Let’s Dive Into The Under Presents: Tempest | Pt. 2

Or: How I (Haven’t) Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Casual Theatre

This is Part 2 of 3 in my Tempest write-up. In Part 1 I went over why this show is so important. Part 2 tackles my biased hang-ups. Part 3 is a detailed breakdown of my direct experience.

PLEASE DON’T READ UNTIL YOU’VE SEEN TEMPEST FOR YOURSELF

The MC of The Under

Great (Virtual) Expectations

I have to admit this show was not what I was expecting. In anticipation, I may have let my hopes run wild. My first thought after reading the words “The Under Presents: Tempest” was a tonal one: “yes! One of Shakespeare’s most enigmatic and provocative tales told in one of VR’s most enigmatic and provocative worlds. A perfect match!” However, despite sharing mechanics, stylization, and other assorted DNA with The Under, Tempest does not feel like it’s part of the same world.

The Under exists as a diegetic whole, a place where everything from the look of the players to the scrunching locomotion to the deliciously bizarre spell-based puzzles always come with a tingle of “there’s something menacing about this.” Tempest feels… too happy, too safe to be part of The Under or even to remind me of the tone of the original source material. It’s as though the cast and world of a Pinter play (say, No Man’s Land) were suddenly dropped into an energetic, 4th-wall breaking, David Ives one-act (say, English Made Simple).

Left: No Man’s Land at the Cort Theatre (2013) Right: English Made Simple at the Cape Breton University Boardmore Theatre One Act Festival (2013)

Despite sharing textual qualities with Prospera/o, the cool, calculating, unsettling MC and his influence are nowhere to be found here. He, who becomes even more mysterious the more you learn about him and his role as the proprietor of The Under, stands in stark contrast to the clean, straightforward narrative world of Tempest. The actors here, despite many of them also playing characters in The Under, are far less “in character” as your Tempest host, never letting you forget they are, in fact, an actor in VR as they coddle you like you’re in a cross between a corporate team-building workshop and a book report study group.

This setup of Tempest’s world and rules succeeded in drawing me into a magic circle, but never a journey, never a true opportunity to suspend my disbelief. By the end, the whole didn’t feel like more than the sum of its parts.

Snapshots from my wife’s experience. Prospera looks so malevolent here.

Prospera/o, as portrayed, is an open book. Your host begins and ends as an actor cast into this role who wants to tell you about The Tempest, then proceeds to do that through a series of straightforward activities. Save perhaps the moments as Ariel (my favorites), the host never transcends that role. From the beginning you’re collaborators, even pals. I suppose what I craved was a less trustworthy host. Someone less themselves. Someone more… enigmatic.

Put another way: despite being in an immersive story, I never felt like I was immersed in the story.

But here’s the kicker: the extreme level of welcoming displayed here, complete with such prospects as group hugs, hand-holding, and visualization exercises is perfect for someone feeling even the smallest bit of trepidation about giving this experience a try. The fact that you can tell your friends and loved ones, even those who have never tried VR before, that ‘you will be taken care of here’ will be a key salve for any reticence they may be harboring.

My wife was the only one of her group who had never played The Under before, then was immediately hugged by everyone around her to cheers from the host “Hug the new baby! Hug the new baby!”

Exit, Pursued by a Bias

Enter: my wife. Been in VR as long as me (since the 2013 Oculus Rift DK1), but has a high sensitivity to VR sickness in every HMD save the HTC Vive. Also: she’s a Shakespeare stan. As in: she’s been reading, loving, and memorizing these plays since she was 10 years old. The Tempest is not a favorite (for one thing, she hates Prospero), but after I’d set up every comfort option (night mode, teleportation, a real fan), she decided to give this a go.

What a pleasant surprise for me to see her grinning ear to ear through most of the experience, one that was highly comparable to mine by way of sharing the same host. As much more of an introvert than I, she’s more trepidicious about participatory theatre. But she enjoyed how everything here felt optional. She didn’t want to play a character, and she never felt like she had to. But she laughed out loud watching some of the portrayals of the other audience members and found the high-energy, fast and loose telling by host Genevieve to be a ton of fun.

To quote her: “If this was a highbrow deep dive into Shakespeare, the interactivity might feel more intrusive. So by keeping this lighthearted, Tender Claws made best use of both the participatory element and the limitations of acting in the virtual environment.” She went on to describe how everyone was “friendly and gracious,” and that Genevieve’s hosting demeanor created a welcoming, playful environment that suited the production style.

Oh, and here’s something else cool — she had never been able to stay in the Quest 40 minutes before this and believes her motion-sickness was tempered by how engaged she felt. Lots of good news.

I’m glad she loved it, and I sincerely hope her response is the most common one: accepting this production on its own terms and enjoying it as such.

