Making the Invisible Visible: Virtual Stage Props and Christopher Marlowe’s Dr Faustus

Abstract

This volume elucidates the power of the object in theatre and performance research, and while my chapter doesn't deviate from that aim, it takes a different angle, asking how object studies might transform if the object under examination is a virtual object. To consider this question, I introduce the Ortelia project to investigate the form and function of the stage properties required for performing Christopher Marlowe's Dr Faustus. Ortelia, a software company that models cultural heritage venues (theatres, museums, galleries), built the virtual representation of the Rose (see http://ortelia.com/new/portfolio/rosetheatre/).1 Ortelia comprises two VR modelers (Lazaros Kastanis and Darren Pack) and me. In this analysis, I situate the props that activate Dr Faustus in a virtual reality model of London's Rose Theatre, where it premiered in the late sixteenth century. I augment new materialist discourse by investigating matter that takes up space in virtual form: this chapter offers an "object-centered" virtual reality (VR) study.KeywordsVirtual RealityVirtual ObjectVirtual Reality EnvironmentVirtual Reality TechnologyVirtual Reality ModelThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.