Dive Into an Immersive Future with ‘Submerged’ (Review)

One of the best ways to determine if something is an immersive experience is to ask: if the audience members were not present, could this show stand on its own, or would it fall apart without their involvement? Submerged, the latest two-hour, in-person production from Circus Foundry, truly puts audience members at the center of the show and passes this test with flying colors.

Submerged begins the moment you walk through the door, before you’ve even checked in and confirmed your tickets. In my experience, this is a hallmark of a well-made immersive show — when it starts without you even knowing it — and effectively sets the scene and ushers the audience over the threshold into the world they’ve created for you. For example, the standard COVID-19 safety questions and procedures are there, but hidden amongst various interactions and “pre-screening questions” from a lab assistant who will soon escort us to a mad scientist’s time traveling machine for an experiment.

This production is 70% acting, storytelling and improv and 30% circus acts; and the formula works. In between talking to us, reinforcing the story through dialog, and gently guiding us through puzzles, these acrobats and jugglers invited us into conversation and responded to what we said in natural, believable ways. And then they did some cool shit like balancing on one arm or suspending a glass orb in the air.

The story was easy to follow and not too complex: we time traveled into the future where all beings live underwater because the sun is too intense to live at the surface due to global warming. The premise was just plausible enough that it was easy for us non-actors to lean into and play along. Submerged also offered up a little gamification, with a simple mission to find the three missing parts we needed to get the time machine to send us back to 2021.

Submerged’s physical environment helps make it so fun. The piece is staged at Allegory: an art gallery with an attached building full of open concept space for artist studios. Wandering through a mysterious, maze-like building is exciting and adds an air of unpredictability. It’s perfect for a show like this where audience groups are seeing 15-minute vignettes simultaneously. Being in a building with insulated rooms that have solid walls and doors keeps distractions from other performances to a minimum, and allows for necessary control of the space (lighting, sound effects, crowd flow etc.) for each actor.

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When distractions do happen, such as groups shuffling past one another as they transition to a new space, or actors moving about the set, they feel authentic and very in-world. These micro-interactions, seemingly insignificant in the moment, are what was recalled the most in our group’s post-show debrief.

The puzzle elements have both the effect of increased interactivity and the illusion of agency. In the end, the show progresses whether you solve the puzzles or not, but it feels damn good when you do, and instills a sense of urgency and responsibility along the way. Having played many escape rooms before, I was quite satisfied with the original, challenging puzzles that were no walk in the park. (Less experienced escape room players may need to be hinted heavily.)

As promised in promotional materials, there was also a pleasing amount of tech throughout the show, including projection mapping and other visual set enhancements, as well as novel delivery of puzzle prompts and clues. The final puzzle is the easiest of them all, but provides a unique tactile experience that’s expertly sewn into the story and works perfectly as its conclusion.

Circus shows tend to be all about the performers and their tricks. They get labeled as “immersive” due to the roaming audience format and (sometimes superficial) engagement, but the audience almost always takes a passive role as some kind of onlooker to the main storyline. Submerged bucks that trend by conceiving a scenario that sets up every interaction for the whole show to be all about us — who we are and where we came from, what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it.

The entire experience had a fun and playful vibe to it, even if all the characters we met along the way found us to be highly suspicious. We definitely ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the captivating circus performances, but it was ultimately the ways in which they interacted with us that made the show so endearing.

Submerged continues in Denver, CO through June 27. Tickets are $50 per person and must be purchased in groups of 3 or more.

Discover the latest immersive events, festivals, workshops, and more at our new site EVERYTHING IMMERSIVE, new home of NoPro’s show listings.

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