Stars of BBC’s Merlin, Anthony Head (right), Katie McGrath and Warwick Davies, pose within a set prop at the opening night of Merlin: The Dragons Tower, at Warwick Castle, UK. (Image courtesy of Warwick Castle)
This summer, the
Showboat Branson Belle in Branson,
with their audiences. Amanda Deacon is one of them. Her Nevada-based company, Show Creators, Inc., which counts the likes of Disney and Trump among its clients, has built a reputation for pushing the audience interaction envelope. “Guests have an insatiable appetite for technology and
expect the latest and greatest interactive experiences and gadgets wherever they are,” remarks Deacon. “Guests also want to feel connected and interact with the experience. This has become increasingly evident in live entertainment yet I still feel there is a fine line between connectivity and breaking the fourth wall with an audience, particularly with conventional stage based shows.” Her company’s approach to breaking through this
boundary is a cast of live, interactive robotic characters called Showbots and Droidz that Deacon says are designed to look and sound like they have just walked off a movie screen into real life. “People just love to interact with them; they are blown away that our characters are a fusion of improvisational comedy, leading edge technologies and, of course, the irreplaceable magic of human touch.” Paul Collimore of UK-based Animalive is also typical of
this new generation of interaction-oriented producers. His company, which is billed as “the place where cartoons come to life,” pioneered the use of a combination of technologies - sophisticated motion capture systems, real time animation rendering software and video recording/mixing hardware -
www.InterPark.co.uk 31
to enable a client’s guests to appear on-screen with a live, interactive animated character. This feat earned Animalive IAAPA’s Brass Ring award for the Best New Product in 2010, winning in the Family Entertainment Centre Ride/ Attraction category.
Missouri, US, debuts Janice Martin, the world’s only violin-
playing aerialist who amazes audiences with her high-flying theatrics and musical
talent. (Image courtesy of Showboat Branson
Belle/Silver Dollar City Attractions)
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