Welcome to Script Insights! Ever wonder what goes on in the mind of a playwright? In this series, you get a rare and exciting opportunity to hear directly from the authors themselves. Each article offers personal insights from the playwright, giving you a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process, character motivations, and thematic explorations that bring their scripts to life.
Below, you’ll find a downloadable blog post offering valuable insights directly from the author of Inner Sanctum. The downloaded PDF also includes supplemental classroom activities to help you connect the play’s themes and characters with your students.
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Addicted to the Void: Descent into Virtual Madness in Inner Sanctum
D. P. Roberts
We live in a world where people are increasingly immersed in virtual spaces, losing themselves in the compelling, carefully constructed realities of video games. But what if that immersion took a dangerous turn? That question drove the creation of Inner Sanctum, a play where characters, deeply embedded in the game Necronomicon, are drawn into a nightmare that blurs the lines between their virtual world and their real lives.
The concept of video game addiction has always fascinated me—how these digital landscapes are built to pull you in and, in some cases, it feels impossible to escape... In Inner Sanctum, I wanted to push that idea to its extreme. The Necronomicon game isn’t just an addictive escape; it’s a doorway to an insidious dimension. As the players become more invested in the game, they start to lose their grip on reality, becoming pawns in an evil corporate plot for world domination. In a way, this mirrors the real-world struggles of gaming addiction, which is driven by tech companies, where players can become so consumed by their digital lives that their perception of the physical world becomes distorted.
Video games are designed to reward the player, to keep them coming back for more with carefully timed dopamine hits. In the play, I wanted to explore how these mechanics can be manipulated—not just to keep players hooked but to control them in more profound ways. The characters aren’t just losing themselves to the game; they’re losing their autonomy, as their obsession with Necronomicon becomes a means for darker forces to gain control over their minds. The game itself is a vehicle for something far more sinister, and that’s where the horror of Inner Sanctum lies.
The more we engage with technology, the more we risk losing control over our own minds. Are we becoming too reliant on these virtual spaces? Are we giving away pieces of ourselves to the companies and creators behind them? In Inner Sanctum, the answer is terrifyingly clear.
What fascinates me about cosmic horror is the notion that there are forces so incomprehensible that human minds simply can’t process them. In Inner Sanctum, I wanted to create a similar sense of dread, but within the digital realm. The digital universe—limitless, sprawling, and full of potential—is, in its own way, a kind of terrifying cosmic void. It’s a space that promises infinite exploration, yet it also harbors the unknown. In the play, the virtual world of Necronomicon becomes that void, a place where characters think they’re in control but are actually at the mercy of something much larger and more malevolent. The game is not just a program—it’s a cosmic labyrinth where the further you go, the more you lose your grip on what is real.
One of the most exciting parts of writing Inner Sanctum was blending this modern fear of technology addiction with the elements of cosmic horror. I’ve always been fascinated by Lovecraftian horror—the idea of forces so vast and unknowable that they dwarf human comprehension. In the play, Necronomicon is not just a game, but a portal to something far bigger, darker, and more ancient than the players can understand. The game’s addictive power becomes a tool for these cosmic forces to infiltrate the players' lives, taking advantage of their weakness, their need to escape, and their inability to resist.