Four years ago, I was pleased to both read and then write a review for the first edition of Sensory Theatre: How to Make Interactive, Inclusive, Immersive Theatre for Diverse Audiences by a Founder of Oily Cart. When I was asked if I wanted to read and review the second edition, there was no hesitation in accepting the offer. I was pleased to dive back into the world of Sensory Theatre through the lens of Oily Cart and Tim Webb. This second edition fine tunes the first edition, bringing new observations, and offers another compelling look at the world of Sensory Theatre with clear, detailed, and exceedingly useful discussion, examples, and concrete strategies for understanding and implementing this important theatre approach.
As before, the first section of the book sets the stage by outlining the history behind Sensory Theatre. Oily Cart co-founder and author, Tim Webb, reviews the development of this innovative theatrical approach, allowing the reader to see behind the curtains of the work, if you will. This allows the reader to better understand the thinking that informed the development and practice of Sensory Theatre. Webb offers both the successes of his and Oily Cart’s work in the field, when the work landed with the intended audiences, as well as the challenges they faced when it did not or when they had to think more creatively about how to approach a particular audience, venue, or other performance obstacle. In other words, while it is easy to only laud the accomplishments of Oily Cart, Webb lets the reader see how so much of the success was built on how the company leaned into the many complications they faced and embraced them. I believe, this level of detail allows for a more nuanced understanding of Sensory Theatre and thus a recognition of the level of detail and intention one must go into this work with, if it is to be done well and effectively for the audiences. One cannot simply read the book and immediately start a Sensory Theatre company or devise an immersive theatre piece that is also interactive and inclusive.
To that point, the second section of the book opens the curtain even further on Sensory Theatre through an analysis of it, which not only outlines how the work can be created and performed but includes healthy doses of advice based on Webb’s vast experience – not just in general, but very specific lessons learned. There are also images included and links to performances for the reader to see and hear the work rather than simply relying on their imagination. Some stories and advice are repeated in the text, which I found useful as it reinforced those lessons and helped connect previous discussions with other observations. One such piece of advice that sticks with me is avoiding the disco in hell effect which is when too many senses are added to a theatrical piece.
The second section first focuses on the senses, with each getting its own chapter. I especially appreciated the smell chapter as it was something I recently wondered aloud about in a discussion of ways to engage audiences and was gently rebuffed, so it was very helpful to discover that others have incorporated smells. Of course, done so in very intentional ways, which is a key element of Sensory Theatre, the need to be intentional. Webb talks about the importance of focusing on attention to detail including considering seeing the work as 360° theatre where every element that an audience member encounters may be seen as part of the experience so should be considered as part of the design. Webb also reminds readers of the importance in experiencing the work not just as a performer or other creative role, but as an audience member so as not to assume what that experience is like. He shares, for example, watching a piece while wearing noise-cancelling headphones to see what the experience would be like for a Deaf audience member.
The next part of the second section gets into the nitty gritty of putting Sensory Theatre work together including laying out a clear structure or foundation on which to build a Sensory Theatre piece (chapter 24); establishing what a performer needs in terms of skill, interest, and personality to do this work (chapter 25); and how one can approach auditioning performers to best find actors suited to the work (chapter 27). Here again, Webb provides sensible advice based on his years of experience in the field, allowing readers to learn from that experience and hopefully avoid some of the pitfalls that Webb and his colleagues already navigated many times over. This work is not for the faint of heart or those with a passing fancy for doing theatre with the very young, with those on the Autism spectrum, or those labelled as with PMLD (Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities). It requires dedication, creativity, perseverance, and an understanding of how theatre can be adapted for various audiences without losing its core foundation of theatricality and storytelling.
The third section of the book provides a sampling of Sensory Theatre from around the world, highlighting the work of twenty companies, both those that Webb has worked with and those known by the companies spotlighted in the first edition who nominated others to be included in this second edition. As I read the book and marvelled at the work done, particularly the amount of attention to detail that goes into Sensory Theatre, I found myself wondering what I would have done in the same circumstances of being asked or inspired to develop theatre for an audience previously left out of the performance conversation. I can imagine it would have been easy to simply walk away from the challenges and embrace a more typical theatre approach with more traditional audiences. I am not sure that I would have had the creativity and fortitude to forge ahead as Oily Cart did. But thankfully, they did and, as a result, other theatre companies and practitioners can learn from Oily Cart’s vast and profound experience to develop their own Sensory Theatre work.
The fourth section of the book is, as before, four appendices of additional useful resources to continue one’s knowledge of sensory theatre.
