PASSION PROJECT Will Brierly (above) brings interactive events to life. The inimitable Mikhail Baryshnikov (right)
In my other work, I had been gradually building this platform to pull in feeds from Zoom and other platforms to blend together in a 3D space. I wanted to make something where people wouldn’t need to download anything new, or change the way they were doing things.” When Brierly met with director Golyak to brainstorm an approach to chekhovOS , Brierly realised he would have to expand his software system to work with Arlekin theatre tech, incorporating 3D virtual software Aximmetry and an NDI workflow. This went beyond interactive narratives on Zoom, to being a full studio tool able to switch between camera feeds and move a camera around a virtual space. “There were probably eight pieces of software interacting,” says Golyak. “And multiple computers, including one cueing, which interfaced with different pieces of software using OSC commands – telling Will’s software to trigger various actions.” “The fun part,” says Brierly, “is making something super-specific for this show and we’re all learning a great deal. As a game designer, I would be thinking: ‘We need to make something that will trigger all this stuff ‘, and then learning that there is already something in the theatre world to do that. I wish I’d known about that five years ago! When everyone visits each other from their little islands, you learn different things.”
WE’RE MAKING FRIENDS AND STARTING TO ACQUIRE OUR AUDIENCE
REACHING THE WORLD Arlekin’s interactive theatre performances have created a global audience. Golyak has been bowled over by the response. One recent show of chekovOS had viewers in 26 countries. “For a Twitch stream that’s like, obviously – but for a theatre company?” exclaims Golyak. “We’re making friends and starting to acquire our audience; people who push boundaries and are open to things. “I’m 100% sure this genre will stay – and I’m looking to explore a hybrid version, with an in-person show, then another one created for the virtual audience being performed at the same time.” The subject matter for chekhovOS, and the writer ’s world view explored by the piece, was chosen on a whim. Golyak underlines why Chekhov’s was the ideal voice to hear in a very difficult time. “He was ill during his life,” says Golyak. “He was a doctor dying from tuberculosis. That really impacted what he was writing – that we don’t have agency over tuberculosis, or cancer, or a pandemic. How do we exist? How do we survive? How do we be happy? These questions are what Chekhov is about. That’s his operating system.”
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