Immersive Theatre and Theatre Delicatessen

I am continuing my little exploration into the divide between the audience and the actor.  I've been doing some reading on the work of Theatre Delicatessen, and found an interview by Charlotte Skeoch for Huffington Post with Roland Smith.  What intrigued me most in his responses, was this:

"For us, immersive theatre means immersing the audience in the world of the play. Key to this idea, however, is that the audience remain audience and performers remain performers. If the audience are present in the barracks, alongside the other squaddies, they will relate to King Henry in a different way to if they were seeing him from the stalls through a proscenium arch. You can't escape from the action, as it surrounds and engulfs you - and that is why it is so exciting."

 I like the idea of being engulfed by the action, but even beyond the proscenium arch, if the writing/direction/acting is good enough, an audience can still feel engulfed by what they see.  I will never forget Edward Bennett stepping on the Novello stage as Hamlet in 2009 to begin the "To be or not to be?" speech, and before even uttering a word, held the entire audience as if on a wisp of his breath.  He didn't need to move or speak for us to feel immersed in the play.  And, it is here that I begin to see that the whole stage, auditorium, foyer, bar and building are devoted to that silence, the invisible connection between actor and audience that tells the story of a play.  For me, this is what defines a great play, immersive or not: it is when it allows this silence to happen.