European premiere of world’s first Mixed Reality play AN ARK to run at Aviva Studios
Tin Drum and Factory International have announced that the world’s first Mixed Reality play, AN ARK, will receive its European premiere from 27 March - 10 April at Aviva Studios.
Founder of Tin Drum, Tim Eckert, said: “Every work in every art form has its origin somewhere in the world. For AN ARK it all starts in Manchester. If that city didn’t exist, our play wouldn’t either. As we celebrate our tenth anniversary, it’s a very happy - and completely appropriate - event for us to be opening the show Europe there.”
CEO of Factory International, John McGrath, said: “I am thrilled to be continuing our relationship with Todd Eckert and his groundbreaking company Tin Drum. After the enormous success of KAGAMI here in Manchester, it is a genuine pleasure to be presenting the European premiere of AN ARK. At Factory International we are constantly striving to work with the world's leading artists whose practice is changing the boundaries of what culture can do. This could not be more true about the work of Tin Drum and this unique collaboration between some of the world's very best creators.”
When does a story become theatre? Is it when the actors step on to the stage? What if the actors are with you, but not with you?
Captured in a single take, this one-of-a-kind theatrical encounter features extraordinary performances from Ian McKellen (King Lear, Hamlet, Lord of the Rings), Golda Rosheuvel (Not Your Superwoman, Bridgerton), Arinzé Kene (Misty, Get Up, Stand Up!) and Rosie Sheehy (Guess How Much I Love You, Machinal) - in a journey through sex, love, death, work and everything that makes a life.
Through Mixed Reality glasses, experience theatre like you’ve never seen it before: up-close, intimate and with unflinching eye contact, creating an impossibly close connection between actor and audience. This new form of theatre places you at the heart of a deeply personal exploration of what it means to live, to grieve and to connect.
Ian McKellen said: “A new Simon Stephens play is always an excitement but when it is written to be performed in this unique way, it feels more like an explosion!
“The four of us in front of 50 cameras simultaneously, relishing the chance to explore a new way of acting. New York has already been impressed with the result - now it’s Manchester's turn.”
Simon Stephens said: “It means a great deal to bring AN ARK to Manchester. There is a particular thrill at being engaged in a technology that is in the earliest years of its life. There is an uncanny haunting in the qualities of AN ARK that I can't wait to see again. What lives with me most, though, is not the energy of the new but the resonance of the human. We look deep into those actors’ eyes and they see us and they touch us with the story they tell. It is a startling new technology that is engaged in kindling something ancient and deep within us.
“I can't wait to see it again.”
Tickets go on general sale from 20 October, with further info here.