immersive theatre is that it promises audience agency without actually delivering it. Audience members may feel like they have choices, but those choices rarely change the overall structure of the experience. The audience is invited to participate, but only within carefully controlled boundaries.

African theatre traditions offer a useful alternative framework.

Scholar Abdullahi S. Abubakar discusses the distinction between "integrated" audiences and "integral" audiences in Nigerian theatre. An integrated audience is engaged and emotionally involved. An integral audience actively shapes the performance itself. That's a significant difference.

In the plays of Nigerian playwright Femi Osofisan, audiences may help determine outcomes, participate in debates, challenge performers, or become directly implicated in the social questions being explored. Participation isn't decorative; it's structurally important. The audience doesn't merely experience the performance.

They help create it.

For theatre-makers interested in meaningful audience engagement, this distinction is worth serious attention.

What Regional Theatre Can Learn

This research began as an exploration of immersive theatre, but it ultimately became a question about the future of American regional theatre. Across the United States, many regional theatres are facing significant challenges: declining attendance, financial pressures, changing audience expectations, and increasing competition from digital entertainment. The common response is often to search for the next innovation. But perhaps the better question is this: how do we become more essential to our communities?

African performance traditions suggest several possibilities.

First, theatre can function as a community gathering place rather than simply a venue for entertainment. In many African contexts, performance is woven into civic life, education, ritual, celebration, and public discourse.

Second, audiences can become collaborators rather than consumers. Instead of presenting finished products to passive spectators, theatres can create experiences that invite communities to participate in shaping stories.

Third, local history and collective memory can become theatrical material. Community stories, oral histories, and shared experiences can transform theatre from something people attend into something they collectively own.

Finally, theatre can embrace ritual, participation, music, movement, and sensory experience not as gimmicks but as tools for building deeper social connection.

Rethinking the Avant-Garde

Perhaps the most important lesson is that innovation doesn't always mean inventing something entirely new. Sometimes innovation means recognizing what has been overlooked.

When we acknowledge African performance traditions as significant contributors to immersive and participatory theatre, we gain a richer understanding of what theatre has been and what it can become. This isn't about diminishing contemporary immersive theatre. Productions like Sleep No More have expanded audiences' expectations and created remarkable theatrical experiences. Instead, it's about broadening the conversation.

Theatre history is larger, more interconnected, and more globally diverse than many of our dominant narratives suggest. By engaging seriously with African performance traditions, we can move beyond the endless search for novelty and toward something more meaningful: theatre that is deeply rooted in community, shared authorship, collective memory, and genuine participation.

In a moment when many theatres are asking how to remain relevant, that may be the most important innovation of all.