On 26th May, the Sala de Grados B of the ETSI Informática of the University of Malaga was the stage for a stage experience that not only invited us to witness a play, but to literally feel it on our skin. It was the performance of The year of the snake, a play written by and starring Alessandra García, carried by the European project 6G-Sandbox, a novel initiative that explores the possibilities of 6G technology and which, in this case, collaborated with Owo and Nokia.

From the very beginning, the activity allowed us to meet Alessandra, a very committed actress with a very particular acting challenge: to bring to the stage a story that transmits emotions through her body, her voice, and through haptic technology.

Thanks to special costumes with patches that applied small vibrations or electrical impulses, the audience was able to experience these emotions physically, feeling in their own bodies what was happening on stage.

The experience was completed with another innovative technological component: a telepresence system with virtual reality glasses and turrets. The latter, located one on the stage and the other in the audience, offered a kind of digital teleportation: by putting on the glasses and selecting a menu option, we could virtually “move” from one point to another, see what was happening through the integrated cameras and listen in real time, generating a real sensation of being present in another place without having left the original site.

The play, in its plot, addressed bullying from a sensitive and introspective perspective, using the body and emotions to convey a series of traumatic events that, thanks to both Alessandra's performance and the haptic costumes, were able to offer a deeply immersive and empathetic experience. Rather than merely contemplating the suffering of others, the audience felt it.

After the performance, the technical team offered us to freely try out other sensations through the haptic suits: from a shot that pierces the body to a hug, the pressure of carrying a heavy object, a stab or even the stab of a dart. It was both entertaining and educational, and made us reflect on the possibilities that open up when technology is put at the service of art.

The year of the snake was not only a theatrical work; it was a completely immersive experience that blurred the boundaries between spectator and stage. A tangible demonstration that technological advances can be geared towards the arts as well as theatre, resulting in a perfect union between culture and technology.