By Alan Healy
An event which combines the virtual world of Minecraft game with live performers will be staged for the first time in Derry later this year.
The Playhouse Theatre will host the ‘Playcraft Liv’e event, with organisers now seeking local Minecraft fans to help create the production and take a seat inside the game.
The new play, Playcraft Live, will be performed by both human actors on stage at the Playhouse and their corresponding digital avatars in the world of Minecraft.
Those seated at the theatre will be sharing the experience with a global audience, who will be immersed in the Minecraft world.
Playcraft Live will bring together some of the finest creative talents from theatre and gaming. Leading Minecraft artists and digital producers, Adam Clarke (aka The Wizard) and MakeMatic, will work with set and costume designers at the Playhouse, to create virtual theatre sets within Minecraft.
The production will see the dramatisation of a script, written specifically for Playcraft by Alex Scarrow, the internationally successful author and creator of the popular ‘Time Riders’ teen novels. The story sits between books one and two of the ‘Time Riders’ series.
The play will be split between live performances by actors on stage and puppeteers controlling the actors within Minecraft.
Slipping between both stage and game world, the story will unfold across different locations and time from within the story.
Audiences within the theatre, and online, will experience the production as a single live-stream, and neither audience needs to own Minecraft in order to view the stream.
Playcraft Live will premiere on Saturday, October 14, both on stage at the Playhouse and broadcast to the world online at www.playcraft.live.
Playcraft Live will also be available to view on YouTube after October 14.
Details of how to become involved in each of these events and contribute directly to the production can be found at www.playcraft.live.
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