Dear Esther Live
Fri 2 Feb 2018, 8pm
Brighton Dome Concert Hall
£15, £18.50, Under 26s £10
A boundary-warping new show comes to the Dome for one night only this Friday.
A live performance of the acclaimed computer game Dear Esther, from The Chinese Room, melds a live score from BAFTA award-winning composer Jessica Curry with theatrical storytelling, powerful visual art and live narration.
From its opening scene on a deserted Hebridean beach surrounded by brooding cliffs, it takes the audience on a journey of car crashes, dreamscapes and soaring flight, with narration by BAFTA-nominated Oliver Dimsdale, live game playing by Thomas McMullan and, new for this performance, Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner) leading on electronics to create a “beautiful and thought-provoking piece of work” (The Telegraph).
Laura Ducceschi, the producer of Dear Esther Live, said: “It’s been a huge realisation to me in understanding just how immersive this gaming technology can make an audiovisual project.
“From a sensory perspective it’s less about observing it to feeling that you are inside it.”
Originally released in 2012, the game Dear Esther, created by The Chinese Room, quickly gained critical acclaim for abandoning traditional gameplay in favour of atmosphere, rich storytelling and extraordinary art.
Jessica Curry, co-founder of The Chinese Room and composer of Dear Esther’s score, said: “One of the most exciting things about this tour is that no audience is going to get the same experience. The play through can change every night.”
