Computer Aided Theatre (CAT) proposes to radically extend live performance by adding a layer of data to immersive theatre experiences,
solving recurring formal limitations faced by theatre makers and dramatically improving immersion, interaction and storytelling for audiences.
CAT is a limited company incorporated March 2016 to develop commercially available narrative and interaction solutions aimed at creators of immersive experiences. – In the form of a suite of tools we call the Live Events Narrative Engine (LENE). LENE has seen significant development since, including a one-year Innovate UK funded Proof-of-Market research project that identified and sized our market, refined LENE’s product design to
meet the needs of prospective users and identified a route-to-market strategy.
Versions and components
of the system have been piloted in performance, including as the Craic-and-Trace at Glastonbury Festival 2022, and in support of branching, personalised storylines for thousands of audience members across Boomtown Festival’s Immersive Theatre Maze.
Boomtown Fair is a 70,000 capacity UK music and arts festival. Founded in 2009, it has an elaborate mythos, and features sustained year-on-year worldbuilding. The unfolding Boomtown story has included elections, revolutions, hackers and corporate conspiracies, with each city district containing key characters and displaying distinct visual identities.
In 2017 Boomtown Fair collaborated with CAT (Computer Aided Theatre) in a pilot project to expand this mythos using immersive technologies. Bringing a holistic approach to storytelling across all audience interactions, online
and IRL and deploying a networked system of interfaces across site, C.A.T helped
Boomtown deliver a pervasive storyworld for personalised audience exploration.
