What happens when you take a disgruntled cinema fan who confesses to have always shown very little interest in theatre, and place him in a real life experiment based on theatre and cinema productions?

Well, we hope to answer this question, with our very scientific experiment, kind of.

The experiment takes the aforementioned grumpy individual and subjects him to a live performance, both in the flesh, and on the big screen.

The experiment was carried out on the same evening, in conjunction with the Garrick Theatre in London, and the Picturehouse cinema just down the road.

The test subject will watch the first half of a production of Romeo and Juliet in the theatre, then at the interval he will be sped across town to watch the second half of the same performance in the cinema, being shown live as it will be captured on film at the theatre.

So the night came and the participant took his seat at the theatre for the first half, and interestingly, a strange thing happened.

The self-confessed theatre avoider actually enjoyed the performance, and really took to the production, getting fully immersed by the plot and the characters.

Once the first half was concluded it was off to the cinema for the second half, which was the exact same live performance that was being recorded and streamed to this cinema location.

Once sat down, it suddenly became apparent to the test subject that the livestream was in black and white.

Although this decision was intentional by the director, it did take a bit of getting used to at first.

The feedback from the experiment was interesting to both the participant and the test conductors.

The test subject stated that the feeling inside the room was very different, and the audience was unengaged in the cinema which made the production lose its impact.

The set also felt huge on the screen, where as in person it had felt normal and in proportion. 

A very different experience which clearly have their own application.