I’m a trained actor, professionally produced playwright and arts developer; originally from the U.K. I have been permanently based in The Netherlands for nearly eleven years.
In 2015 my most recent play, Strange Divide, went in Amsterdam. Focusing on tech-convergence and the imminent future, it was a black comedy that aimed to bring cutting edge scientific ideas to a wider audience. I hoped to inspire them to think about the effects of these ideas on life as we know it; because their influence is going to be quick and widespread. Ideas such as synthetic biology, biotech augmentation, 3D printed food and the widespread adoption of...VR.
Researching it I really uncovered my hidden inner-geek, who has a passion for futurism and concepts of hybrid realities in particular. Shortly after, I began experimenting with scripting for VR having volunteered as part of Kaleidoscope´s World Tour. Since then I have looked at visual and written language, formatting standardisation, ideas/stories that can only work in VR, and how best to make a blueprint for collaborative production.
I discovered that, just as I had hoped, VR allows me a freedom I was seeking in my other forms of writing but had not yet found. I’m interested in global stories, with universal themes, big ideas leading to empathy, equity and empowerment. Ideas relevant to real audiences. Ideas that engage, entertain and enlighten; not just aesthetically pleasing experiences but experiences imbued with layers of meaning too.
In these scripts I have been seeking to take the best of the artistic mediums we have had to date and remix them with new VR possibilities. I am looking for new visual and written language to create gripping stories, nascent to VR, that will give audiences a transcendent or transportative experience; and so, I hope to make them think differently about the world around them, and their place in it.