Projects
Black Shuck
Black Shuck
A re-imagination of English folklore’s legend of the black dog into a nimble-to-tour immersive piece that combines aural, visual and live performance.
Black Shuck – An Ancient Myth Reimagined for a New Generation
Black Shuck is a legend of the Fens, the flat open lands of East Anglia. A folktale at least 500 years in the telling. The story sometimes changes, the places sometimes too but at its heart this is a tale of a warning, a warning to those who see the Demon Dog that time is short and life is precious and no one is ready when it’s eye falls on you. Because if you look into the eye of Black Shuck then death is waiting for you, perhaps just around the next corner.
Step into the world of Black Shuck, where ancient folklore collides with cutting-edge technology in a groundbreaking immersive experience. This reimagining of the legendary Black Dog myth brings high-tech innovation, typically reserved for big city stages, straight to rural audiences for the first time. Using state-of-the-art binaural sound and 3D performance capture, Black Shuck offers an unparalleled, multi-sensory journey that combines live performance, aural, and visual storytelling, fully absorbing audiences in the experience.
As innovators, New Perspectives is proud to test new ideas and challenge the boundaries of traditional theatre. With Black Shuck, we’re taking immersive technology beyond the cities, giving rural audiences access to the latest advancements in live performance. This innovative tour brings powerful storytelling to areas where these experiences are rarely seen, giving communities the opportunity to engage with world-class technology and experience a fresh take on a beloved English myth.
Join us on this hauntingly imaginative journey, where folklore meets the future, and experience the Black Dog like never before.
Experiment
£20,000
Aims of the Project
At the heart of this project is the ambition to create a nimble, immersive piece that can travel to rural locations and adapt to different spaces. By combining binaural sound with 3-D performance capture technology, we will craft an experience that blends aural, visual, and live performance in a seamless, engaging way.
We will test this concept through a series of four live performances leading up to Halloween. These performances will take place in varied settings, providing us with an opportunity to assess how the experience functions in different spaces and with diverse audiences in different locations – a rural village hall, church, a healthcare setting and studio theatre space.
Key project aims:
- to create an immersive experience suitable for touring to a range of site-specific spaces (by 2 people in a car – likely mode of transport due to rural locations)
- to understand the environmental footprint of the immersive project
- to understand the complexities of turning multiple spaces into an immersive experience is this a new cost-effective touring model for future touring and potential replication.
Meet the artists
Sally Anne Tye
Lead artist
Sally Anne Tye is Executive Director of New Perspectives, the East Midlands’ leading touring theatre company, specializing in new writing that amplifies underrepresented voices and stories.
For 50 years, we have brought captivating, thought-provoking performances to villages, towns, and cities, making theatre accessible to audiences in rural and underserved areas.
As a vital regional talent development resource, we nurture creativity and foster professional growth, making theatre more accessible and impactful for artists and communities alike. Whether it’s new writing, ambitious productions, or underrepresented voices, New Perspectives transcends barriers to create theatre that is enriching, inspiring, and transformative.
Angharad Jones
Director Angharad Jones has 17 years’ experience of commissioning and directing new work. She is Artistic Director/CEO of New Perspectives.
Before joining New Perspectives, she co-founded and led new writing company Fifth Word for fifteen years. Directing credits for New Perspectives include UK tours of (the) Woman, Model Village, The Swearing Jar, The Great Almighty Gill; a script in hand reading of Maryland; The Fishermen (Assistant Director). For Fifth Word, tours of LAVA, All The Little Lights – joint winner of the George Devine Award and nominated for Best New Play at the Writers’ Guild Awards (Associate Director); Bones and Painkillers.
Adam P McCready
Adam P McCready – a Sound Artist whose work focuses on creating soundscapes that combine ambiences with music and digitally manipulated sound recordings.
He is a sound designer, composer, sound recordist and performer of neo-ambient electronic music. Adam has created sound designs and music scores for theatre, dance productions, radio and audio dramas, audiobooks, podcast series, and film.
He has also devised several multi-speaker, interactive sound installations for galleries and museums. His artistic practice focusses on creating soundscapes combining sound effects and ambiences with music and digitally manipulated sound recordings.
Michael Lambourne
Writer, actor, storyteller Michael Lambourne is a co-creator of the longest running immersive theatre production ever in the UK, The Great Gatsby which has been performed across the UK, Europe and transferred to New York.
His wide theatre experience includes productions in Colchester, Derby, Bury St Edmunds, Hull, Lancaster, Newbury and for companies from Pilot Theatre to Secret Cinema and Punchdrunk.
He has appeared in feature films Warchief and Cashback, which was nominated for an Academy Award. His voice and videogame credits include Murray Bauman (Secret Cinema Stranger Things Drive Thru U.S) and Air Conflicts: Secret Wars (Games Farm).
