{"id":355,"date":"2018-08-01T13:22:23","date_gmt":"2018-08-01T13:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/juliericowilliamson.com\/blog\/?p=355"},"modified":"2018-10-29T13:30:05","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T13:30:05","slug":"familiar-stranger-army-the-fringe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/juliericowilliamson.com\/blog\/familiar-stranger-army-the-fringe\/","title":{"rendered":"Familiar Stranger Army @ The Fringe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fC2qP_IfoQo\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A new performance piece melding live theatre and virtual reality has just opened as part of Army@TheFringe.<\/p>\n<p><em>Familiar Stranger\u00a0<\/em>brings together live acting and virtual reality to tell the story of an Iraq War veteran returning to civilian life.<\/p>\n<p>The 45-minute show is a collaboration between The University of Glasgow Department of Computing Science and Glasgow-based artist and coder collective RealRealReal.<\/p>\n<p>Hosted in the Hepburn House Army Reserve Centre (Venue 210) in East Claremont Street, Edinburgh, it offers an insight into a veteran\u2019s attempts to reintegrate into everyday life.<\/p>\n<p>It opens with a monologue performed by career soldier Sergeant Major Garry Worrall, after which audiences are introduced to the Oculus Go VR headsets that plunge them into a virtual space, and the veteran\u2019s inner life.<\/p>\n<p>It ranges through his home and then into his memories of deployment \u2013 an experience that is simultaneously familiar and strange.<\/p>\n<p>Afterwards the audience meet Garry again and have the chance to talk to him about his experiences in and out of the Army \u2013 opening up the space between the artists\u2019 ideas of army life and his first hand knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Julie Williamson, Lecturer in Human Computer Interaction at the university\u2019s School of Computing Science, developed the technical set up and collaborated on the script.<\/p>\n<p>She said:\u201cVirtual reality is often considered a solitary activity, but I\u2019m interested in exploring how we can use virtual spaces to expand shared experiences.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWorking with Dennis Reinmuller and Debbie Moody from RealRealReal and Army@TheFringe has given us a great opportunity to explore how theatre can be melded with VR to create an experience that can\u2019t be delivered any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Familiar Stranger features the voice of Louise Oliver as The Magazine Soldier, guiding the viewer through the fictional veteran\u2019s memory. The music is created by Sarah J Stanley of HQFU together with RealRealReal.<\/p>\n<p>Army@TheFringe is presented by Army Headquarters Scotland as a way of engaging with wider society through the arts and initiating discussion about soldiering.<\/p>\n<p>The venue, which runs from 10 to 25 August, is\u00a0staffed by soldiers who run the bar and front of house services, and who mingle with the public before and after shows.<\/p>\n<p>Familiar Stranger if supported by the University of Glasgow\u2019s Dean\u2019 Fund.<\/p>\n<p>It runs until 24 August with performances at 1pm, 3.45pm and 6.45pm daily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new performance piece melding live theatre and virtual reality has just opened as part of Army@TheFringe. Familiar Stranger\u00a0brings together live acting and virtual reality to tell the story of an Iraq War veteran returning to civilian life. The 45-minute &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/juliericowilliamson.com\/blog\/familiar-stranger-army-the-fringe\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[39,38,37],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/juliericowilliamson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/juliericowilliamson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/juliericowilliamson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juliericowilliamson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juliericowilliamson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/juliericowilliamson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":358,"href":"http:\/\/juliericowilliamson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions\/358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/juliericowilliamson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juliericowilliamson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juliericowilliamson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}