Marie Jourdren
Creative Director
Luxury. Culture/Art. Experiences.

Luxury. Culture/Art. Experiences.

Alice

XR THEATRE — 2017

ORIGINAL WORK —
\ GENEVA INT. FILM FESTIVAL VISIONARY PRIZE 
\ CANNES FILM FESTIVAL OFF
\ VENICE MOSTRA SELECTION (VR COMPETITION)
\ FoST SELECTION
\ LUX FILM FEST
\ DUBAI INT. FILM FESTIVAL
\ CENTRE PHI
\ EYE MUSEUM
\ CHANEL HEADQUARTERS, PARIS

ROLE.     AUTHOR & CREATIVE DIRECTOR

CONTEXT.

Before Alice, VR narrative was mostly 360 film — you watched, you looked around, but you did not exist inside the story. I wanted to find out what would happen if you did. Not as a ghost floating through a scene, but as a physical presence — someone the characters could see, speak to, touch, provoke. Someone whose choices would alter the story. I picked the one universe where identity is the question: Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland.

APPROACH.

I created and directed Alice — the world’s first immersive VR theatre play, where a single spectator is physically present on stage inside a virtual world, interacting in real time with characters performed live by an actor in full motion capture. The actor plays all the roles — the White Rabbit, Humpty Dumpty, the Caterpillar — adapting his performance to each spectator’s personality, reactions, and choices. A reactive actor: no longer the observed, but the observer, building his role around you.

You put on a headset and fall into the dream. You are somewhere else — a dark stage, a box of playing cards in front of you. You open it. Cards fly. Then the Rabbit bursts in, physically bumps into you, and tells you you are late. Late for your coronation. You are Alice. From that moment, the experience pulls you deeper: you are questioned, tested, scolded, asked to eat a virtual mushroom you cannot see. The sets evolve from intimate darkness to Escher-like infinite geometries. Your identity as spectator, actor, and self blur until you can no longer tell which one you are.

WORK.

A 40-minute one-on-one XR theatre experience. Physical sets and virtual world superimposed. A live actor in motion capture performing all characters. Narrative that adapts to each spectator. Over 1,000 performances. PR event in Paris.

Cannes Film Festival. Venice Mostra (VR Competition). Geneva International Film Festival (Visionary Prize Award). Future of Storytelling (Selection). Lux Film Fest. Dubai International Film Festival. Centre Phi (Montreal). EYE Museum (Amsterdam).

A spectator once said after the show: “It felt like it was happening inside my head.” A film festival director : “It was better than sex.” — I won’t say which one.

XR THEATRE FORMAT EXPLAINED BY THE WHITE RABBIT.

ALICE SESSIONS.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES.

PR EVENT — PARIS.

AWARDS & HONORS.

NETFLIX VP OF PRODUCT TALKS ABOUT ALICE.

PRESS REVIEW. 

AUTHOR & CREATIVE DIRECTOR. MARIE JOURDREN
PRODUCER. ANTOINE CARDON
PRODUCTION. DV GROUP / SYNERGY CINEMA

MUSIC

PHILIP GLASS

CIRCUS DIRECTION

TILDE BJÖSFORS (CIRKÜS CIRKÖK)

VISUAL DESIGN

MAT COLLISHAW

LIBRETTO

DAVID HENRY HWANG, AFTER ROBERT LAX

SET DESIGN

CHRISTIAN FRIEDLÄNDER

SET CREATIVE AND TECH CONSULTING

MARIE JOURDREN

PRODUCTION

PONT-NEUF