Riverbed Theatre
Taiwanese surrealist theatre
Taiwanese surrealist theatre
Riverbed Theatre was founded in 1998 in Taipei, Taiwan. The company’s image-based, Total Theatre productions blur the boundaries between visual and performing arts. Critics have praised the organic, sculptural quality of Riverbed’s “subconscious” theatre, comparing the performances to the best works of Samuel Beckett and David Lynch.
Riverbed has staged over fifty original productions, including works at the Taiwan National Theatre, National Taichung Theater, Asia Culture Center (Korea), Esplanade Studio Theatre (Singapore), Theatre de la Condition de Soies (France), Imaginale Figurentheater Festival (Germany), Kobe Arts Village Center (Japan), and Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center (USA).
Riverbed’s virtual reality films have been selected for the Venice Film Festival for three consecutive years (2022–2024) and have received multiple international honors, including the Best Immersive Experience Award at the Luxembourg City Film Festival, the Panorama Award at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, and the Best VR360 Award at the Kaohsiung Film Festival.
In 2025, the XR immersive experience Blur was presented at the Venice Film Festival, National Theater & Concert Hall, National Taichung Theater, and Tainan Art Museum. In 2026, it was presented for six weeks at the PHI Centre in Montréal. The work received the Best Experience 2025 award from XRMust Awards and was also honored with a Numix Awards award.
Blur is a mixed-reality immersive theatre experience that explores this liminal state between life and death, fact and fiction.
Blur
When Jurassic Park was released in 1993, resurrecting dinosaurs seemed like something only possible in Hollywood films. Now, three decades later, fiction has become reality, as the wealthy can clone their deceased pets and “bring them back to life.” We are living in an age in which death no longer means the end.
Blur is a mixed-reality theatre experience that explores this liminal state between life and death, fact and fiction. The production immerses the ten audience members in a surreal world that integrates a live performer with the digital wonders of virtual reality. The audience journeys through an unfolding landscape, encountering firsthand the magical possibilities and terrifying consequences of these scientific advancements. The future is present. Step into the unknown.
Directors: Craig Quintero, Phoebe Greenberg
Creative Team: Riverbed Theatre, PHI Studio & Onassis Culture
Another highlight lies in how XR is used to shape the theatrical space, movement flow, and the physical-virtual transitions of the audience. These elements generate perceptual disorientation and surprise, blurring the lines between reality and illusion.
By integrating XR technology with theatrical performance and music, the work leads the audience into a fluid, ever-shifting world of imagination through constantly evolving visual effects, sound, and movement.
Jan. 13-25 New York, USA
May 7-15 Lisbon, Portugal
May 8-22 Chaillot National Theater of Dance, Paris, France
Feb. - Mar. PHI Studio, Montreal, Canada
Jul. 1-5 Theater der Welt in Chemnitz, Germany
Oct. - Nov. Korea Tour
Nov. - Dec. Miami, USA
National Theater and Concert Hall (NTCH), Taipei, Taiwan
National Taichung Theater (NTT), Taichung, Taiwan
Tainan Art Museum (TNAM), Tainan, Taiwan
The First Time I Walked on the Moon
Soft lights for sleepless nights
one-thousand circles for space travel
Just for You
The Forgotten
