PhD student’s immersive theatre show tackles social and cultural issues

Adipat Virdi, who is studying a PhD at the University’s School of English, premiered his latest immersive experience ‘I Am, Other’, in June 2024 at the University’s Colyer-Fergusson Music Building (having only started at Kent in September 2023).

‘I Am, Other’, which Adipat calls an example of ‘playable theatre’, is a family drama that actively investigates white privilege, judgement, identity & bias by inviting the audience, through interactive participation, to explore what difference means to them.

This new experience seeks to close the empathic gap between a story and an audience’s understanding of it, asking them to inhabit the story rather than just watch it and giving them the opportunity to see the world through each other’s lens. This means the production is different every time, with those present forming new dialogue about why it’s not okay to be different – a thought process and exploration that extends beyond the theatre space in which it’s performed and witnessed.

Students, staff and community members were amongst the varied audience members who watched and took part in ‘I Am, Other’ at the Colyer Fergusson Hall in June; and the feedback shows that it met its aims of challenging, moving and stimulating an audience. One participant commented ‘It was so unusual and interesting to be thinking through what we were watching out loud with others as the play unfolded in front of us. Together, we unpacked issues of bias, race, culture, religion – thinking through blame, solutions, expectations and different narratives on the same story. It made me think for a long time after leaving the theatre, about my family dynamics and the way we all think we understand others’ experiences in society, but really are trapped in our own viewpoint and experience.’

Another participant, from a globally-renowned immersive theatre company, said: ‘It’s refreshing to see a piece [like this] really understand immersion and push an audience to feel so connected to a subject that, I assume, most would not encounter in their everyday lives’.

‘I Am, Other’ is going to the Edinburgh Fringe festival in August, and Adipat is excited to see how new audiences might respond and shape the work as he performs it again there. He says ‘our work is about empowering audiences by removing the barriers to curiosity about the world around them, and to become advocates.’

This isn’t Adipat’s first foray into creating provocative immersive theatre experiences, and his last project, ‘Killing Honour’, which allowed the audience to become a jury that had to judge whether the main characters were innocent or guilty of an honour crime, was a finalist at the Sundance New Frontier Story lab.

Adipat is currently the co-chair for the Technology Strategy Group at the Digital Television Group and was previously the Global Creative Product Lead for Immersive at Facebook (Meta), tasked with exploring the creative potential of Immersive for commercial impact. In 2023, at the age of 50, he decided to swap delivering cutting-edge creative and strategic solutions for the Metaverse for something he feels has more value at this moment in time – telling immersive stories for real world social impact.

Adipat is keen to continue exploring EDI-focussed themes. After ‘I Am, Other’ and ‘Killing Honour’, his next two projects will explore: firstly, themes of identity and interpretation (especially in the world on fake news) set in the world of the Arabian nights and, secondly, looking at Emotional Quotient and children. Set on the London Underground – this is a project to show children how they can find their inner superpowers.

I Am, Other promotional poster