Brompton creates the narrative in Oscar At The Crown

Tessera LED video processors Brompton Technology give life to a dystopian future in Oscar At The Crown, an innovative theater experience performed in a converted underground venue located under Tottenham Court Road (London).

This production highlights how advanced LED processing technology can transform intimate spaces into powerful storytelling environments.. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where climate change has destroyed society, Oscar At The Crown follows a group of people exiled for their libertarian ideas, who have found refuge in a disused underground bunker that once served as a bar. To maintain sanity and spirit, Every night they celebrate a musical in honor of Oscar Wilde, reimagined for the modern era with rock music and wild expressions.

The production uses an LED video processor Brompton 4K Tessera SX40 together with a data distribution unit XD 10G card and a redundancy system, all supplied and supported by Stage Sound Services. The centerpiece is a wall LED INFiLED AR out of 10×2 meters with a pixel pitch de 2,97 mm, hidden behind a double-sided mirror that is dramatically revealed at key moments in the show.

The narrative interweaves the themes of free expression and survival, with an unexpected focus on Julie Cooper, de The OC, who, as the characters believe, predicted the fall of humanity through social media, pointing out that Twitter and The OC launched on the same day. This story culminates in a nine-minute musical number that transforms the hidden LED wall into what the video and projection designer, and creative director of video design company PixelLux, Nina Dunn, described as "a ballistic stained glass window”.

Rompiendo barreras

The enclosure itself, an old storage basement, was transformed into multiple performance spaces, including a subway car, banks of television screens, a bar, a stage and a DJ booth, with the LED wall covering an entire wall, which has a double function. Provides set extensions that transport the audience to spaces beyond the physical venue and creates a huge canvas for the characters' imaginations. Content includes environments generated by Unreal Engine that reflect the physical space, along with live images of three PTZ cameras that capture the artists.

Production demands exceptional precision and color intensity, which is an especially difficult challenge given the location of the double-sided mirrors and the theme of the show, focused on media overload with quick visual cuts. “Color is very important to me, along with image intensity”, Dunn points out.. “I always use the processor to the maximum and then dim the content so that, if we need that bright flash, we can get it”.

The SX40 interface proved crucial for quick adjustments during busy production schedules. “The operation of the interface is very intuitive. I found it very useful, since I only had to drag the color to where I needed it. It seemed like my requests were attended to very quickly.”, explica Dunn.

The double-sided mirror posed specific technical challenges, as it added a brown tint and dimmed the screen. Dunn and the PixelLux team, who worked on both the content and engineering of the show, they used the Overdrive function from Tessera to overcome these optical barriers and maintain color fidelity. "We found the Overdrive button and pressed it to make it work", adds Dunn.. “It was very important to have something reliable that we could hand over to an internal team that knew how to troubleshoot.”.

Beyond a theatrical experience

Oscar At The Crown pushes the boundaries of the theatrical experience, combining club atmosphere with storytelling. The LED screen shows live images from the cameras so that spectators in the bar can see the performance, graphics for post-show DJ sets and animated content synced to the artists' voguing moves.

“The information in this show is transmitted densely and quickly”, highlights Dunn. “One of the functions of video was to try to support the speed of information transmission, since the whole show is about media overload”. The SX40 manages this fast streaming of content while maintaining consistent visual quality across multiple input sources and output formats.. The production concludes each night, transforming from a theatrical performance into a true club night, with LED technology seamlessly transitioning from narrative support to dance floor highlight.

“Which was also amazing., regarding workflow, is being able to send content and know that it will reach the processor reliably. The signal path actually fit what we were broadcasting. That was crucial, especially when trying to match costumes and lighting”, Dunn concludes.. “The show is unique because it is a club night, but it's also a club night with heart because there's a story. Brompton LED processing makes this mix of theater and club atmosphere possible, maintaining consistent visual quality from the most intense performance moments to the DJ images after the show”.