ON AIR SOON
PILOT PREVIEW
Pixel Puppets — Live Interactive Theatre Where Performers Drive Digital Characters
Pixel Puppets is a new format of interactive theatre, in development since 2024. Live performers drive digital characters in real time on a cinema-scale screen, while the audience actively shapes what happens next. The work sits at the intersection of theatre, cinema and live gaming — designed for auditorium audiences, with no headsets or VR equipment required. We sometimes call it extended reality theatre, but the audience experience is closer to a really alive cinema show.
We're a Yorkshire-based theatre company, working across Sheffield (South Yorkshire) and Holmfirth (West Yorkshire) in the United Kingdom. In funded research and development, with support from the BFI Immersive Fiction Lab, Arts Council England, and Immersive Arts UK.
About the project
Pixel Puppets is a live comedy performance where digital characters are puppeteered in real time, turning a cinema screen into a strange, reactive playground. Costumed performers appear in front of the screen, using game controllers, live voice and facial tracking to bring animated characters to life as the audience watches. The result sits somewhere between theatre, video game, live stream and Saturday morning TV, with the room actively shaping what happens next.
Research and development
Currently in funded R&D. Building the show piece by piece — story, hardware, engine, latency — and seeing what lands. The current target is a 20-minute vertical slice as proof of concept.
- The format: 20-minute vertical slice, proof of concept.
- The story: scripted comedy meets live improv meets audience chaos.
- The puppetry: game controllers, live voice, facial capture.
- The screen: cinema-scale projection, with performers on stage in front of it.
- The latency: if the screen lags behind the actor, the magic dies — so reducing it is most of the technical work.
Team
- Ben Carlin — Artistic Director
- Joe Duggan — Producer
- Daniel Bacchus (opens in new tab) — Lead Development
- Various Artists Studio (opens in new tab) — Characters and Animation
Support and funding
- BFI Immersive Fiction Lab — Early concept development and initial R&D.
- Immersive Arts UK (Experiment Strand) — Active R&D phase.
- Arts Council England (R&D Grant) — Active R&D phase.
Contact
Get in touch: hello@pixelpuppets.co.
We're talking to venues, festivals, programmers and funders interested in live interactive performance, immersive theatre, digital theatre, extended reality theatre, and new theatre formats that sit between stage, cinema and gaming.
