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ABSTRACT
The thesis aims to explore, investigate and identify the emergence of Virtual Reality as an immersive, interactive, and accessible alternative platform to traditional theatre experience. The advancement in technology has transformed traditional theatre into digital experience. Helsinki based company like “Second Theatre” has collaborated with platform such as Meta to produce and project theatrical performance through Virtual Reality devices. Hence, this study aims to acquire a qualitative understanding of the transformation of traditional to virtual theatre experience. With this change there is a possibility to experience entertainment with more immersion and accessibility features like multilingual subtitles, boosted hearing and lens correction for visually impaired to make theatre experience more inclusive and accessible. It is to investigate how well virtual theatre provides an immersive, interactive and accessible experience through this study.
Since Virtual Reality is an extended and alternate theatre platform for creators, this study is crucial as it dives deeper into exploring the possibilities and shortcomings of the platform in terms of accessibility and immersion. A user testing session has been conducted at Tampere University by the research group with “Second Theatre” as part of this study in April 2024. During the session, a drama was projected through VR among research participants. The survey included a set of thirty qualitative and quantitative questionnaires where participants responded with their immediate experience of the Virtual Reality Theatre.
However, there is scope for implementing improved features and develop the user experience for watching theatre using VR devices. Based on the findings from the user testing, this thesis also provides recommendations to help ensure future VR experiences to more accessible and user friendly
Keywords: Virtual reality theatre; Accessibility; Digital Inclusion; Immersive technologies; Digital Theatre; User Experience; Sustainable Media; Multisensory Experience; Personalized Entertainment