(No) Living Room

The closest thing (No) Living Room resembles is a compilation of Windows 95 screensavers set to interpretive dance.

A projector displays a virtual reality background against a white stage space, allowing the lone female dancer to move around a series of computer-generated environments. She hops, twirls and contorts her way through a computerised dreamscape of lonely islands, cavernous empty spaces and impossible scenes. All the while, snatched radio transmissions of philosophical discussions on politics and the environment play over the background music.

For an act billed as “a live performance, in virtual reality” it seems only fair that equal effort should be put into the virtual reality aspect. Instead the graphics seem dated. Sonic the Hedgehog wouldn’t look out of place if he turned up.

The projections rarely move in time with the dancer, giving a disorienting, clunky feel to the performance. Her graceful, elegant movements don’t link up with the poor rendering and pixelated background. The promotional material boldly claims to have created a whole new theatrical technique, complete with snappy acronym, "Real-time Animated Virtual Environments." It’s a clever idea, but the technology seems to have some way to go to catch up to the director’s ambition.

Despite all this, there’s an innocence and a grace to the routine that many will find appealing. It ably depicts a character escaping the mundane realities of everyday life through dreams and imagination, and a few software tweaks could turn this into an impressive show.