Original title:

Immersive drama "The Devil Plan": Breaking the boundaries between performance and watching

Wang Weijie, intern reporter of China Culture Daily

At present, the development of new space for performing arts has given birth to new formats, breaking through the boundaries of traditional performing arts, and providing the audience with free, novel, personalized and immersive performance experience. Recently, Mahua FunAge launched the immersive drama "The Devil Plan", which was staged in Beijing Wangjing Magnetic Theater. Through the immersive stage, high-profile atmosphere and interactive experience, it brought new artistic enjoyment to the audience.

In this play, the protagonists encounter difficulties, but they meet because of music. Music, friendship and faith in justice helped them to resist. Music is not only used for performance, but also a way to express friendship, justice and freedom. The band Demon Girl shows strength and hope with music.

The play puts forward high requirements for the comprehensive ability of actors, who need to have performance, singing and dancing skills, and be flexible in the interaction link. Because it involves a lot of dancing and singing, actors also need to have good physical strength and endurance to cope with high-intensity performance. "In the process of rehearsal, not only plays, songs and dances are rehearsed, but also 'musicians' are performed by practicing musical instruments, and the rhythm of on-site improvisation and interaction is honed through many rehearsals with the audience. Through repeated running in, the audience is finally presented with an energetic performance group." Zhao Qianjing, the drama director, said.

In stage performance, balancing immersive experience and stage scheduling aesthetics is a major challenge. In view of the space limitations of the small theater, the main creative team made efforts in the stage art and lighting, which not only met the needs of interaction and performance, but also met the aesthetic requirements of choreography, bringing unique stage experience to the audience.

"The play makes us feel like we are in the play. The characters may appear at any time, and every corner is full of performances." Mr. Chen, the audience, told reporters.

The play broke the boundaries between the performance area and the audience area, turning the theater into a miniature "Queens City", as if the audience were in a Cyberpunk city. The stage design in the play includes bars, parties and other areas. The audience is both audience and performer, interacting with actors and immersive. The audience plays the citizens in different areas of Queens City, uncovers the plot with the band, and may participate in performances, parties, or even be invited to complete the performance together. The whole process is full of interaction and immersion.

The "Devil Plan" continues the live music performance and drama form of Mahua Fun's "Burning" series, so that the audience can enjoy the joy of comedy while experiencing the rock scene. In terms of music design, the whole play runs through rock and roll style composition, and the ending actors return to perform live, turning the theater into a music scene.

"In the construction of the story, no matter what era the background design of the story is, the core of the work should focus on the theme related to the contemporary society to arouse the audience's resonance. In the form, no matter what art is integrated into the drama, the excellence of artistic expression should be pursued and the core should be shared to avoid simple and crude addition." Hong Ye, the drama producer, said.

In terms of new technology application, because the plot contains a "score" mechanism - score is the design of the plot, the higher the score, the better the character will survive in the plot. For this reason, the Magic Lady Plan discussed how to cooperate with AR (augmented reality) technology company to achieve "score" interaction between audience and performers. At present, because this technology cannot cover all audiences on the scene, the interaction experience is not smooth enough, and is still under constant exploration.

"In the future, we will continue to polish and upgrade the immersive series of products that have been launched, and strive to build them into timeless classics. At the same time, we will actively explore the cooperation between immersive drama and commercial complexes and scenic spots, integrate performing arts, cultural tourism and commercial real estate, expand the field of performing arts, and provide audiences with diversified cultural experience." Hong Ye said.