What I leaned from the VR LAB at TOMTECH 2017

Thoughts on Virtual and Augmented Reality

- Beta Public at Camden People's theatre.

- Walking past those odd event things in at Waterloo train station.

- The underlying feeling that the future is happening and I have no idea whether I can keep up with it

- Pokemon Go

The above list is pretty much everything, until two days ago I thought I knew about Virtual and Augmented reality.

Now, my mind is a piece of mush. Mainly because I've stared at my computer for two days solidly whilst trying to learn an advanced piece of tech as part of Brighton’s Old Market Tech Lab but also at the realisation that VR & AR isn't the future, it's very much the present and the possibilities within theatre and art are not only countless but hugely exciting.

Simon, a digital and theatre artist and creator of Circa 69, also our expert workshop leader told us some pretty interesting industry shaping stats when it came to participation, audience satisfaction and age brackets of future audiences for theatre vs gaming. Further evidence of experience theatre being more popular than ever and gaming's provision of interactive structures fitting so well it's no surprise this is the new realm of experimental theatre/experiences.

The best thing was that virtual reality designing wasn't impossible to learn. If you have a bit of tech know how via Photoshop, Sketchup, Blender or After Effects then it's not so far outside the ball park. Also, there's no coding involved (although the more complex stuff does involve some script) and like Sketchup, there is an asset store, full of all manner of objects, effects and textures other designers have created that you can load into your world. Best of all there's a vibrant community continually evolving and sharing. Someone once told me that the difference between a hipster and a geek is that when a new person gets involved with their passion, a hipster will jealously say that they were fans first but a geek will be excited that there's someone new to join the fun. Consider Unity (the games making software we learned) geek central.

A VR landscape

I got very excited about the proximity triggered audio files and Playmaker software meaning you can create an experience where the world around you behaves with its own personality & seemingly inanimate objects have their own rules. Unity is also compatible with most other design software meaning you can make it look good in photoshop and bring it into your virtual world. In principle and with the right kit, you can even give a VR tour round a sketch up set design.

But it’s augmented reality that feels a bit less alien for a theatre designer like me to get my head around. It's implications for marketing, in particular, are very easy to see. Jessica my workshop buddy and I dreamt up the potential of the Edinburgh Fringe app being not only not shit but also having an AR feature where hovering your phone camera over a poster could bring you the trailer for the show, or reviews, or a giant CGI arrow that shows you which direction the venue is.

Augmented Realities potential relationship with performance is where we get into the relatively undiscovered territory. Motion capture is understandably the most theatrical cross over, that and the escape room/installation format where you can embed deeper character worlds in AR pop ups. Think of it like Pokemon go, except instead you catch a letter written by the character three years ago that makes you realise why they stole the jar of peanut butter* earlier in the story (*playwrights: this is a yet to be written show, don't all rush at once). But what strikes me is that finding extra character and story info via your phone feels like the most obvious use of the medium, on it's very much already in use. Experimental theatre ought to be harder than that. We are also on the very quick decent in terms of our reaction to the tech, starting at 'omg isn't that amazing' and ending very quickly with 'oh yeah, it pops up, my 10 year old showed me that on Snap Chat two years ago'. So more than anything content and use of the tech in theatre needs to be worthwhile beyond the initial gimmick.There is a reason we all stopped playing Pokemon Go, and a reason we still go to theatre.

It's a bit like fusion cooking. Sometimes it's a whole new world of possibilities, sometimes it's a disappointing sales ploy. If theatre wants to break new ground and into a new/younger audience bracket then creating work where audiences need to get a phone out and download an app to then experience a screen showing you something a prop maker can make just as well mustn’t become a barrier to an experience or to a feeling, but act as an amplifier.

The other issue is cost. Oculus Rift plus the laptop with the power to support it will see requirements into the £1000's. Samsung gear is the achievable budget version, but it's lack off horsepower means 3D visuals need to be simplified and 'baked' (a process in which the computer solidifies shadow into the decoration rather than allowing it to react responsively to any source of light in the room) in order to work, meaning the effects lool less realistic. Simon was optimistic about the ability to create experiences on Gear that weren't prohibitively expensive, but we didn't get into it enough for me to say with any certainty that I could do a show for 15 participants on a 15k ACE bid for example. I'd still very much like to have that conversation.

The tourability of the work does, however, scream opportunity. I did always breathe a little easier when I heard at one of the SBTD Value of Design talks that creativity is the one thing Artificial Intelligence can't recreate, thinking that a robot isn't going to take my job away from me anytime soon, but this kind of robot has a master who can tour a show in a suitcase, and doesn't ever need to order anything from flints.

An AG Sun triggered by a sketch

The potential for cross pollination between tech and theatre is rich. Whilst you might need a really good idea involving the equipment to deliver a story better than the classical format, if you were to create an installation that was informative as it was beautiful, and partnered with an org or charity hoping for actual learning alongside emotive content, I can see AR immediately having a way into young tech savvy minds. This is already in practice in commerce with companies like IKEA using augmented reality to show you what their new chair might look like in your living room. For once it feels like companies aren’t copying the artist so much as utilising the technology better for their purposes. Theatre sits neatly in the outlier position with young companies like Bloc Stop and Curious Directive being some of the first to be really playful.

The hardest thing about realising the potential of this medium in theatre is that it's very difficult to dream what hasn't been created yet when the medium is so complex even it doesn't even know its own potential. As always the story ought to come first, and if VR and AR can get a story to an audience in a unique way that a traditional production can't then it's a worthwhile investment, but like any experimental show, it needs research and development opportunities to find these ways in.

There are already some really exciting companies exploring this brave new world. With any luck, there will be many more.