Going to the theatre will be like nothing you’ve experienced before. This digital innovation in arts and culture, with a little help from new technologies, will take you to a different dimension thanks to VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality) and MR (mixed reality). Different kinds of special effects, designed to improve audience experience, have been around probably since the very beginning of storytelling and theatre. Some may seem funny and primitive to us now, but all of them had the same goal: to bring the story closer to us. With the use of new technologies, it seems as if we’ve never been closer to the story and felt like being a part of it. Watching a play or listening to an orchestra will become a completely new experience as these new and emerging technologies find their way into theaters, bringing the theater closer to us. 

The National Theatre of London - Great Britain, opened in 1963, launched The Immersive Storytelling Studio in 2016 to find out how innovative technologies can benefit both the theatre and the audience, using AR and VR.  Using these new technologies and other emerging ones will provide a wide range of possibilities to writers, directors, designers and just about anyone who wants to take part in this. It will create new genres and change the perception we have about storytelling. It will also make way for new forms of performance and, with the overall development of the technology, influence the development of culture as well. This creative use of innovative technologies will result in new opportunities and everyone is invited to join.  

With a more personalized approach, it will add new dimensions to the audience’s theatre experience.  A step forward, or in the direction of developing creative technologies with all these innovations, is the full theatre experience from the comfort of your home, or just about wherever you prefer. The company LIVR is the world’s 1st virtual reality streaming service for theatre and performing arts. It is cheap and simple. All you need is an app, smartphone and headset distributed from the company. This creates a limitless audience capacity and, once again, shows how innovations are breaking the boundaries and reshaping the way we think and live.

This new concept also has educational potential since the number of students attending theatres has been decreasing. Using VR, AR and MR technologies, students can now not only have access to multiple plays and performances, but also experience them in a more profound manner. And all that from the comfort of their classroom. And maybe a couple of years down the road, this could also eradicate/transform/revolutionize the education system in general, as classes could be held in a similar manner using these technologies. Pioneers are already working on such things and, who knows, maybe in the future the whole classroom will look like nothing we are able to imagine now.

Thanks to innovations like these, theatre and performing arts are having a big comeback. It also makes us wonder how these innovative technologies could be implemented in our businesses to make them more efficient and up-to-date with current trends, and even stay a step ahead. If you are looking into new ways of improving your business, Innovation Cloud is the perfect partner for you. Contact us and let’s start innovating together!