Event Space

Theater in Opensim is a lot of hard work, but well worth it, both for the performers and for the audience. The challenges are many - getting together a troupe who are able and willing to commit time and talent to the group project, figuring out how to convert a text into something workable in the virtual environment, where considerations about lag and scripts and assets can at times be super frustrating, plus the effort of getting an audience to come and see the performance - that's essential of course! We all know that the fragmented nature of opensim, and, let's confess it, the grid-tribalism we still suffer from just a bit, can make it hard for special events to get the audience they deserve.  Tristan Dehais and his opensim theatrical company "Les Théâtreux" are planning a long term project to put on "The Little Prince". 

By 'long term', we're talking about months of prep, with the idea of having the play ready next Spring. So you may ask, why blog about this now, so far in advance of the opening night? Well, that's s that you - yes you, you talented devil! - can maybe get involved; there are lots of ways that can be done, in terms of being an actor, helping out with props, scripts, loads of things on and off-stage. 

Tristan speaking during the French session of the Hypergrid International Expo, 2025

Tristan Dehaie gave an interesting talk about his experiences in virtual theater with "Les Théâtreux" at this year's HIE event and I asked him to go into more detail about his Opensim experience. He's French, so I wondered which grids had been to most impactful on his non SL virtual life. 

Tristan's Opensim theater, Event Space, is located on SV3D grid

Tristan Dehaie:  France-RP and SV3D. But it's more the people involved than the “grids” themselves, or their owners. In fact, I believe that anyone who sets up a grid (necessarily and consequently) wants activities to develop there.

Thirza Ember: That's for sure ! Can you tell us more about your activities in SL and opensim, and how the two compare? Does it keep you very busy?

Theatre on the Hill in Second Life

Tristan Dehaie: LOL, if they were paying jobs I'd live a lot better ! In Second Life, I belong to TOTH or 'Theatre On The Hill'. In that group, I'm usually just another performer. The activity is mainly focused on music, and we always play a soundtrack. It's probably from this habit that the basis for the first piece on OpenSim came. Our SL shows can be very different, as there are several “directors” involved, each with his or her own style. For example, one Christmas I created a tableau in which I had 12 nuns dance to two songs from the film “Sister Act”.  I also created a show on the theme of 'love songs around the world' where each song was paired with a picture of its country of origin as a background image.  

Tristan Dehaie: What these two activities have in common is the creative work that goes into coming up with the initial idea, and all the difficulties that have to be overcome in order to achieve what has been imagined in our heads. For example, sourcing the most beautiful photos to symbolize the country whose song is played, or finding the right animation for the nuns to dance, or for Elsa Rigaud to lean over and kiss her mother-in-law on her deathbed. The main difference between TOTH and Théâtreux is that I no longer work alone. 

Deathbed scene in 'Et l'oeuf engendre la poule'

Tristan Dehaie: On SL I have a lot of tools that facilitate my production, but I'm alone creating in my corner. In fact, that's what made me abandon a show I've been wanting to do, and in my head, since 2017. With "Les Théâtreux", it's a group that works hard to keep the whole thing moving forward. What's more, we can exchange ideas much more directly. On the other hand, the work takes longer because we have to compose. But it's also richer because each person brings his or her own contribution to the edifice. At TOTH, if my building is ugly or rickety, I'm solely responsible... and it's generally less accomplished because I haven't confronted other ideas and visions during the development of the creative process. To sum up: on SL, there are a lot of tools to help the creative process, which develops on its own; on OS, there's help and nourishing exchanges, so it takes longer.

Thirza Ember: What was the process like, choosing a play?

Tristan Dehaie: Personally, I'd really like to do a play like “Le noir te va si bien”  a comedy whodunit by Saul O'Hara, as it was one of my first theater experiences, but this play requires 9 actors, and we don't have nearly that many. When trying to think of another piece of writing that we could adapt, there weren't many other plays I could think of. We found that when we chose  'Et l'oeuf engendre la poule' (in English, 'The egg created the hen'). There were, of course, other texts by Jean Vilain, but as he had just been diagnosed with cancer (and has since been treated for it) it was difficult to insist on recovering these texts. In fact, the idea was for the actors to say (speak) the text, not for it to be a new soundtrack. So I suggested The Little Prince, without really knowing why, and with no hidden agenda... The whole troupe agreed, so all that was left to do was work....

Everyone loves The Little Prince. Written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery back in 1943, it's a novella about a 6 year old boy who visits different planets including earth and meets some memorable characters like the Rose and the Fox. The timeless reflections on loneliness, conceit, love, freedom, the difference in perception between adults and children, and much more. A world best-seller, it's been translated into 140 different languages.

Tristan Dehaie: Yes ... it's an international book !

Tristan and Pierre Segrov

In that spirit, even though the majority of the team are French speakers, including scripter Pierre Segrov shown here, Tristan's stage adaptation of The Little Prince is open to people of every language, like English-speaker voice actor Emil Jannings - Safari aficionados will remember his wonderful performance of a chapter of The Little Prince on sim Exupery

Tristan Dehaie: We, too, are delighted to have Emil on board. He really brings a lot to the troupe! Even if sometimes the exchange is a bit difficult because of my bad English. Anyone who is interested in joining this project, can do so by coming to the region on Thursdays at 9pm French time (12 noon SLT) and just ask any member of the group for some help.

On the landing point at Event Space theater.

Adapting Saint Exupery's novella so that it can be made to work in the setting of Opensim is no small task.

Tristan Dehaie: I'm not going to reveal all my trade secrets....  however, I can tell you, I have grouped certain scenes and I have kept the narrator (St Exupéry), but split him up when he interacts with other characters. The narration and the role of St Exupéry is played by two different people. All this took much longer than expected, because I wanted to stay as close as possible to the original text. 

HG Address: sv3d.fr:8002:EventSpace