Virtual reality production studio Ferryman Collective and the Virtual Worlds Company announced the World Premiere of their latest VR theater experience, Uncanny Alley: A New Day, will be held at the 81st Venice International Film Festival in competition with the immersive projects.
Part of La Biennale di Venezia, the festival will be held at the Lido di Venezia from August 28 to September 7; the XR media program will present 63 projects from 25 countries on the Lazzaretto Vecchio island (dubbed Venice Immersive Island for the event).
Uncanny Alley: A New Day is a live performance featuring two actors who seamlessly bring multiple characters to life. This immersive theater experience differentiates itself from traditional theater by removing the stage and immersing audiences within the performance itself. Participants can expect a high level of interactivity, audiences will converse with the actors, other audience members and interact with their virtual surroundings.
The dystopian cyberpunk concept began as two award-winning virtual experiences created by Rick Treweek (a.k.a. MetaRick), who was approached by Ferryman Collective’s Stephen Butchko with the idea of exploring live theatrical performance in the world of Uncanny Alley. Through the performance, audiences will ally with the characters resisting an oppressive corpocracy.
Synopsis: Adaptive Learning Industries is about to launch the New Day update through legislation that passed with little public support. Uncanny Alley’s “Metizens” will soon feel the amnesia-like effects from weaponized Radio Frequency waves. Cyberpunk hacker-whiz, Gh0st, breaks a group of protesters out of jail to lead them and her increasingly sentient Service-Bot, Atom, to safety through a hacked portal, out of the city and to a new metaverse. They must stick together, evade capture, and decide whether to leave Uncanny Alley or stay and fight for their freedom, and their home.
The full Venice Immersive lineup can be found here.
