Virtual Dream Reality Check: A Case of Interactive Digital Theatre from the Royal Shakespeare Company

Autor: Gabrielle Lennox, Hannah Mason
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Body, Space & Technology Journal, Vol 21, Iss 1 (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1470-9120
DOI: 10.16995/bst.7967
Popis: The proliferation of digital theatre signals a new era of theatrical experiences. The Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) Dream is a recent example of how theatre companies are integrating cutting-edge technology to revolutionise their performances. Emerging from the Audience of the Future (AF) program, Dream combined gaming and theatre technology to create a virtual world for audiences to inhabit and explore digitally. The production incorporated motion-capture technology and Virtual Reality (VR) headsets, allowing seven actors to perform live from a purpose-built studio while audiences simultaneously accessed their performance from a compatible device via a bespoke website(https://dream.online). The resulting experience combined live and virtual performance elements to connect global audiences. This venture into technologically enhanced theatre, however, raises questions about the potential implications of audience engagement with digital productions. In this paper, we question how RSC's Dream combined both live and virtual theatre experiences to offer a more interactive viewing experience. We argue that while Dream signalled an exciting step in the development of digital theatre, the interactive features revealed some discrepancies between RSC's goals and the degree of involvement delivered. We thus contend that for theatre organisations to incorporate digital technologies, they must tend to the nuances of technological interventions and weave them seamlessly with theatrical elements to retain the fidelity of the theatre experience.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals