differencEngine was founded in 2013 by Jon Cooper and Andrew Somerville. The company created site-specific immersive experiences that fused technology, live performance, and game design — experiences which were led by, reflected, and unique to each audience.
During differencEngine's five-year run, the company created and produced interactive theatrical experiences that championed the audience as the protagonist and hero. differencEngine is no longer in operation, but you can explore the company's past work here.
The People's Revolt • 2017 • The Tower of London, London
THE PEOPLE'S REVOLT was an interactive hybrid experience in partnership with Historic Royal Palaces that brought audiences to the Tower of London to stage a modern-day Peasants Revolt. Over the course of a week, audiences were invited to explore an alternate near-future timeline where high taxes and unstable leadership set the scene for a modern-day mirroring of Wat Tyler's 1381 Peasants' Revolt.
Read more about The People's Revolt.
Credits
- DIRECTORS: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville
- WRITERS: Jon Cooper, Tim Kelleher
- COMPANY PRODUCER: Katherine Webb
- HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES PRODUCER: Adam Sibbald (HRP)
- PRODUCTION MANAGER: Becky Brown
- INTERACTION DESIGN: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville
- SET DESIGNER: Tim Kelleher
- LIGHTING DESIGNER: Janis Lejins
- COSTUME DESIGN: Dev Danzig
- WEB DESIGN: Tobi Warwick Jones
- ASST STAGE MANAGERS: Ed Butler, Amy Taylor
- CAST (October 2017): Simon Donohue, John Henry Falle, Liam Fleming, Alex Gilbert, Joao Maia, Imran Momen, Zack Polanski, Stella Taylor, Rob Thompson
- CAST (MARCH 2017): Chandrika Chevli, Martin Coat, Allan Scott Douglas, Liam Fleming, Maria Pearson, Zack Polanski
The Lost Cartographers • 2017 • London
THE LOST CARTOGRAPHERS was a live interactive children's experience created as part of the South London Gallery's Making Routes Festival. The festival aimed to bring adjacent communities together through art and champion the visibility and inclusion for disabled people in community and cultural life.
Held over three days at Oasis Play, South London Gallery, and Battersea Arts Centre, THE LOST CARTOGRAPHERS embraced these themes by introducing children to a pair of wayward “aliens“ seeking a way home. The children helped the aliens by sharing language, objects, and stories with them — celebrating the best of their home while aiding the visitors in returning to theirs.
Credits
- DIRECTORS: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville
- INTERACTION DESIGN: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville
Vigilance • 2016 • London
VIGILANCE was an interactive R&D hybrid experience in partnership with Arts Council England that invited private audiences to examine their own biases and judgements through the lens of ethical hacking.
The show explored how context (and lack thereof) can impact how an audience understands a character’s motivations. It was also one of differencEngine's first experiments in bringing an audience into a story long before they ever arrived at a live event — using virtual elements to keep them engaged and provide touch points throughout the experience.
Read more about Vigilance.
Credits
- DIRECTORS: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville
- INTERACTION DESIGN: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville
Battlefield Hardline: Live • 2015 • London
BATTLEFIELD HARDLINE: LIVE was an interactive live experience commissioned by EA as part of its UK launch for the latest title in the Battlefield series.
During the experience, groups of up to 5 were challenged to sneak, steal, and swindle their way through a real-life stealth mission in the Battlefield Hardline universe — where a £10,000 cash prize awaited the best team of the lot. Over ten days, hundreds of people (along with journalists and influencers) infiltrated the vaults beneath Clerkenwell Prison in London. There, they had an hour to raid a secret underworld base, rescue a VIP, and escape without getting caught.
Read more about Battlefield Hardline: Live.
