Pip Brignall (LI 2002 – 07) – Creative Industries Council’s 100 CreaTech Companies to Watch
Pip Brignall (LI 2002 – 07) graduated from Drama Studio London in 2013 (with Newcastle University in between) and has been working for the last eight years as an actor and producer with a particular focus on immersive, interactive and site-specific theatre. In 2017, he partnered with a friend from drama school to set up a consultancy working with theatre companies to explore how immersive tech (Virtual and Augmented Reality) could help them expand their output and reach new audiences. Working with Sir Matthew Bourne, the University of California, Irvine’s Transformative Play Lab and Epic Games they were able to deliver some amazing projects.
When the pandemic struck, the consultancy work abruptly halted as theatre companies redirected their R&D funds to keeping staff employed so he took the opportunity to apply for a grant from Innovate UK (a funding arm of the DCMS) to build a prototype platform for distributing live performance in Augmented Reality using real-time motion capture and multiplayer gaming technology. The platform, called The Round, is the first of its kind in the world. They were successful in winning the grant, delivered the prototype last September and were then awarded a follow-up grant to deliver a viable product which they have just completed. Whilst working on the second grant project, he was approached by EE to work on a campaign for their BAFTA sponsorship and in April of this year, delivered the world’s first live performance in Augmented Reality with One Direction’s Liam Payne for the opening of the EE BAFTA Award Ceremony on The Round.
In September The Round was announced as one of the Creative Industries Council’s 100 CreaTech Companies to Watch, and are now working on refining the product for commercial release to enable artists all over the world to deliver their own virtual performances on The Round and are raising capital to achieve this goal. If you would like to find out more about the Round please contact Pip
