Marie Jourdren
Creative Director
Luxury. Culture/Art. Experiences.

Luxury. Culture/Art. Experiences.

Bedlam

XR THEATRE — 2021

ROLE.     CO-WRITER, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, & PRODUCER

POSTER.

CONTEXT.

Established in 1247, Bethlehem Hospital — “Bedlam” — became the world’s oldest asylum, and a destination where the public could visit the insane for entertainment. Bedlam became a byword for chaos, spectacle, and the uncomfortable question: who is really watching whom? Artist Mat Collishaw wanted to rebuild the asylum in virtual reality — not as a historical recreation, but as a mirror held up to our own voyeurism in the age of digital media.

APPROACH.

I co-wrote the script and led the creative direction and production of the piece, which we developed in two distinct formats. The installative version is a walk-through XR theatre for ten spectators at a time. The physical set is built on the actual floor plan of Bethlehem Hospital. Each visitor is assigned a 17th-century persona — a puritan theologian, a duchess in disguise, a plague doctor — and gradually discovers they must embody a role in the story. The narrative design is layered: the piece begins as a seemingly conventional museum exhibition, then pivots into immersive theatre without warning. Patients become increasingly confrontational, and the final character — Big Daniel — turns the mirror squarely on the audience, exposing the voyeurism that brought them through the door.

The remote version pushed the format further: actors captured in real time in our Paris studio, broadcast live in VR to individual audience members in Taiwan — one-to-one immersive theatre across continents.

WORK.

A 90-minute extended reality experience in two formats. Ten spectators with individual personas navigating a historically accurate reconstruction of Bedlam. A reactive actor performing live in motion capture, improvising with the audience in real time. A narrative structure designed so that no two performances are the same — each spectator’s choices unlock different scenes, and the story reshapes itself around the group. Exhibited at TCCF Taiwan.

TRAILER.

3D SETS.

MAIN CHARACTER — ‘BIG DANIEL’.

MAKING-OF.

SESSION PERFORMED IN PARIS AND BROADCAST LIVE IN VR TO AN AUDIENCE MEMBER IN TAÏWAN.

AWARDS & HONORS.

ARTIST. MAT COLLISHAW
CO-WRITING, CREATIVE DIRECTION & PRODUCTION. MARIE JOURDREN
INNOVATION DIRECTION. ANTOINE CARDON
PRODUCTION. EL-GABAL

MUSIC

PHILIP GLASS

CIRCUS DIRECTION

TILDE BJÖSFORS (CIRKÜS CIRKÖK)

VISUAL DESIGN

MAT COLLISHAW

LIBRETTO

DAVID HENRY HWANG, AFTER ROBERT LAX

SET DESIGN

CHRISTIAN FRIEDLÄNDER

SET CREATIVE AND TECH CONSULTING

MARIE JOURDREN

PRODUCTION

PONT-NEUF