Circus in a Bottle (Review)
It’s so exciting to see how many new shows are blending new technology with good old fashioned storytelling. Over lockdown we saw the rise of Zoomsperiences and remote shows, in London we have VR embedded in live shows and augmented reality (AR) app experiences, and then there’s the Metaverse… don’t get me started.
Circus in a Bottle falls into the ‘embedded into live show’ category and was created by Trajectory Theatre, whose stated aim is “advancing public appreciation of the immersive digital arts”. In a nutshell, it was a presentation of famous circus acts (real) from the perspective of ‘The Barker’ (fictional) with the help of a digital assistant who actually performed the death-defying feats (AR).
The Barker grew up in the Circus but didn’t perform as he inherited none of his family’s skills. Nevertheless he presents the impressive acts. There is a gentle narrative arc with a somewhat complex father-son relationship but I’m going to admit I didn’t quite follow it because I was so enraptured by the tech.
I am no stranger to AR and VR, but I found it difficult to contain my unbridled joy when I first had the Magic Leap goggles on and saw beautifully clear 3D imagery pop up onto the table. The assistant was adorable, mildly interactive and we were genuinely concerned about it’s safety when it was attempting feats (there was a hairy moment that involved fire - yikes). It’s really impressive tech that created an engaging shared experience between all six of the audience members.
Unfortunately, the tech was so exciting all on its own that it difficult to pay attention to the ‘real-life’ element. If there is a key challenge in AR, balancing the audiences attention between the real-world and the tech world is it. Remember people walking into lamposts while playing Pokemon Go when it first came out?
I think there’s quite a lot of scope for it to develop and improve on this point as delivery and timing between storyline and tech improve and potentially, the audience get more used to AR. We will probably in a few years be over the hump of novelty and the tech will sit in the background more, for now though the narrative is well and truly overshadowed.
That said, Circus in a Bottle provides an interesting prototype for combining tech and theatre and I’m very keen to see how Trajectory Theatre develops there methods. One to check out if you’re interested in XR.
