Nowhere to Hyde

A key part of the work of the Creative Economy team at Cardiff University is the REACT project, which has acted as a catalyst and has shown the rewards – and challenges – that come from working collaboratively between the university and the creative economy.

As REACT is moving into its final year we’re looking at the legacy of the projects that have been involved in REACT over the past three years, as well as assisting those projects that are moving forward and continuing beyond their initial funding phases. The biggest news for REACT in 2015 so far is that Dr Anthony Mandal, based in the School of English, Communication and Philosophy, along with his creative economy partner Slingshot, has received alumni funding from REACT HQ at Bristol’s Watershed to help push their work on Jekyll 2.0 to the next level.

Emerging from a series of projects around the theme of Books & Print, Jekyll 2.0 was inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. It drew on Anthony’s expertise in the work of Stevenson and his desire to explore parallels between the rapidly changing cultural, scientific and technological landscape of the late nineteenth century from which the book emerged and today’s world of technological advancement. This made for a rich level of engagement with Slingshot. Take a look at the video below to hear more from Anthony and Slingshot’s Simon Evans, and get a feel for the project:

Now renamed Hyde, the project is set to become a full-scale immersive theatre/gaming experience by the end of 2015, complete with sensory monitoring of bio-data that allows you as a participant to control the space through your breathing and your heart rate.

Given the popularity in recent years of work by the likes of immersive theatre company Punchdrunk, and the success of Slingshot’s own live-action zombie game 2.8 Hours Later (now gearing up for its third incarnation), Hyde is a truly exciting prospect, combining the worlds of theatre, literature, technology and gaming to offer an experience that promises to be both thrilling and thought-provoking.

We’ll be working closely with Anthony and the Slingshot team throughout the year, and will bring you updates as we have them!

You can follow REACT on twitter @REACThub, and Slingshot at @S_Shot