All in all

Screen on screen, on screen

It’s been a compelling week.

So after a week being in a real room with real people being augmented by XR tech where are we at?

Major observations:

-I’ve loved the new perspectives via viewpoints this new immersive technology presents. Being able to access positions, insight, data or detail is insightful and creates new ways to experience not only Shakespeare but live performance.

-Might this form of tech to create backdrops or worlds in which the audience are immersed work better on more fantastical plays like The Tempest. It seems crazy to attempt to create a really real world which your already in, in augmented reality, when you could just been in the real world – your already in. The tech needs to do something, be of service, not dressing.

-Performers need to be kept up to date with the tech and the rules of performing with it, where can they stand, where can and cannot they stand or move too when in an augmented world where what they might be seeing on headsets is not what the audience see.

-Forgiving what’s real Vs requiring imagination – when experiencing graphics via the tech or real things – they just don’t actually look as real as the real thing – so when you don’t believe the tech, you don’t believe the world or actors. I liken it to when you see a period specific play and great care has been taken to make sure it’s played in period costume, in a period specific set and lighting conditions, but they couldn’t get period shoes, so go to H&M. You don’t believe the actors because you don’t believe the world the shows creators have asked you to believe in.

-Access – Mixed reality could be a game changer for access audiences – creative captioning for example could be terrific here. But a note of caution; certain devices prove quite in accessible!!!

-And finally – audience expectation of augmented / virtual reality – I imagine it would be quite hard to manage this depending on your target audience and their experience of it – but I’m really intrigued to put that to the test!

My thanks to major collaborator Adam Lenson and our Producer Gavin Harrington-Odedra for their persistent and relentless quest to test, and performers Jamie O’Neill, Mylo McDonald and Jordan Peedall for embracing being virtual guinea pigs with pernach, specificity, energy, passion and forensic detail at the same time as playing generals in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar war scenes of Act 4, and grateful for the wonderful & fruitful observations and conversations of Michael Shufro.

So, all in all – fascinating. Ready to for the next step in our investigation.

Ricky Dukes - Director