One of the things I love most about this book is it forces the reader to really think about how there is more than one way to tell a story including utilizing all the senses when just two (sight and sound) will not be enough. Then provides clear guidance and a plethora of examples to guide readers into either doing the work themselves or being more appreciative of those who do. Even though I read it before and got a lot out of it then, reading the second edition revealed new insights I hadn’t picked up the first time around and motivated me to think about how I can apply the concepts and practice to my teaching and my theatre work as well as my research. It truly is a marvellous testament to the power of theatre in connecting and creating community as well as amplifying voices that often get overlooked or are unheard. As I said in my review of the first edition, this book speaks to all theatre makers, asking them to reflect on how they approach theatre, being mindful of and intentional in how inclusive their work is for all types of audiences, and encouraging them to open their perspective, utilizing all their senses, to reinvigorate their theatre work, thus broadening the world of theatre. In an increasingly digital online and divisive world, magnifying what we can offer the world through theatre is ever more important and thus we must be open to expanding the perceived limits of theatre, which this book does.
Teresa A. Fisher, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences at Bronx Community College (City University of New York/CUNY, USA). Her research interests include post-show discussions, new play development, bodies and weight, and theatre for health. She is producer of New Plays for Young Audiences at NYU Steinhardt. She is the author of Post-Show Discussions in New Play Development (2014, Palgrave) and co-editor of Applied Arts and Health: Building Bridges Across Arts, Therapy, Health, Education, and Community (2022, Intellect). She is also the Assistant Editor for the Journal of Applied Arts and Health.
Contact: Bronx Community College - CUNY, 2155 University Avenue, Colston Hall, room 740, Bronx, NY, 10453, USA
I was reminded recently, while working in Seoul, how deeply the work of Oily Cart has permeated theatre for young audiences across the world. It’s there in the ether: the smell, touch and vibrant imagery; the felt experience engaging increasingly diverse young audiences. In this new edition of Sensory Theatre, this palpable influence is reflected (see Part Three) in the growing number of contributions from international companies and artists. Sensory Theatre is a branch of sensory aesthetics which challenges a more conventional idea of what we mean by awareness. It extends and enhances the idea of how we negotiate meaning.
Many of the newest innovations in theatre for young audiences have emerged from engagement with audiences who would otherwise have been neglected or excluded from much social, let alone theatrical, experience. In itself, this is tribute to the democratic spirit which sits at the heart of Oily Cart’s glorious, messy and joyful journey across time. It is a theatre for everyone – and there are very few theatre companies that can truly reach everyone – irrespective of ability, age or class.
Design, sound and story are, arguably, the three pillars on which the work is based. This reflects the particular talents of designer Claire de Loon (Amanda Webb), musician Max Reinhardt and director Tim Webb – a triumvirate whose roots sink deep into the UK theatre scene, especially in its more radical incarnations. There is something here, a life-enhancing spirit of anarchy, joy and sheer fun which has survived and resisted the darkening trends from the 1970s to the present planet-threatening days.
The desire to communicate and engage effectively – which should be at the heart of every theatre experience – is apparent in both the philosophy and practice. And we are reminded that theatre is, at its heart, a two-way affair – between the performers and the audience. Making contact and making meaning are here ways of enabling the sheer pleasure of theatre to be experienced regardless of ability or expectation. It’s not misleading to describe the work in these pages as a means of sharing pleasure. Even where the tone or content can be dark, this is a theatre of hope.
As a one-time amateur magician, I always preferred close-up magic to that of the larger stage illusion. This is a philosophy that you will find writ large in each episode of this witty, detailed and example-rich book. It invites us to enjoy the close-up close up.
Tony Graham
Artistic Director of the Unicorn Theatre for 14 years
*
Sensory Theatre 2nd edition
A review by Danny Braverman - July 2026
This is one of the most important books about theatre-making I have read in recent years.
At first glance, Tim Webb's new enhanced second edition of Sensory Theatre appears to be about a specialist field: the pioneering work of Oily Cart in creating theatre with and for disabled children and young people, babies and very young audiences. That description is accurate enough. It is also profoundly misleading.
This is a book about theatre.
More precisely, it is a book about what theatre can become when artists begin not with convention, economics or inherited assumptions, but with one deceptively simple question: What if?
What if a performance takes place in a swimming pool? What if performers and audiences share trampolines? What if touch, smell, vibration, temperature and movement carry as much meaning as words? What if every element of the event - not just the performance itself - is designed around how an audience experiences the world?
Those questions do not belong only to Sensory Theatre. They belong to all of us that make theatre.
I first encountered Tim's work through Oily Cart's extraordinary productions before inviting him to work with my students at Goldsmiths. Few visiting practitioners changed their understanding of theatre so completely. Alongside Dorothy Heathcote, Augusto Boal and Jess Thom (Tourette's Hero), Tim was one of the people who blew a hole in students' assumptions about what theatre is for. Reading this book reminded me why.
