Flying Opera & Bernd Liepold-Mosser

Being Hamlet

28 min

#vr360

2024

Being Hamlet is an immersive VR experience by Bernd Liepold Mosser and Flying Opera, reimagining Shakespeare's Hamlet through the medium of virtual reality. Combining theatre with contemporary technology, the work places the audience at the centre of the action, offering a new way of experiencing a classical dramatic text. The project explores the fragile boundary between reality and illusion, the individual and the role, physical presence and digital space. Being Hamlet was produced by En–Knap for the international partner Flying Opera as part of the company's ongoing exploration of new performative formats at the intersection of theatre and virtual reality.

Rather than observing Hamlet's story from a distance, the audience in Being Hamlet steps into the role of Hamlet himself. Characters appear all around the viewer, address them directly, and place them at the centre of the unfolding drama. In doing so, virtual reality transforms the conventions of theatre: the tragedy is no longer watched from the outside but experienced from within. The project explores VR not merely as a technological innovation, but as an artistic medium that places the audience on the threshold between reality and illusion, observation and participation.

bio

Bernd Liepold-Mosser is an Austrian theatre director, writer, and screenwriter. After studying philosophy, he has directed productions across Austria, Germany, and Slovenia, receiving several major awards, including the Austrian Nestroy Theatre Prize and the Audience Award at Diagonale for his documentary film. His work explores the relationship between theatre, film, and contemporary media, with a particular focus on perception, reality, and performance.

credits

Direction and text adaptation Bernd Liepold-Mosser

Camera Omar Ismail

Music Patrick Topitschnig

Editing Omar Ismail

Sound design Igor Iska

Set design Karla Fehlenberg

Producer Ursula Meyer

Graphic design Omar Ismail

Assistant director Stephanie Sihler

Artistic supervision Iztok Kovač

Photography Patrick Topitschnig

Publication design Major Tom