SHUNT (2000-14)

Gemma is a founder of Shunt.
She shared the artistic direction of all Shunt’s central London venues.

‘An astounding piece of theatre - an immersive experience. Radical. Original. Incredible.’
TIME OUT (2000)

‘Shunt pioneered what came to be known as immersive theatre.’
WIRED

‘To say that it was exciting just wouldn't do justice to the experience. Your preconceptions were forcibly rearranged.’
TOM MORRIS

‘The daddies of immersive theatre.’
TIME OUT

‘The most innovative theatre company in Britain.’
THE GUARDIAN

‘Fantastic alarming inventiveness.’
THE INDEPENDENT

‘The whole thing felt like being inside the head of a drunken genius.’
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

‘Stunning immersive theatre’
DERREN BROWN

‘The most astonishing and disorienting coup de théatre I've ever seen. It really felt, watching Dance Bear Dance, like something new was happening. It was in the best way totally mind-blowing. I've never seen anything like it. It was strange, wild, beautiful and funny and it conjured astonishing things out of the darkness.’ 
NICHOLAS HYTNER

Nicholas Hytner saw Shunt just before he took over as Artistic Director of the National Theatre. This resulted in him programming a new Shunt Event for his inaugural season (2005). Shunt convinced him to let them perform off-site, in their own venue - the first time the NT ever did this.

Tropicana was trashed by the majority of the critics, but went on to be a cult hit, introducing immersive theatre to the mainstream.

As well as the large scale shows, Shunt are known for running the Shunt Lounge Nightclub (2006-10), where they curated a thousand artists and reached an audience of over half a million.

‘The very best place. The very best people. Shunt were, without doubt, one of the best things to happen to us as a company. They were fundamental in keeping us playing, experimenting and believing it was possible - and for that we are forever in their debt.’
CLARE BERESFORD - LITTLE BULB (Olivier Award Winners)

‘The best bar in London.’
THE EVENING STANDARD

Performance IN REAL environments

Gemma began working with fictions integrated into real landscapes while studying at Cambridge. On graduating, she was in the performing company for Incarnate - a wild reimagining of the Passion of Christ on the streets of Edinburgh.

‘Theatre bursting out of its own emergency exit.’
THE GUARDIAN on INCARNATE

She played Miranda in Chris Goode’s The Tempest (2000) - performed in audience’s homes (a different venue every night).

’One of the all-time great Edinburgh Fringe productions.’
THE GUARDIAN on THE TEMPEST

In 2001, Gemma met Silvia Mercuriali, who was playing in public spaces, and they were immediately excited to collaborate. Their first show, Pinocchio, invited an audience of three into the back seat of a car. With a sweeping score, and close up performance, the city became the scenography for a dark live road movie. They have toured the world together.

DIRECTOR

Gemma is a commissioned writer and director for the RSC - she created their first devised immersive production in 2017.

‘Bold, brilliant work. An almost orgiastic visual experience.’
THE STAGE

She has created numerous shows and interventions for Shunt, including Invitation to a Beheading (Time Out Critic’s Choice) and The Door (a 40m suspended room). And she has created immersive commissions for the V&A, the Curtain Hotel & Buenos Aires Fashion Week.

PERFORMER

She has recently been working with Jack Aldisert at Deadweight - she joined the performance company for The Manikins, after which she played Hedda in Hedda Gabler. Other immersive collaborations include: Darkfield, Tai Shani (Turner Winner), Punchdrunk (Silverpoint & The Third Day), Marisa Carnesky (Ghost Train) & designer Gary Campbell, with whom she made a show for the BAC one-on-one festival:

’The luminous Gemma Brockis is Max, and she’s so adorable you just want to eat her up. As delightful as any pudding. Go and be transported.’
FOURTH WALL

ONLINE

In her pursuit to tranform new spaces into new stages, she imagined the isolation of lockdown as a site for performance. First, she opened her very own university - The University of O. Then, she curated and designed Oddvent - an advent calendar, involving twenty four world-class artists making twenty four mini experiences, reaching homes across the world.

‘Oddvent was necessary for the communal soul of participants and makers alike. It sustained us and nourished us during an isolating time, and brought us close together.’
JULIA MASLI

Testimonials

‘I have worked with Gemma on numerous immersive projects. She is an incredible theatre maker, writer & collaborator. She has a unique ability to determine what is truly important and meaningful amongst the general chaotic overload of the creative process.’
DAVID ROSENBERG - Co-founder of Shunt / Artistic Director of Darkfield

‘Gemma Brockis is one my favorite bright minds in immersive performance.’
BRIAN SOLOMON - Creative Tech Director at Framestore, NYC & Creator of XR team for Meow Wolf

SELECTED LINKS & publications

USEFUL EXTRACT FROM UNIVERSITY OF O : GLOSSARY OF THEATRICAL TERMS

immersive theatre :
/ɪˈmɜː.sɪv θέατρο/
Nowadays it is quite fashionable for audiences to wander about right into the middle of the play. Sometimes they get ‘in the way’. When this happens, the actors can either look the audience in the eye like a man, or they can hide behind a sort of flexible fourth wall and pretend that they are in a Henrik Ibsen play, even though the audience is nearly touching their nose. 

Image: Britt Hatzius (Pinocchio) | Susanne Dietz (Shunt Shows) | NK Guy (Shunt Lounge) | Lottie Davies (Oddvent)