Chaos, and Other Worldly Possessions took a step in that direction before I even started really considering it a direction, but now ... "farther" is the order of the day.
So, what is visceral theater?
"Get out of your fucking head! Now!"
Highly physical theater is visceral theater. Highly theatrical theater is visceral theater. Emotionally explosive theater is visceral theater. Stringently storied theater is visceral theater. Aggressive theater is visceral theater.
Visceral theater says, "it isn't enough that the audience comes in and sees a show. We must make them feel it."
This is a tough trick, because we don't really know where to start. Actors are used to portraying characters. Playwrights are used to telling stories. Directors and designers are used to staging. These are all fair and important skills, but they fall short. If you want the audience to feel, you have to reach inside them and drag them into the process.
It is time to learn how to do this. We need to start mining performance and religious history. We need to scour the social sciences. We must understand marketing and branding. We need to be con artists and magicians. We need to be wanderers and take lessons from sociopaths. We need to become master manipulators.