Credits
- DIRECTORS: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville
- INTERACTION DESIGN: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville
In My Shoes: Dancing with Myself • 2015 • XR
IN MY SHOES: DANCING WITH MYSELF was a mixed-reality experience conceived by Jane Gauntlett to help audiences experience unique and impactful moments they may never otherwise face in their day-to-day life. Each piece uses a combination of multi-sensory theatre, technology and first-person documentary to recreate extraordinary real-life events.
differencEngine co-produced the 360° immersive film, which focused on one of Gauntlet’s experiences with epilepsy, examining the feelings of being unable to communicate to others about what you need. The film has been exhibited internationally in theatres, festivals, hospitals, universities and institutions, including the Aspen Ideas Festival, UK Parliament, Roundhouse, UK Design Festival, UCL, NYU and Columbia University, and more.
Read more about In My Shoes: Dancing with Myself.
Credits
- CREATOR: Jane Gauntlett
- DIRECTORS: Jane Gauntlett, Andrew Somerville
- WRITER: Jane Gauntlett
- CO-PRODUCER: differencEngine
- VIDEO & AUDIO PRODUCTION: Visualise
Secret, Secret, You Can't Know • 2015 • Oxford Story Museum, London
SECRET, SECRET, YOU CAN'T KNOW was an interactive storytelling treasure hunt for 500 children commissioned by The Phoenix Comic for its yearly festival.
When a naughty pig and owl broke into the archives of the Phoenix Comic, ‘The Phoenix Emergency Response Team’ enlisted the help of children attending the festival to help set things right. Together they solved puzzels, righted wrongs, and used their creativity to power a time machine which took them on journey... into the future!
Credits
- DIRECTORS: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville
- INTERACTION DESIGN: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville
Heist • 2014 • Theatre Deli, London
HEIST was an Off West End-nominated interactive live experience with a simple premise: for one night, live a life of crime. Audiences of eight began HEIST by entering a shady bar, where a mysterious figure asks them to plan and execute the perfect crime: an underworld art heist.
The experience was one of the very first to give its audience full control over their own story, merging elements of gaming, immersive theatre, and live performance. Originally slated to run for three weeks, HEIST sold out its initial run in just two hours and received rave reviews from The Stage, Time Out London, and Exeunt Magazine. It carried on for nine full sold out months before literally bringing the house down — closing only when its venue was demolished as part of a larger-area renovation.
Read more about Heist.
Credits
- CREATORS: differencEngine & Dean Rodgers
- CO-PRODUCER: Theatre Deli
- DIRECTORS: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville
- STORY & SCRIPT: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville
- INTERACTION DESIGN: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville
- PRODUCTION MANAGER: Becky Brown
- STAGE MANAGER: Hetti Curtis
- ASST STAGE MANAGER: James Hyde
- LIGHTING DESIGNER: Natalie Lindine Jones
- ART DIRECTOR: Jane Brodie
- ASST SCENIC DESIGNER: Tim Kelleher
- ART DEPARTMENT ASSISTANTS: Lucy Cullen, Robbie May, Susie Wolfe, Jonathan Blackmore, Kitty Walker & Elena Stevanoska
- PR & MARKETING: Holly Hardy
- TECHNICAL ASSISTANT: Keith Lim
- SOCIAL MEDIA: Annabel James
- CAST (MARCH 2014–CLOSE): Nikolai Calcoen, Neil Connolly, Martin Coat, Andy David, Charlotte Donachie, Matthew Haigh, Tom Hall, Adam Lannon, Tom Lionetti, Thom Mitchell, Stephen Myott-Meadows, James Rowland, Sarah Thomas-Lane
- ORIGINAL CAST (Feb–March 2014): Astor Agustsson, Nikolai Calcoen, Martin Coat, Neil Connolly, Emma MacLennan, Thom Mitchell
Mr. White • 2013 • South London Gallery, London
MR. WHITE was a live interactive children's experience commissioned by the South London Gallery as part of their social space and play for local children in Sceaux Gardens Estate.
Designed as a unique experience in play and storytelling, the show introduced the children to two detectives who recruited them to join the hunt for “Mr. White” – an evil spy running wild on their estate. Over the course of three weekly sessions, the show tailored a reactive and one of a kind complex narrative for the children based off their imagination, climaxing in a dramatic radio treasure hunt chase.
Credits
- DIRECTORS: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville
- INTERACTION DESIGN: Jon Cooper, Andrew Somerville