The tempest was written to show of the theatre technology of shakespeare’s day, the rsc set out to do the same in 2016.  The text and performer are the focus of the action, we use video to build prospero’s magical world out from that point, without turning it into a computer game.  Painted sky’s rush by, hockney like corn fields fill the space and aurora borealis gently floats through the space, all with the character of ariel being rendered live on stage, driven by live motion capture. 

The show uses a mixture of video mapping, video tracking and live motion capture to build this world.  There have been many shows that have had a great deal of project throughout, tempest is not new in that front, but what is exceptional about the production is how the massive video worlds we created on stage are all driven from the character of ariel, they grow and build themselves in front of you and he as a character/video creation is part of those, and it is all very carefully balanced not to detract from the performers on stage.

27 projectors, 4 x d3 media serves, 32 3d meshes, 10km of cabling, 2 tb of play back content and 1 motion capture suit all work together to create the tempest.

Creatives

Directed by Gregory Doran

Production Design by Stephen Brimson Lewis

Lighting: Simon Spencer

Digital character: The Imaginarium Studios

Video Department

Systems Engineer - George Jarvis and Sam Jeffs

Programmer - Ingi Bekk

Remount Assosiate - Leo Flint

Animation - Adam Young and Ash Woodward

Photo credit - IBM