Royal Shakespeare Company to help firms develop new uses for technology

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is to help tech firms, among others, incorporate new technologies such as virtual reality in live events and multi-platform content.

The CreaTech Frontiers project has attracted a £6.75m government investment.

It is being led by Birmingham City University, working with the RSC and other universities in the region.

The theatre company is expected to lend its expertise in live performance to help organisations in the creative sector find news ways of using cutting edge technologies.

These are expected to include artificial intelligence and immersive content, which the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) said would “revolutionise creative productions”.

Research projects in the region will also look at how 3D modelling and animation techniques can be used to create engaging, immersive material.

It comes two days after the government announced RSC Chair Baroness Shriti Vadera would help lead the Creative Industries Council – an organisation that links up government, firms and public bodies involved in the UK’s creative sector.

The RSC will also collaborate with US-based tech and media festival South by Southwest in a number of research pilot projects.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the funding would support training, research and development across a range of creative projects “using new technology and driving growth”.

“Talent is everywhere but opportunity is not,” she said.

The RSC previously used motion-capture technology in 2021 for a performance of Dream for remote audiences during the pandemic.

The CreaTech Frontiers partnership will also involve the Birmingham Opera Group, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

A further £6.75m has also been allocated to Liverpool’s combined authority’s academic and private sector programme, the MusicFutures cluster.

Working with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Liverpool M&S Bank Arena, the cluster will fund training for musicians, teachers and business using technology to make the “live music sector more environmentally sustainable”.

This could mean building simulated environments as well as having computer-generated creations.

Nandy said: “Liverpool and Merseyside hold a special place in our nation’s music landscape and this funding will support imagination and experimentation across the city and region.

“Birmingham and the West Midlands have a rich industrial history, and we are putting them at the forefront of a potential new industry developing the amazing technology that will revolutionise visual effects in film, theatre and gaming.”