The Oracles

The Oracles is a multisited immersive gaming experience created by Punchdrunk Enrichment, developed for local primary school children in Haringey, London. Inspired by the myth of the Twelve Labours of Hercules, the project is designed to engage Key Stage 2 pupils with Greek mythology and mathematics, and to improve digital literacies. The research project sought to investigate how gaming pedagogies might be combined with immersive theatre principles to provide a range of learning opportunities for children as they played within and across a range of virtual and physical spaces. Although Punchdrunk Enrichment (PE) has previously integrated gaming principles into their work, The Oracles was the first time that digital gaming, in the form of a ‘virtual world’, had been incorporated into the theatrical experience.