Free VR Experience Open Day (March)

Showroom Cinema has partnered with StoryFutures to become one of the first independent cinemas in the UK to offer Virtual Reality (VR). On 30 March, audiences can come and try out five VR experiences at Showroom – and all for free.

Taking place in Work Station’s Creative Lounge (next door to the cinema), five virtual experiences on a variety of subjects including going up into space, deep down into the ocean or into the deep world of caving, or exploring first-hand stories around immigration and LGBTQ+ adoption.

Titles:

• Drop in the Ocean

• Buried in the Rock

• This is Your Country Too

• Laika

• Kindred

The titles have been selected to offer experiences with something for audiences of all ages and for anyone new to VR and dedicated hosts will be on hand to help with learning, comfort and safety.

Additional Information

• Virtual reality experiences are recommended for ages 13+.

• Headsets will be sterilised between each use.

• Staff will be on hand to give you a brief introduction, help you into the headset, and answer any questions you may have.

The event is free to attend, tickets are not required, and experiences will be assigned on a first come, first served basis with a sign-up sheet of available time slots.

VR Experiences

Station 1: Drop in the Ocean

Give in to the urge to submerge. Ride a jellyfish. Meet a leatherback turtle. Come face-to-face with a whale shark. From the perspective of a tiny plankton, you’ll explore the ocean in stunning interactive VR, and see why the need to protect it is so urgent.

Slot length: 25 minutes. Standing or seated experience. Headset only.

Station 2: Laika

From the Oscar and BAFTA-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia, Laika is a Virtual Reality animation, giving audiences the chance to be immersed in the moving and tragic real life story of the first dog in space. The 15-minute short VR presentation featuring the voices of Sophie Okonedo and Tobias Menzies is set against the backdrop of the Soviet Union/USA space race in the 1950s.

Based on Nick Abadzis’ graphic novel, Laika tells the story of how a stray dog from the streets of Moscow became the first living creature sent by humans into space and the most famous dog in the world.

Slot length: 25 minutes. Seated experience.

Station 3: This is Your Country Too

This Is Your Country Too is an interactive comedy adapted from a BBC Radio play. It’s a satire on the immigration system or how our identity is ultimately defined by strangers. It’s based on the experiences of post-colonial Asian migrants from East Africa, whose British citizenship was downgraded by the UK government in the 1960s in reaction to the sudden influx of thousands of non-white subjects.

Slot length: 25 minutes. Seated experience.

Station 4: Kindred

Kindred is an animated VR story, driven by first person embodied narration of Syd. An aspirational trans non-binary parent who navigates the various stages of adoption, experiencing first-hand the highs and lows of a dream shared by so many.

After applying to become a parent, we (as Syd) navigate a system which makes us feel hopeless, as people around us find their match and build a family, while we are stuck in the same position for more than a year. Finally, after numerous close calls and more than 150 rejections, one child comes to the fore, a gender questioning seven year old named Ollie. The wheels are put in motion.

Eventually, Syd and Ollie’s relationship is solidified legally by the courts and the parent-child relationship is created. In one moment we become a family. The first non-binary child is adopted in the UK, and Ollie is adopted by Syd, the first non-binary adopter parent.

Slot length: 20 minutes

Station 5: Buried in the Rock

Buried in the Rock brings us into the world of Tim and Pam Fogg, speleologists who are passionate about exploring some of the world’s last remaining pristine environments. Through the protagonists’ descent into the Tullyard cave in Northern Ireland, the audience experiences the entire dramatic cave system in miniature. We hear Tim and Pam share their experiences and knowledge, including how cave formations hold information about the changes taking place in our environment and the scary moments when things start to go wrong.

Slot length: 20 minutes. Standing or seated experience. Uses controllers.