Introduction to Augmented Reality Drama
An inter-disciplinary team of researchers has delivered a creative experiment that enabled individuals to experience Samuel Beckett in Augmented Reality (AR) for the primary time. This pioneering production of AR drama reimagined Beckett’s ground-breaking theatrical text, Play (1963), for digital culture. The project reinterprets Beckett’s classic modernist text in a way that’s engaging for twenty first Century audiences, by utilizing cutting-edge interactive digital media technologies.
The Technology Behind the Experiment
Guests activated the characters into speaking just by them. This technological artwork acknowledged the brand new condition of energetic audiences and recognised latest opportunities for narrative, by affording audiences a central role within the story. The characters – recorded using world-leading technology for volumetric video content creation, developed by V-SENSE and Volograms – were displayed using Magic Leap’s AR headset.
Honoring Beckett’s Legacy
Assistant Professor in Drama Studies at Trinity College Dublin, Nicholas Johnson, said: Samuel Beckett was not only a terrific playwright, novelist, and poet: he was a big figure within the analogue media of the 20th century – writing for radio, television, and film – at all times innovating and adapting his own works in each latest field that he touched. We honour his radically experimental legacy by continuing to research his works through contemporary creative technologies, and to explore what his ideas might mean in twenty-first century digital culture.
The Impact of Volumetric Video
Science Foundation Ireland Research Professor of Creative Technologies at Trinity, Aljosa Smolic, said: Volumetric video is a novel type of digital media that permits latest types of interactive and immersive storytelling, resembling our reinterpretation of Samuel Beckett in augmented reality. The project allows us to explore the interplay between cutting-edge technology and immediate use for creative art.
The Project’s Milestones
Augmented Play is the third and final a part of a two-year practice-based research trilogy, wherein the text has been reinterpreted for 1) webcast (Intermedial Play), 2) virtual reality (Virtual Play) and, now, 3) augmented reality (AR). Augmented Play presented a ground-breaking milestone for V-SENSE, a number one computer science research group at Trinity; Volograms, a domestic SME leading VR, AR and Mixed Reality technologies for the creative cultural industries; and the Trinity Centre for Beckett Studies based on the Trinity Long Room Hub, whose partnership was pivotal within the production, translation and dramaturgical direction of Beckett’s play.
Conclusion
The Augmented Play project has successfully reimagined Samuel Beckett’s Play for the twenty first Century, using cutting-edge AR technology to have interaction audiences in a brand new and modern way. This project has not only honored Beckett’s legacy but has also pushed the boundaries of what is feasible on this planet of digital media and storytelling. As technology continues to evolve, it’s going to be exciting to see how other classic works are reinterpreted and reimagined for brand spanking new audiences.
Media Contact
Thomas Deane, Media Relations Officer | deaneth@tcd.ie | +353 1 896 4685