One of Webb's greatest qualities is that he wears his expertise lightly. There is no self-mythologising here. Instead, there is generosity: towards collaborators, towards audiences and towards readers. Successes are celebrated, but failures are examined with equal honesty. We discover ideas that simply did not work, assumptions that had to be challenged and productions that taught unexpected lessons. The underlying message is that experimentation is only valuable if artists reflect on it. That openness is refreshing.
It also reflects the spirit of Oily Cart itself. So many conversations about theatre become weighed down by earnestness. Webb's instinct is different. It is playful, mischievous and endlessly curious. His answer to almost every artistic challenge seems to ask again that simple question: What if...?
The result is not novelty for its own sake. It is rigorous artistic practice.
Like the work it describes, the writing is generous and remarkably accessible. Webb has an enviable ability to communicate complex ideas in Plain English without flattening their complexity. Students, practitioners and academics will all find something here. I hope this second edition finds its way onto reading lists in every university and college that teaches theatre. Not because it documents a specialist practice, but because it asks foundational questions about performance itself.
Running through the whole book is a steely focus on audience. Audiences are never passive recipients of meaning. They are active makers of it. Again and again Webb reminds us that theatre is not something deliveredto people, but something createdwith them.
That foundational philosophy challenges so many assumptions about the purpose of performance.
Oily Cart's primary audiences have often been those whom wider society has labelled "impossible": children labelled as PMLD (profound and multiple learning disabilities), autistic children and very young children. Yet nothing in this work feels constrained by those labels. Quite the opposite. What others might perceive as limitations become the source of extraordinary artistic invention.
Perhaps that is why this book has so much to offer theatre-makers working in every context. Webb's concern is never accessibility as an afterthought. Access is not bolted on; it is built into the artistic imagination from the beginning. Every decision - from the scale of the audience to the use of music, light, smell, objects, touch and movement - is shaped by profound respect for those taking part.
The practical advice is consistently fascinating. Webb warns against overwhelming audiences with every possible sensory stimulus, memorably describing the result as the "disco in hell". Like every accomplished dramaturg, he understands that meaning comes not through accumulation but through composition. Reading these chapters, one realises that Sensory Theatre is not theatre with more effects. It is theatre with greater precision.
The attention to detail is astonishing. Whether discussing the chemistry of bubble mixtures, the importance of performers' cleaning their teeth, the dramaturgy of smell, or why a double bass can be experienced as sculpture and vibration as much as music, Webb demonstrates an insatiable curiosity about how human beings experience the world. Nothing is too small to matter if it changes the quality of the encounter.
What surprised me most, however, was how often I found myself thinking not about sensory theatre but about education.
Webb's long partnership with schools reveals something that many of us working in theatre have forgotten. The performance is never an isolated event. Conversations with teachers, preparing the environment, social stories, objects that arrive before the show, carefully designed follow-up activities: these are not educational add-ons. They are part of the experience.
This points towards a bigger idea. We often separate the identities of artist and educator, as though one creates art while the other creates learning. Webb quietly dissolves that distinction. The aesthetic experience is the learning. The theatre-maker becomes an educator not by teaching lessons but by creating experiences through which people encounter themselves, one another and the world differently.
Professor Sir Ken Robinson famously argued that the opposite of aesthetic experience is anaesthetic. If that is true, then this book is a manifesto for waking people up. Everything here is directed towards awakening curiosity, imagination, delight and human connection. In an age when so much of our attention is fragmented and commodified, that feels gently radical.
The final section broadens the picture still further by introducing artists from across the world whose work has been inspired by Oily Cart. What emerges is not a company with followers but a movement. Theatre-makers in Japan, Ireland, Australia, Canada, the UK and elsewhere have not copied Webb's methods; they have inherited his mindset. They continue asking the same wonderfully mischievous question: What if?
One begins to realise that Oily Cart's influence has travelled much further than most of us recognise. Like the pioneering movements in Theatre-in-Education and community theatre from which Webb himself emerged, Sensory Theatre has become a gift by stealth that Britain has contributed to world theatre. Its influence is often hidden because it has spread through practice rather than publicity.
Oily Cart's greatest achievement is not simply the remarkable work it has made, but the imaginations it has liberated. Tim Webb has spent a lifetime asking, What if? This generous, practical and quietly radical book invites the rest of us to ask the same question.
Perhaps that is Oily Cart's greatest legacy. Imagine a pebble dropped into still water. The first ripples are easy to see. As they travel further, they become harder to trace back to their source. Across the world, artists are now making work whose origins can be found in the questions Webb and his collaborators first asked decades ago. Many will never know where those ripples began.
This book makes the source visible once again.
Every serious student of theatre should read it. Every theatre-maker should.
Danny Braverman SFHEA FRSA Winner: 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award for Drama – Music & Drama Educators.