Dream

Aim

Dream is a ground-breaking new mixed reality production which aims to deliver a new interpretation of Shakespeare’s world in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and create an entirely new channel for theatre by using motion capture and immersive technologies in the performance.

Summary

Virtual, augmented and mixed reality offer under-exploited opportunities for the UK cultural sector to make live performances more immersive. In this project, the consortium of partners, executed by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), will explore live performance and the future of real-time immersive performance across multiple platforms in a new production inspired by the world of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Audiences will no longer be bound by their location; the project will use devices such as mobile phones and extended reality (XR) headsets to stream into a live performance environment, or in the home.
Working in partnership with Magic Leap, Intel and Epic Games, and specialist companies such as Vicon and FBFX, the consortium will develop models for live performance that focus on the future needs of audiences. This R&D work will lead to a main demonstrator performance at the heart of the RSC’s autumn 2021 programme.
This will broaden the possibilities of live performance, from current digital broadcast to a mass distributed digital model on multiple platforms. Audiences will connect with the performance live, wherever their location, celebrating the strengths of digital connectivity and establishing a high quality live performance to be enjoyed in a variety of ways around the world.
Talking about the collaboration, RSC Artistic Director Gregory Doran said: “Some of the best brains in the creative industries and research sector will work together in this unique collaboration looking at the future potential of live performance and what that means for the industry, the creative sector and audiences around the world. Every partner has something different to offer through their work with immersive technologies and live performance, and the potential to deliver an experience for audiences that has never seen before is hugely exciting.”

Target Audience

Theatre goers, the general public
Tourists, the tourism industry
The arts and entertainment sector

Outcome

The Dream consortium is creating a spectacular narrative experience that can be viewed on various digitised platforms in real time, and will continue to inspire audiences despite restrictions from the pandemic.
The location based experience, which was scheduled to launch in Stratford Upon Avon in June 2020, did not occur as a result of COVID-19 and the closure of theatres and public spaces. Instead, the Dream consortium and advisory group used this time to conduct research which would guide next steps of the project, and create a new vision that is compatible with changing circumstances.
As a result, the Dream consortium are now planning to deliver a magical narrative experience, based on a Midsummer Night’s Dream, which can be viewed across multiple digital platforms in real time.
The performance will still be able to be viewed by a live audience, exploring the intersection between live performance, immersive media and connected virtual spaces and threading together the timelessness of Shakespeare’s artistic vision with the futuristic capabilities of AR and MR.

Contact

Richard Adams

Applications

Content – AR, Content – MR, Content – XR, Content – Soundscape, audio, music, Content – theatre, film & video, Content – special effects, Content – animation & graphics, Tech – VR/AR headsets, Infrastructure – 5g, Capture & scanning – volumetric