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Virtual-reality headsets and goggles will transport the audience into the ‘multi-sensory’ opera Current, Rising
JOANNA SCOTCHER

Opera fans returning to Covent Garden this autumn may find themselves not only wearing masks, but virtual-reality (VR) headsets with goggles too.

The Royal Opera House (ROH) is putting on the first “hyper-reality opera”, Current, Rising, at the Linbury theatre in November, allowing audience members to step inside a production and have a “multi-sensory” experience involving sight, sound and touch, as well as “4D effects” such as wind.

Audiences will experience effects such as the earth shaking as a city rises up from the ground, magic doorways appearing for them to walk through, and their fellow viewers being separated from them while they’re all at sea.

The ‘hyper-reality’ opera’s effects involve sight, sound, touch and ‘4D effects’ such as wind
The ‘hyper-reality’ opera’s effects involve sight, sound, touch and ‘4D effects’ such as wind

To watch the 15-minute opera, groups of four first put on a VR backpack and headset. They then…

Source: Virtual-reality opera comes to London stage | News | The Sunday Times