A Radical Leap Forward for Bristol Old Vic At Home
1 Apr 2021
Bristol Old Vic At Home announces radical leap forward with invention of immersive Actual Reality performances.
In a stark new chapter for the Digital Theatre industry, Bristol Old Vic has announced it will break with established conventions and usher in a new digital theatre era with a brand new technology: Actual Reality.
Director of User Experience and Jargon, Izzie de Tösser, says "we're taking immersion and audio-visual fidelity to the next level with this revolutionary new technology. With Actual Reality (patent pending), you have the potential to feel as if you're not at home, not sat in front of a screen, not ignoring your husband and kids and not just waiting until you can go to sleep to make it all stop. No, Actual Reality brings the virtual-you right into the real world, on an immersive rollercoaster of sights, smells and human feelings."
This suite of groundbreaking technologies uses a platform known as 'Stãge', and replaces now-ubiquitous virtual actors with what Bristol Old Vic are calling 'A.C.T.O.R.S' (Actual Connection To Our Real Senses). The organisation's Head of Excitement and Laughter, Anton Roffle, says "A.C.T.O.R.S on Stãge have the potential to really improve the user experience, delivering audio and visuals straight into your ears and eyes, no complicated input-output required. This has resulted in at least 10% better performance. A.C.T.O.R.S have been programmed using advanced scripts, written by expert coders we call 'writers', who are focused on giving you a user experience almost as good as sitting in your garden with five others."
Bristol Old Vic hopes to roll out Actual Reality in beta from Apr 12. Full rollout hopefully to be completed by June 21 (provided no bugs get in the way).
Bristol Old Vic is the longest continuously running theatre in the UK, and celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2016. The historic playhouse aims to inspire audiences with its own original productions, both at home and on tour, whilst nurturing the next generation of artists, whether that be through their 350-strong Young Company, their many outreach and education projects or their trailblazing artist development programme, Bristol Ferment.
They use their funding to support experiment and innovation, to allow access to their programme for people who would not otherwise encounter it, or be able to afford it, and to keep their extraordinary heritage alive and animated.
On 24 Sep 2018, Bristol Old Vic completed its 2-year multi-million pound redevelopment project, which transformed its front of house space into a warm and welcoming public building for all of Bristol to enjoy, created a new studio theatre and opened up its unique theatrical heritage to the public for the first time.