The tech

It is difficult to know where to start with this, there is so much to say about the tech, I can definitely confirm we had an amazing week developing ideas and exploring how to create this immersive space and immersive audience experience, it was so exciting bringing all the different elements together for this initial period of research, one of the main things I wanted to explore was whether bringing the different elements together would work both artistically and conceptually. Between our own experience exploring this and the audience feedback from the sharing this fusion of disciplines definitely worked and gave the audience a very unique experience of live performance.

We had such an amazing tech team, with reams of professional experience, and who were so invested in the work and the process. Our biggest challenge during the r&d week was time, and we only really touched the surface, there is so much more to explore. The possibilities of immersive tech are mind boggling, and with the right resources and support we will be able to take these initial ideas much further. We are hoping to have a second phase of research and development later this year which will give us the chance to spend much more time on the interaction between the technology and the performers, and to look further at how we use the space.

The project tech team are lighting and visuals designer Ceri James, and digital innovation specialists Robin Moore and Klaire Tanner.

I was really pleased that Robin was able to join the creative team for Gorlwyth, we worked together on the Eye See Ai project with Hijinx, which is where the seeds of this idea began, and was a real learning curve in discovering a whole world of technology I knew very little about. Bringing his expertise to the space Robin looked at exploring and developing integrating the live performance with Augmented Reality technology. Klaire Tanner works at Animated Technologies in North Wales, and again it was just fantastic having her on board and bringing something very different to the table. Klaire spent the week developing Virtual Reality content and looking at how we could integrate this into the work. We worked with the performers, capturing their movements and developing digital characters through animations and AR, realtime 3D and applications using games engines.

We definitely wouldn’t have achieved what we did without lighting designer Ceri James, he has years of professional experience, and despite both of us working in theatre in Wales our paths oddly haven’t crossed before, but I’ve absolutely loved working with him. Ceri transformed the studio space, taking us into a different world, creating depth, and echoing the calm and intense moments of the work beautifully through the visuals and lighting. Having a designer on board not only collaborating artistically but also inputting on the practical elements was invaluable. Working on a concept that is so tech heavy, I needed someone with the knowledge to be able to confirm whether the different ideas we are exploring are possible and feasible in the space and with the resources available, also looking at the development of the work and the potential of touring to different venues and ensuring we are creating work that will work in different venues, so I was really grateful for Ceri’s knowledge and expertise.

Bringing the different elements together right from the start of the process was really important to me, the technology evidently being a huge part of this. It’s interesting as Klaire, Robin and Ceri worked really collaboratively to develop the content and realise the concept, and it was amazing to watch how quickly this developed, and with more time where it could go moving forward.  Working with this kind of cutting-edge tech is so exciting and we have discussed so many possibilities, like the potential of being able to access live performance through VR, or creating a separate pre-recorded strand of the performance to be experienced purely through VR that people could access from home or at virtual hubs. Also looking at the different types of AR tech that offer a myriad of creative approaches, I was really drawn to the visual effects of AR and VR when it was only partially developed, and this is something I’d like to explore further.

Someone asked me when chatting about  the project ‘But was it actually immersive?’ one of our audience members was close by and gave a resounding ‘Yes!’ the best feedback we could have really, especially at this stage of the r&d.

Something I found fascinating was the description of one audience member of their experience, they described finding the overload sections quite intense, sometimes overwhelming, but when we switched into a calmer space, they felt calm and relaxed. Again, for me this is perfect feedback, my aim was to hone in on the senses, to create a space where the audience experience these different states of mind, not just watching an idea, but being actively engaged in what’s happening. This is all about creating work that resonates with people, highlighting the familiar, but turning it on its head and offering a different view, a different perspective. I am interested in the neurophysical response of overload, the impact this has on us in our lives daily, but then how this works when you carry it through into immersive performance, the virtual space echoing our real space.

So much to think about! But without further ado please enjoy this video which offers a snapshot of some of the research and development process, with a new digital soundtrack created by composer David Westcott.

Thank you to Klaire for putting this edit together.

This project was funded by Arts Council Wales and National Lottery funding and supported by Pontio Arts and Innovation Centre.