My wife enjoyed emergent moments, such as a wedding wine bottle conjured to smash (left) and the offer of a perfectly cooked marshmallow to consume (right)

For my part, I wanted something that felt more like The Under. Maybe something more like Sleep No More, with a stronger tension of exploration against narration and puzzles to be solved and relationships to be explored and interpretations to be had, and myriad reasons to go back again and again and again but the more I dwell on all of that, the more I forgive it all. Because what is here is something that will work for the vast majority of attendees. As someone rooting for this budding medium to thrive, Tempest is much-needed rainfall. It shows the work of a company that is pacing itself.

And hey, here’s something neat I wouldn’t have expected: I think my 4 year old (who has been in The Under and Timeboat) would love this experience. If I let him do it, it will be his very first live theatre show.

L: Lobby puzzle solving C: Group Hug in Prospera’s house R: A duke challenging Ariel about to have their butt handed to them

Conclusion: Live Long and Prospera

Ultimately, I like Tempest but I don’t love Tempest and that’s okay. I’m certain that hundreds (hopefully thousands) of other people will say this was one of the coolest theatre experiences of their life, and I’m thrilled for each and every one of them.

This experience was, in a word, delightful. That’s just not what I look for in live theatre — I’m chasing words like cathartic, world-shaking, awe-inspiring. That accounts for maybe 5% of the theatre I’ve seen over the course of my life. I expect too much. But the potential is all here. To use a crude film analogy, I feel like I just saw Tin Toy… and now I know it’s possible to make Toy Story. I’ve seen the effectiveness of mask and body work, now I want to see something Up Close and Virtual.

Forget about me though, everyone should be more like my wife: happy to enjoy a live show on its own terms and not project their own needs onto it. Back in 2008, after we spent a semester in London, it became abundantly clear to us that America often treats theatre as an elite experience in everything from expected dress code to its cost to its subject matter. In the UK, theatre is more like going to the movies: you’re not always looking to go on an emotional rollercoaster and it’s okay to be sated by a few good laughs among friends. That should be enough, and if VR theatre, as something of an emerging hybrid medium, can establish that baseline, it’s going to mean more attendance from a wider audience and more overall appreciation of live performance.

Make no mistake, Tempest is a milestone, one marking only the very beginning of what’s possible. I hope both Tender Claws and all the other would-be VR theatre-makers of the world appreciate this for what it is while also being inspired by what it can be: a springboard. I’m excited to check out Tempest again, but I’m even more excited to see what comes next.

Assorted Food for Thought. What if:

1. All the settings were actually part of a single cohesive island that could be explored at will?
2. There were puzzles both in the lobby and during the show to be solved that unlocked other narrative content, even prerecorded? (Okay already based on points 1 and 2 I basically want to see The Invention of Morel in this style).
3. This was the ‘beginner’ version of Tempest but there was also an available ‘pro’ version with a host that goes deeper and holds your hand less?
4. There were spells you could only learn here but could continue to use back in The Under?
5. Midsummer Night’s Dream took place in The Under and they weren’t nice about it?
6. It was possible for the host to enact the entire show without direct audience participation?
7. In the same way clapping sets Prospero free in the original text, snapping were explicitly used to set your host free at the end of the experience.
8. The host actually played Shakespeare writing the story and played off of some of the popular interpretations that Prospero, to varying degrees, represents Shakespeare. Could also have a bit of a Mary and the Monster vibe.
9. Prospero plotted more and actively puts you under spells and you can find ways to break out and back to ‘reality’, which could start to have a very Tender Claws’ VVR feel.
10. You could actually hold hands by both grabbing each others’ hand. First grabber controls location until either grabber lets go.
11. There were TWO live actors in the same show to play off each other?
12. This show took you on a single The Tempest-inspired journey over 40 minutes and never asked the audience to perform any tasks?
13. You could experience this all as an invisible avatar?
14. Hosts had ‘stats’ and you could pick yours based on the your preferred style?
15. There was the possibility to hang out with the people you were in the show with afterwards, either in The Under’s lounge or maybe even a direct connection to Oculus Parties?

Other stuff to check out:

• Part 3: super detailed breakdown of what happened during my show and some of the variations I’ve heard on what can happen.
• Big ol’ video chat with a bunch of VR / theatre folks
• Some short videos of moments referenced in these posts.
• The rest of the Alive in Plasticland blog (all about live performance in VR)
• Video with commentary on my first time in The Under Presents back in November 2019
• Avatar Selection for Live Performance in VR IEEE GEM published paper (result of much study from Alive in Plasticland)
• Loveseat at the 2019 Venice Film Festival (Alive in Plasticland’s learnings brought from improv to our first scripted show)
• My Twitter thread about bringing audiences to virtual shows
• TCG 2020 webinar on remote live performance with Brendan Bradley and Jasper Tarr (coming soon!)