The Royal Shakespeare Company is set to put on a virtual play called Dream that will be performed by actors in motion capture suits and animated in real-time.
The digital world, which is revealed above in an exclusive video shared with Dezeen, was designed by London creative studio Marshmallow Laser Feast using the same game engine as popular online game Fortnite
Dream will be performed by actors in motion capture suits
Dream follows Puck, the mischievous sprite from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, as he embarks on a journey through a magical woodland.
It will be performed live for ten nights between 12 and 20 March in a seven by seven-metre cube in Portsmouth's Guidhall.
The play will be live-streamed to audiences who will see not the performers, or the stage, but their movements and voices expressed by virtual avatars in the virtual world. Peaseblossom is one of the sprites featured in the play
This will be made possible through the same technology that has long been used to create characters for video games and feature films, such as Gollum in Lord of the Rings.
But while this process has previously involved lengthy pre- or postproduction to create an unchangeable outcome, Dream is animated as it is being acted out, which leaves unprecedented room for spontaneity.

Trailer for Dream
"There's space for performers to improvise and for us to allow for happy accidents to occur and to find beautiful moments through the rehearsal process," Marshmal...