Flying Goddess: Mixed-Reality Theater Debuts in Taiwan
A Taiwanese theater group combines traditional performance and modern technology to create an immersive audience experience.
Transcript
00:00 (speaking in foreign language)
00:03 Leaping, flipping, and singing among the crowd.
00:09 This technological Taiwanese musical
00:11 smashes through the fourth wall
00:13 and puts the audience right in the middle of the action.
00:16 (singing in foreign language)
00:20 This is Flying Goddess,
00:25 a new immersive theater experience
00:28 that tells traditional Chinese legends
00:30 through a mix of mediums,
00:32 including 360-degree projections
00:35 that transform the theater into a living, breathing world.
00:39 But performing alongside virtual characters
00:42 brings new challenges to the actors.
00:44 (speaking in foreign language)
00:58 By interacting with the elaborate animations,
01:00 the cast bring to life mythical beasts
01:03 from Chinese folklore
01:05 and recount epic tales of love and war.
01:09 One story even warns of the disastrous effects
01:12 humans are having on the planet.
01:15 (singing in foreign language)
01:27 Bringing together a range of performance elements
01:30 and integrating them with technology
01:32 was core to director Wu Xingguo's vision.
01:36 (speaking in foreign language)
01:40 The team behind Flying Goddess are hopeful
01:52 that performances like theirs
01:54 can attract people young and old.
01:57 And inspire a new kind of theater
01:59 that makes the audience a part of the story.
02:02 Klein Wong and Rhys Ayres for Taiwan Plus.
02:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]