ZU-UK Previews A Double Bill Of Ambitious New Immersive And Virtual Reality Work

Leading immersive and digital performance innovators ZU-UK will be tucking audiences into bed with a hot chocolate and VR headset in a new performance that merges reality with digital, whilst in Theatre Royal Stratford East's restaurant, Gerry's Kitchen, binaural sound will present audiences with an intimate experience of a dinner date. Audience members become participants and will experience Goodnight, Sleep Tight one person at a time, whilst The Blind Dinner Date will be for three couples at a time

In Goodnight, Sleep Tight, ZU-UK tests the limits of 360º video by exploring the overlap between simultaneous live performance and digital experience. In the physical world, audience members are put to bed with a cup of hot chocolate and pyjamas; through VR headsets, they experience bedtime as an eight-year old. The sights they see through the eight-year-old's eyes are mirrored in the real world, blurring their perception of both worlds as they see feel actors move around them until the realistic virtual space dissolves into a dream experience filmed using a drone flying over the immediate cityscape.

Part interactive performance, part dating agency, The Blind Dinner Date will invite genuine applications from individuals looking for love, or existing couples who simply want a very different dating experience. Theatre Royal Stratford East's Gerry's Kitchen restaurant will be transformed into a lush romantic setting, complete with disco floor and mirror ball, to explore the failure of verbal language. Taking place at three tables simultaneously, two participants per table are hosted by a waiter/facilitator/DJ and interactively mixed binaural audio with suggestions and comments on dating 'rules' and social norms. These span proper dinner table etiquette, social faux pas to avoid, as well as games pushing social expectations and 'acceptable' table talk topics.

This double bill preview is being developed as part of Decalogy of Loneliness, a ten-pArt Theatre experience inspired by the real story of Franz Woyzeck, our contemporary understanding of mental health, and the relationship between strangers in a megacity. In this five-year project, ZU-UK and its international collaborators use different models of interactive technology, immersion, live performance and participation to offer a wide range of intimate experiences for audience members over the course of ten hours. During its 15th anniversary last year ZU-UK secured funding from Arts Council England's ELEVATE fund, which it will use to increase its impact with new staff, labs, training and partnerships, in parallel to the making of Decalogy of Loneliness. ZU-UK is leading a three year programme - ELEVATE Labs - with 12 NPO organisations, including Manchester International Festival, Watershed Bristol, and LIFT, amongst others.

Jorge Lopes Ramos, ZU-UK's Co-Artistic Director said, "ZU-UK's artistic work has never shied away from engaging with urgent, problematic and at times depressing aspects of the contemporary human condition. This is a time to question mainstream narratives and to consider our role in shaping communities and relationships between strangers."

Formerly known as Zecora Ura and Para Active, ZU-UK is an established award winning independent theatre and digital arts company based in East London and Rio de Janeiro since 2001. Driven by an artistic partnership between Jorge Lopes Ramos and Persis Jadé Maravala, ZU-UK creates interactive experiences using games, performance and technology. They can happen anywhere including on your phone, in your house, on a stage, in a shopping mall or a field. As a British company that has successfully maintained a satellite base in Brazil for over a decade, ZU-UK has a strong track record of collaborating across cultures and artistic disciplines, delivering ambitious innovation with depth and integrity. Their previous events have explored new forms of collaboration between academics, activists and artists, 'Dramaturgy of Participation', discussing best practice for immersive events, 'What Makes the Perfect LAB?', sharing their first prototype version of a wearable tech and game design, and their 'Artistic Leadership Talk Series', which was part of their Masters Programme run with University of East London. In 2015 the company also opened GAS Station in Stratford, a new space dedicated to projects, ideas and conversations that live somewhere in the intersection between Games, Live Performance and Technology.

@iamzuuk | www.zu-uk.com

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