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]