This site documents a research and development collaboration with the Wardrobe Ensemble theatre group. Supported by the University of Plymouth Enterprise Solutions Fund, and The Bridge, we aimed to develop a new immersive theatre production that combined the possibilities of game engine technologies, virtual production, and media production, with the devised theatre approach that Wardrobe Ensemble uses.
Our research is concerned with the possibilities of using game engines (in our case Unreal) in a performance context, specifically how Unreal might affect: storytelling, immersion, and interaction; and importantly how the ‘real time’ aspect of Unreal makes a difference to these?
The research questions are:
The outcome of the project was both the theatre piece, “Playable Character”, and a creative workflow that focussed on the approach of t(h)inkering. This concept, which combines the concepts of tinkering with thinking, was a strategy to navigate complex technologies in a way that maintained the spirit of devised theatre.
Phase one of this project embedded a researcher to work with Wardrobe Ensemble Theatre group. The results of this phase of the project were written up as a Masters Thesis.