The Under Presents: Tempest – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

There might be lots of talk about the metaverse at the moment but one company that’s been walking its own path between the real and virtual is Tender Claws with its theatrical app The Under Presents. Originally having live actors play some of the character roles for a limited time, the studio has confirmed they’ll be returning this Friday.

While videogames like Dr. Crumb’s School for Disobedient Pets have utilised live performers to engage with players, Tender Claws’ The Under Presents was the first to offer this kind of experience to the public. If you missed it the first time around now there’s a chance to immerse yourself in live VR theatre, whilst those that did get to experience performances such as The Under Presents: Tempest will be able to enjoy new stories and mini-events.

Just like before, The Under Presents won’t be filled with live actors all the time, blending pre-recorded performances with live roving actors appearing from time to time. This means you can have a different experience each time you visit, enjoyed either in single-player or with the option to connect remotely with other players.

For this new run, many of The Under Presents’ original cast members return including Brandon Bales, Michael Bates, Karlie Blair, Sophie Cooper, James Cowan, Whitton Frank, Genevieve Flati, Stephanie Hyden, and many more.

The Under Presents started out as a rather surreal virtual theatre where you could meet these actors or players in one large hub area before beginning a solo campaign called Timeboat! This narrative piece is set on The Aickman, a doomed research vessel trapped in Arctic ice. Using time manipulation players have to save the characters and unravel the mysteries of the ship. This was expanded upon with The Under Presents: Tempest, a multiplayer performance of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

In addition to the live actors returning, Tender Claws has announced a new merch store for those that love a bit of official swag.

Step into The Under Presents from 1st April to encounter the performers for a limited time – Tender Claws hasn’t indicated how long this will be. For further updates on the latest innovative use cases of VR, keep reading gmw3.

For those that live in big cities like London or New York, heading out to a theatre to see the latest play might be second nature. But many of us aren’t as used to seeing actors live on stage, such is the dominance of TV and film. Which is why a new breed of virtual reality (VR) content where you can interact with a live actor by booking specific time slots opens up a whole new realm of possibilities, and challenges. Tender Claws’ The Under Presents is one of the more notable in this field after its arrival last year for Oculus Quest and Rift. Taking this idea another step further is The Under Presents: Tempest, embarking on a live, multiplayer performance of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

Rather than a stage where an actor(s) can perform a play, monologue or expressive piece, what Tender Claws has achieved with The Under Presents: Tempest is more like a theatrical game. An actor takes the role of Prospero – in my case it was the very talented Terence Leclere – guiding proceedings by reciting the story, advancing the scenes and most importantly, guiding the group to enact various roles and bring the narrative to life.

If you’ve tried the core gameplay of The Under Presents then you’ll know everyone’s avatar is a faceless spirit of sorts, where you can remove a golden mask to unlock various magical features like making things disappear or change form. This continues in Tempest, so while everyone can hear Prospero, nobody can hear each other, thus everyone else has to essentially rely on mime – and clicking their fingers.

This makes The Under Presents: Tempest wonderfully abstract in its retelling of Shakespeare’s play, as no matter how the actor tries to direct proceedings that live nature opens new interpretation possibilities. Prospero gives everyone roles depending on the number of people attending. While groups can max out at eight people, for this demonstration there were four of us, so I got to play roles including a boson and the groom – the first time I’ve been married in VR.

We’d then act out each scene, wildly waving our arms at one point, looking for particular items which would set Prospero off on a little tale or delving into a banquet of food. There’s a nice ebb and flow to the experience where everyone gathers around to hear Prospero tell his tale – the first fireside scene suit this to a tea – before heading out to play their part. This fluidity means that the 40 minute run time is only approximate, although the actor will try to rein things in if time is short.

Obviously a crucial element is the actor themselves, how they portray Prospero and manage the entire experience. Tender Claws has put together a cast of 11 actors to help provide a mixture of performance times in four-hour windows – 4 pm to 8 pm PST weekdays and 11 am to 3 pm PST weekends – running from 9^th July until the end of September. For my groups’ demonstration Leclere did an excellent job of bringing the Prospero character to life whilst also adapting to the ever-changing social environment. At one point I started summoning onions from my mask which he then interwove into the performance followed by trying to stop someone else wandering off too far and missing an important part of the scene.

So would I recommend The Under Presents: Tempest considering it costs $14.99 USD per show? Wholeheartedly yes, because its an experience unique to VR and certainly perfect for these current lockdown times. You’d be paying that if not more for a theatre ticket anyway and this way you get a far more engaging piece of entertainment. Hopefully, it will catch on so Tender Claws can further its experiments in this field bringing more plays to life.

Category: The Under Presents: Tempest

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