The futuristic production Hamlet’s Lunacy by Eric Joris and Mesut Arslan was transformed by CREW in collaboration with Monty Kultuurfaktorij into Hamlet’s Playground, a corona-proof interactive theatrical experience happening simultaneously live and online.

For this new theatre experience, CREW puts their own spin on the Gather platform. No more boring streaming and passive watching. As an avatar — a digital persona — the audience plays an active part. Live actors guide the audience in a console game-like environment through various rooms, where historical documents and technology provide new insight in Hamlet’s conflict.

As a member of the technical team behind this performance, I took on the responsibility of the technical aspects relating to the Gather platform. I developed a wrapper for the platform’s HTTP API in Python, allowing for mid-performance interventions such as dynamic map and lighting changes. This Python wrapper was released on Github as an open-source project and still serves as a reference for developers in the Gather Community.

To serve as costume changes, I developed several AR Filters to be used by the actors, allowing them to change their appearances and let them switch roles. I also created an short animation film in 8-bit style that was used as an introduction to the story of Hamlet.