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Le concept d’immersion gagne en popularité, tant auprès des chercheurs, des artistes et des journalistes. Son utilisation étendue s’accompagne toutefois d’une perte en précision terminologique, lorsque l’immersion est associée à des pratiques artistiques et ludiques diverses et variées. Par conséquent, dans quelle mesure la notion d’immersion peut-elle encore constituer un paradigme à même de saisir une spécificité spectaculaire ? Dans cet article, nous proposons de mettre en chantier une définition du théâtre immersif et d’examiner certains enjeux dramaturgiques liés à l’immersion. Nous abordons l’immersion comme une interaction fluctuante entre réel et imaginaire construite en trois paliers, qui renvoient à trois types d’expérience spectatorielle : l’intégration physique, l’immersion sensorielle et dramaturgique et l’indétermination corporelle.

The concept of immersion is becoming increasingly successful on both sides of the Atlantic, be it with artists, cultural actors or researchers. Indeed, a growing number of artists are relying on the notion of immersion to define their work. The term’s pervasiveness has done nothing to harm its popularity, but has rather extended its scope to include a wide range of practices from various disciplines. Cinema and video games are the obvious examples, but we can also name theatre, installation, performance, dance and the fine arts. The concept of immersion has been employed in such an intensive manner that it is becoming more and more metaphorical, sometimes even impenetrable and contradictory. We thus find ourselves faced with the following question: to what extent can the idea of immersion constitute a paradigm, taking into account the specificity of the varied devices and issues emerging as a result of aesthetic and/or ludic steps? How does immersive dramaturgy make use of intermediality and interaction? In this article, we will put forward a definition of immersive theatre and consequently its dramaturgical aspects. In this paper, we will suggest a definition of immersive theatre as a fluctuating interaction between the real and the imaginary, made up of three stages experienced by the spectator: firstly physical integration, secondly sensory and dramaturgical immersion and finally bodily indeterminacy.