Theatre in a new dimension: An opportunity created by crisis
There is opportunity in every crisis – blah, blah, we all know it. It sounds like a cliché, but that's what happened with Covid and all the lockdowns. The desperate situation of (not only) the cultural scene motivated us to help. But after the first test of our VR theatre, it was clear there is a potential to enrich the theatre world long after Covid is gone. Thus, Brejlando was born - a theatre in a new dimension.
The challenge
People lacked culture and culture lacked people. The situation during the hard lockdown. Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that live streams and recordings of cultural performances were „just fine“, but nothing more. Both performers and viewers felt something was missing. Instead of tinkering with compromises, we set ourselves a clear goal - to come up with a format that solves the problem of closed cultural institutions while adding real value for the audience.
The solution
Long story short: Our love of culture and our love of technology intertwined and we decided to bring the theatrical experience into virtual reality. Knowing that the central focus of the whole project is the audience experience, we had no choice but to take it from the ground up. Because the experience is created long before the viewer puts on the headset. Everything was important for us – from the visual identity to the communication strategy, to the actual distribution. And it paid off – in the end, the viewer can just click on Brejlando on their phone, and a courier will be there with a VR headset in half an hour. Just like that. We offered the project to the Prague City Council and to our delight they accepted it as their own. What followed was an intensive creative process, in which we selected suitable works together with theatres, actors, and directors. We re-staged them, provided them with ambisonic sound, and voilà – the Czechs can experience a world-unique - „takeaway“ theatre.
Tomáš Klus
Actor
“Brejlando fascinates me, it's the future! And not only for people who are playful by nature but also for people who maybe don't have the opportunity to get to the theatre."
David Drábek
Director of Elephantasia
"You get to go where you would never get in the actual theatre. It's enriching, and interesting. You suddenly find out how actors look up close, or whether their eyes are playing."
Václav Vašák
Actor
"It's an amazing thing, the technology is incredible. I'm a little scared of what this thing can do. It's a crazy ride, a crazy drug."
Brejlando through the eyes of a spectator
As a spectator, you will find yourself right on „the boards that mean the world“, and the actors will be circling all around you and talking straight to you. We achieved this effect by using a 360-degree camera that we placed right on stage, and the protagonists acting out at close range. The viewers have the feeling they are in the room with the actors, and everyone is looking at them. Compared to a traditional visit to the theatre, your experience is essentially physical, as the actors direct their monologues and glances directly at you. Sometimes they might even shout at you (but don't worry, it's really just like that).
BRAND
Playful brand for playful experience
When we were developing Brejlando brand we had to differentiate it from the classical theaters which we didn’t want to compete with. We had a completly new experience and an absurd situation when none of us could visit physical theaters due to COVID. The absurdity of the situation and brand new experience of VR theater is well reflected in the brand pallette and bold typography.
Logo variatons for every genre
Every play is different. Different genre, different audience so we came up with idea to use various logo versions that differ not only in color but also unique shapes. These colours and shapes were then used across the communication, from print works and SoMe communication to branding of the actual headsets.
in the media
theatres
Thanks to the enormous interest of the theatres