It’s the 22nd century, and humans are able to transfer their memories to an automatic operating system. The system can mimic human behavior, allowing human owners to complete unfulfilled aspirations after death.
This is all part of Code: Cytus (柯基托斯), a stage production inspired by a popular smartphone game.
Developed by Taiwan’s Rayark Games, Cytus was released for iOS in January 2012 and became the No. 1 music game at app stores in over 65 countries.
Photo courtesy of Divertimento Media
Gameplay calls for dexterous fingers. As dots flash to the beat of an instrumental track, the player taps them to score points and unlock new chapters in a story about Vanessa, a girl whose memories are transferred into a robot.
Onstage, Code: Cytus offers gameplay, too.
“The entire stage will be transformed into an arcade,” said director Chiu Yi-chun.
Photo courtesy of Divertimento Media
Twenty minutes before the show starts, the audience can configure their smartphones to a real-time game feed. Throughout the show, new challenges will appear on hanging screens, and gamers can compete in four teams for prizes, she said.
Meanwhile, a live band provides a propulsive backdrop, part original electro-pop and mostly video-game music.
“Eighty percent of the music is derived from the game [Cytus] — most of that has been adapted to fit the plot and to give the musicians a chance to show off their skills,” Chiu said.
Photo courtesy of Divertimento Media
MAN AND ROBOT
Code: Cytus is the latest creation by Divertimento Media (樂乎乎工作坊), a Taipei-based multimedia studio that Chiu co-founded in 2010.
It features a cast of musicians, actors, a DJ and dancers joined by floating black-and-white holograms generated by a 3D projector.
The stage production follows the misadventures of Operator No. 153, an automatic operating system tasked with fulfilling one dead woman’s last wishes, as it tries to complete its mandate and meets highly skeptical family and friends along the way.
According to the production notes, the question for the audience is whether a person’s memories and emotions can, when transferred into a robot, come out the other side as a successful human replica.
The audience is advised to arrive 20 minutes prior to opening for smartphone configuration and tours of pre-show exhibitions, which include a Cytus-themed art exhibition and a virtual reality room. The show is 60 minutes long without intermission.
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