Experimenting with new technologies, Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) is launching Bocs, a new space dedicated to digital theatre, bringing theatregoers an immersive experience of performances.
Bocs—Welsh for box—is a purpose-built space, and it will open on 27 August.
It is set to be the first space of its kind within the Welsh arts centre, offering a programme of 360-degree films and projections as well as extended reality experiences, including augmented, mixed, and virtual reality.
Bocs will open with a communal VR experience called Ripples of Kindness, which accompanies the well-received stage play The Boy With Two Hearts.
The main space has a capacity ranging from six people for VR experiences to 20 for 360-degree film screenings. There will also be a smaller XR Studio space to host talks and workshops.
David Massey, senior producer at WMC, said immersive experiences offered opportunities to “bring audiences together, challenge ideas and transport you to new worlds”.
He added: “Bocs will showcase and celebrate the best of immersive storytelling in Wales and across the world, intersecting technology, visual art, theatre and music. We hope Bocs will inspire new audiences and intrigue the next generation of story-makers, introducing more people to the immense possibilities of this exciting medium.”
Other productions set to take place this season include Goliath: Playing with Reality, which explores schizophrenia, gaming, and connection and is narrated by Tilda Swinton; LGBTQ+ VR Museum, which is a VR museum dedicated to preserving queer personal histories; and A Signal Across Space, described as the first bilingual Welsh/English 360-degree VR experience.
Words by Eve Davies
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Featured Image Credit: Wales Millennium Centre/Brad Caleb Lee