Exploring volumetric video and narrative through Samuel Beckett's Play

This paper draws upon the primary research of an interdepartmental collaborative practice-as-research project that took place at Trinity College during 2017, in which a Samuel Beckett play, entitled Play, was reinterpreted for virtual reality. It included contributions from the Departments of Computer Science, Drama and Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The goal of this article is to offer some expanded philosophical and aesthetic reflections on the practice, now that the major production processes are completed. The primary themes that are dealt with in this paper are the reorganised rules concerning: (1) making work in the VR medium and (2) the impact of the research on viewership and content engagement in digital culture. In doing so we draw on the technological philosophy of Bernard Stiegler, who extends the legacy of Gilles Deleuze and Gilbert Simondon, to reflect on the psychic, sociopolitical and economic impacts of VR technology on cognition, subjectivity and identity in the contemporary digitalised world.