Inseguendo Orlando

Art Direction — Scenic Design — Real-time 3D

Based on Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. Teatro La Fenice, Senigallia (2022).

Based on Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto, this is the third collaboration between the Digital Experience Lab held by Daniele Tabellini at UNIRSM Design and the Classical Theatre Lab of Liceo Perticari directed by Giorgio Sebastianelli. After Macbeth (2022) and Le Nuvole (2023), this was the second year the scenography went fully three-dimensional.

Five student groups developed concept research and visual sketches in Three.js, each assigned a theme-layer from Ariosto's poem: landscapes, mirrors, fabrics, eyes and moon, tarots and colors. The real-time 3D engine, the live performance system and the core visual architecture were built by Daniele, with students contributing research, prototypes and scene-specific sketches controlled live during the performance. The tool was released as open source software on GitHub. 

The standout contribution was fabric — cloth physics simulated using Cannon-es, moving differently across three scenes: reactive and audio-driven for Alcina's enchantment, near-weightless for the love between Angelica and Medoro, twisted and released under tension for Orlando recovering his sanity.

Physical mirrors, designed and built in the UNIRSM workshop, moved on stage alongside the projections creating a dialogue between reflected and projected space that became a recurring visual motif across the whole production.

About the Lab

Each production is the final project of the Digital Experience Lab, a semester-long course in the Master's Degree in Interaction & Experience Design at UNIRSM Design. Starting from a brief on making the invisible visible, students learn to research, design and direct complex open source projects, approaching generative design, creative coding and machine learning from a designer's perspective, with the methods of a creative technologist, art director and artist. The final project is not a prototype: it is a live performance in a real theatre, where the scenography they built runs in front of an audience. All tools and documentation are released as open source on GitHub.

Course Syllabus

Poster

Docs, Source Code and Demo

GitHub Wiki (new tab)
GitHub Repo (new tab)
Demo (new tab)

Credits

Scenic Design 

Art Direction: Daniele Tabellini
Scenography: students from the Master's Degree in Interaction & Experience Design at the University of the Republic of San Marino
Tech: Three.js / Live visuals + Custom mirrors

Students: Paesaggi: Luca Chiavaroli (@LucaChiav), Giulia Digiorgio (@giuliadigi), Sirio Procacci (@sprocacci), Margherita Zotti (@margheritazo) / Specchi: Giorgia Martini (@giorgia2404), Giulio Mazzanti Dolci (@Gorgonzola13), Sara Seu (@saraseu), Luca Trentalange (@LucaTrentalange) / Tessuti: Anna Di Franco (@an2105na), Laura Facchini (@laurafacchini30), Valentina Ugolini (@wednesdayy999), Alessandra Valentini (@alessandravalentini) / Occhi e luna: Lucrezia Marcellitti (@lmarcellitti), Roberta Palermo (@RobP17), Maurizio Raniolo (@Mrzrnl), Alessia Tiberi (@alessiatibe) / Tarocchi: Giacomo Albani (@giaaaacomo), Mario Falasca (@MarFal00), Rebecca Rizzo (@Pepirizzo), Luca Zanetti (@lucazanetti98).

Text

Directed by Giorgio Sebastianelli
Performed by students from the Classical Theatre Lab of the G. Perticari State Classical High School (Senigallia, IT)
Choreography: R. Onori, M.C. Mazzaferri
Costume Design: M.C. Mazzaferri
Collaboration: M. Bellocchi, R. Onori, M.C. Mazzaferri
Sound Design: S. Barchiesi

Images