Is this an avatar I see before me? Audience takes to stage in virtual Shakespeare play
Playhouses may be dark, but the Royal Shakespeare Company is to bring immersive theatre to audiences wherever they are in the world by combining revolutionary virtual reality and video games technologies with traditional live performances.
Real-time animation will be created by actors interacting with a live audience, who will in turn influence a story inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Mischievous Puck and his fellow fairies will be conjured up by actors whose every movement will be translated by cutting-edge technology into virtual avatars that mirror them as extraordinary creatures.
In a pioneering project, to be announced tomorrow, specialists from the worlds of theatre, music and gaming have shared their expertise, developing a “prototype” that could be adopted for future live performances.
Headed by the RSC, the project’s key players include the Philharmonia Orchestra, Marshmallow Laser Feast, virtual reality creators, and Epic Games, developers of the Unreal Engine video games software.
Dream is an “Audience of the Future Demonstrator” project, part of the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. It will be performed between 12 and 20 March. Audiences can either buy a £10 ticket, to interact directly, or view the performance passively for free. Tickets will be available via dream.online
See the full story here: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/feb/07/is-this-an-avatar-i-see-before-me-audience-takes-to-stage-in-virtual-shakespeare-play