'It was like a dare...' Theatre troupes are taking their inspiration from videogames, writes JOE GRIFFIN

READERS MIGHT remember my article about The Alan Wake Experience. Inspired by the game Alan Wake, this performance by Punchdrunk was a live, interactive horror show. While stumbling through a darkened English country house, raspy-voiced strangers emerged from the shadows to warn of oncoming dangers, before a trail of discarded paper led to a disturbed young woman who met a grizzly end.

It was a blast.

Punchdrunk (previously known for interactive shows of Faustand A Midsummer Night's Dream) recently staged a tie-in for Resistance 3in London's Waterloo Station, described as "terrifying" by the Telegraph.

Games have also inspired more innocent forms of theatrical entertainment. In Brooklyn, theatre group Piper McKenzie have devised and performed Theatre of the Arcade, which is informed as much by classic games as it is by well- known authors. One show took its inspiration from both Samuel Beckett and the Nintendo classic Duck Hunt.

“Early in 2010 I suggested an evening of short plays that treated the stories of classic arcade games like real dramas,” says playwright Jeff Lewonczyk of Piper McKenzie.

“And so it was like a dare. As I was conceiving each of the individual pieces, I realized that each one needed to be performed in some kind of style, and so the idea of matching up the games with playwrights began to develop.”

It's a good idea, and the Duck Huntvideo (Google it) is fun. There are also sketches inspired by Frogger, Pac Man, Brecht and Sam Shepard.

According to Lewonczyk, audiences are more than ready for a mix of art forms. "Our friends at Sneaky Snake did a show called Adventure Quest, which translated the world of early-PC adventure games like King's Questto the stage through the story of a game character who slowly becomes self-aware.

"This idea of bringing a gaming story onto the theatre was a big influence on the show. In terms of other media, I also found inspiration in Masterpiece Comics, R Sikoryak's book that paired up classic literature such as Crime and Punishmentwith comic-book styles such as Golden Age Batman. It's very similar to how I ended up bringing videogames to the stage, albeit using very different mediums."

theplayer@irishtimes.com