A Brave New World Of Theatre
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Mumbai Theatre Guide
Jan 28, 2026, 4:45:14 AM (7 days ago) Jan 28
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Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Dear Reader,
A Brave New World Of Theatre
Watching a play on screen is almost accepted now, but Adrian Horton, reports in The Guardian, about a mixed reality show, at The Shed in New York, where "attendees wearing enhanced glasses are witnessing an experimental new play where actors appear in video form."
In this futuristic form of theatre, he writes, "Through your enhanced glasses, you see four empty chairs facing you, just out of reach. You watch strangers look out for the actors to arrive. As they do, one at a time, you feel unsettled – each locks eyes with you, specifically. "Don't panic," the esteemed British actor Ian McKellen assures you, as the actors take their seats.
"Except the actors are not there, really – McKellen, along with co-stars Golda Rosheuvel, Arinzé Kene and Rosie Sheehy, appears in AN ARK, a new play at the Shed, in video form, a nearly opaque specter overlaid on the candy-apple red carpeting and crisp white walls of the theater and the outlines of your 180 or so fellow audience members. The experimental new play, written almost entirely in the second person by Simon Stephens (whose most recent show, the Andrew Scott-starring VANYA, wowed audiences at the Lucille Lortel theater last year), is one of the first so-called "mixed reality" shows staged in New York, blending physical experience with digital elements. Over 47 minutes, the actors address you, the viewer, directly. Their gaze remains trained on you. Don't panic, they repeatedly assure."
It is not to be confused with Virtual Reality. The show's producer, Todd Eckert, explains, "The reason that this is an experience without a screen, that we're using this technology that not a lot of other people are using, is because you see each other and you see the room. Your experience is one of being connected – that's the whole point of the story."
Now we wait while the rest of the world catches up!
A Brave New World Of Theatre
Watching a play on screen is almost accepted now, but Adrian Horton, reports in The Guardian, about a mixed reality show, at The Shed in New York, where "attendees wearing enhanced glasses are witnessing an experimental new play where actors appear in video form."
In this futuristic form of theatre, he writes, "Through your enhanced glasses, you see four empty chairs facing you, just out of reach. You watch strangers look out for the actors to arrive. As they do, one at a time, you feel unsettled – each locks eyes with you, specifically. "Don't panic," the esteemed British actor Ian McKellen assures you, as the actors take their seats.
"Except the actors are not there, really – McKellen, along with co-stars Golda Rosheuvel, Arinzé Kene and Rosie Sheehy, appears in AN ARK, a new play at the Shed, in video form, a nearly opaque specter overlaid on the candy-apple red carpeting and crisp white walls of the theater and the outlines of your 180 or so fellow audience members. The experimental new play, written almost entirely in the second person by Simon Stephens (whose most recent show, the Andrew Scott-starring VANYA, wowed audiences at the Lucille Lortel theater last year), is one of the first so-called "mixed reality" shows staged in New York, blending physical experience with digital elements. Over 47 minutes, the actors address you, the viewer, directly. Their gaze remains trained on you. Don't panic, they repeatedly assure."
It is not to be confused with Virtual Reality. The show's producer, Todd Eckert, explains, "The reason that this is an experience without a screen, that we're using this technology that not a lot of other people are using, is because you see each other and you see the room. Your experience is one of being connected – that's the whole point of the story."
Now we wait while the rest of the world catches up!
"Theatre should be a taxing experience: the greatest achievement of a writer is to produce a character who creates anxiety."
Howard Barker
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