Ritual Virtual: Inside the sacred rites
An immersive theatre experience by the Duvet Brothers.
UWE Bristol, Frenchay Campus, Bristol, Multiple showings
For around two thousand years in ancient Greece annual initiations called the Eleusinian Mysteries were performed. Dedicated to the cult of Demeter and Persephone, this elaborate series of sacred rites and ritual preparations performed over ten days helped initiates overcome fear of death and achieve their best life.
Ritual Virtual was an immersive theatre experience which employs video projections, robots and virtual reality to allow you to glimpse what it would have been like to be an initiate. Using the facilities and technology of The Bridge Studios at UWE’s Bristol Robotics Lab, an audience passed through a baying mob to enter the temple where they became a ritual participant. In ancient times the climax of the Mysteries was performed under the influence of hallucinogens. Now, through virtual reality, an audience was immersed in the revelatory vision of Demeter’s quest.