A VR Journey: PXR 2024 is Here
Virtual Reality has been on the rise as a new medium in the theatre industry for a few years now, but is it ready to take the forefront? Last weekend I had the honour of attending the 2024 PXR Conference for the second year running. This time around, I attended Journey to Octopulis: Improv or Die, hosted by Unknown Theater, and Mary Shelley Lives Here, hosted by Hummingbird Interactive. Both shows take place in a virtual environment where audience members control an avatar and view the performance through the avatar’s lens. I was able to get my hands on a Meta Quest 2 to watch the shows in Virtual Reality (VR), but all shows are accessible on a personal computer or laptop.
I attended Unknown Theater’s comedy show last year and absolutely loved it. This year, I enjoyed it once again, though it felt quite different. In Journey to Octopulis, there is an overarching backstory explained by the organizers (Rodney Ramsey, Mandy Canales, Dan Derkson) portraying citizens of Octopulis (or Octopeople) in the VR environment. The world of Octopulis is very well crafted. First, audiences head off to an island at night—Octopulis Island. There is a nice dock at the edge of the island, a giant boulder in the middle, and a stage on the left side of the island. The predetermined backstory is that the Octopeople hate humans (the audience) and we need to prove ourselves through comedy to survive. In the first part of the show, Octopeople perform improv games on the outside stage, using audience interaction. This first part is extremely engaging and was my favourite of the night. The Octopeople then offered the stage to audience members so we could join if we wanted to “prove ourselves”. But be warned, if we weren’t funny, then they would eat us… Well, that’s what we were told. I loved this—it felt much less scary to participate in VR rather than in real life as I was masked behind my virtual character.
After some time, audiences are ushered inside the comedy club which is a compelling and very beautiful environment. We were teleported inside the boulder which acted as the comedy club. It is a cool environment, looking as if we’re inside a rock with ridged rock walls and a dark atmosphere. Two comedians (Jordan Cerminara, Violet Gray) perform individual sets, both humorous in their own ways as they touch on topics such as the US election, life with kids, etc. As stated before, I saw a version of this show last year and I specifically enjoyed how the performers were able to use technology and the unique VR environment we were in to enhance the comedy club experience. For example, comedians were flying around or changing their avatars for a punchline. The use of the VR environment was somewhat applied in this 2024 show during the improv game section, but once we got to the comedians’ sets, they were just performing their routines. They were funny with well-constructed jokes, but if I am watching a comedy show in VR, I want the performances to be distinctly different from something I would see in reality and use the VR technology to be unique.
Let’s now get into Mary Shelley Lives Here. This show is a VR experience inspired by Mary Shelley’s book The Last Man. The story takes place in a dystopian world where climate change and war have plagued it, and the people who live there are too concerned with their own lives to care about their world.
Before the show commenced, we were sent to a room with a wall of 2D character faces. These were specifically characters in Mary Shelley’s story. They were all humans, unique with their own style. We were asked to each choose one distinct character. I chose one that looked like me but there were characters of different races and genders to pick from and you could choose whoever you wanted to from the cast of characters. After choosing, our avatar would change and we would look like said character. We were then transported to a fascinating environment; one of the most visually beautiful environments I have been in in VR (World Build by Max Beffert). It is an island full of maple trees in the fall with leaves dropping around us. The sun would also rise and set every few minutes, creating captivating sunsets and sunrises.
The narrator (Jedidjah Julia Noomen) begins to tell the story and I loved how the audience is part of the storytelling. We were all characters and when something happened to one of us, we would try and act it out. The story is also a fairly interesting tale of death and learning to start a new life alone, but the part that I loved was how each audience member personified someone in Mary Shelley’s life. I also appreciated that the environment represented her island, living alone, being “The Last Man” in this messed up world.
Along with the beautiful environment, the narrator does a stellar job of guiding the audience through this heartbreaking story. The emotion in her voice highlighted the emotion of the story in a beautiful way.
I believe this show depicts the enormous potential of storytelling in VR. It is incredibly immersive and fun to be a part of. Although I appreciated the environment, I think the next step would be to bring audiences to the environments that are being talked about. For example, if the narrator is speaking about being on a boat across the English Channel, it would be amazing to be teleported to a virtual boat in the middle of the water. I know this would be very hard to do and would need a lot of time and people to complete, but this show is a fantastic start to creating immersive storytelling in VR.
Attending Journey to Octopulis: Improv or Die and Mary Shelley Lives Here as part of the 2024 PXR Conference was an incredible experience. Both shows are beautifully immersive and highlight the strides VR has taken over the past few years. I do not however think VR is ready to take the forefront of the theatre industry given the newness of the technology and I don’t know if it ever will. The sublime sensation of watching a performance live and in-person is a feeling that is impossible to recreate. With that being said, this conference has shown the medium’s vast potential and I am excited to see where it goes from here.
The 2024 PXR Conference runs until November 17, 2024. More information can be found here. Find more details about ‘Journey to Octopulis: Improv or Die’ and ‘Mary Shelley Lives Here’ here.
