A team from Art-A-Hack™ Summer 2016

“To Be With Hamlet” is a live theater performance experienced in virtual reality. The project was incubated at Art-A-Hack and went on to be featured in the 2017 Tribeca Immersive in New York.

In the experience, audience members wear the HTC Vive headset immersing themselves in an intimate experience with Hamlet, Shakespeare’s dramatic masterpiece. Once inside the VR theater, audiences walk the battlements of Elsinore Castle with Hamlet as he confronts the ghost of his murdered father.

What makes this project unique is that it is performed live with an actor in the virtual space so both the participant and actor are aware of each other’s presence.

During Art-A-Hack 2016, the Hamlet VR team created an initial prototype of what would become a full live performance. They used the motion capture (Mocap) studio at NYU Tandon’s School of Engineering. Art-A-Hack partnered with the school during its 2016 season.

The team’s largest challenge was learning how to translate a classic theater experience into virtual reality, which has a new set of dynamics to consider. Another major concern was working out how to make the Mocap environment work within the constrained “viewing space” of the Vive.

A prototype was developed and demonstrated for visitors at the final Art-A-Hack 2016 showcase. This work-in-progress is a unique experience, and is intended for development to attract the interest of theatre and film producers. The team has explained that this will be the first piece of its kind in the world.

The team has published extensive documentation of the project and published other media and information on the Hamlet VR website.