National Theatre announces immersive holographic performance in partnership with Microsoft

The National Theatre have announced new immersive holographic performance All Kinds of Limbo XR as part of a major new partnership with Microsoft.

For the first time, audiences worldwide will be able to experience the same communal musical performance simultaneously in a number of different ways: via a Virtual Reality headset, as Augmented Reality on a phone or tablet, or as a desktop experience.

All Kinds of Limbo is a unique musical performance that was developed alongside the NT’s 2019 production of Andrea Levy’s award-winning novel Small Island. Writer and vocalist Nubiya Brandon, composer Raffy Bushman and the Nu Shape Orchestra take the audience on a musical journey inspired by the influence of Caribbean culture on the UK's music scene, with Nubiya telling her own story of a life in limbo across the genres of reggae, grime, classical and calypso.

Founder of the National Theatre’s Immersive Storytelling Studio, Toby Coffey, said: “With each project our studio aims to push, in an appropriate way, the evolution of the form and the audience experience. With this project we asked the question – how can we create a ‘universal performance space’ where audiences can experience one performance in differing formats that suit their technology, their needs and their preferences? I’m delighted we’ve been able to develop this idea and present All Kinds of Limbo across VR, AR and desktop versions, giving international audiences access to the piece. It’s been fantastic to work again with the composer and musician Raffy Bushman and lyricist and vocalist Nubiya Brandon on this beautiful piece of music and on Nubiya’s story once more. We couldn’t have launched this today without our partners Microsoft, the support from DICE, Dimension Studios and All Seeing Eye. It is an honour to be working with such leaders in technology on this ground-breaking new project.”

To accompany All Kinds of Limbo XR, an outtake of the soundtrack will be available as a single release on all major music streaming platforms, exclusively distributed by Broadway Records. The single is called All Kinds of Limbo – Calypso and features the music of Raffy Bushman and Nubiya Brandon.

For more information and to book tickets for performances from 18 January, please click here.