in partnership with The B-Bar
NEWS: Barbican Theatre announce the UK and European premiere of The Future Undokai Games coming to Plymouth in April 2023
Barbican Theatre are excited to announce that Plymouth is hosting the UK and European premiere of the Future Undokai Project, which will be known as Plymouth Undokai, with events and games running across the Spring, culminating in two weekends of games at the end of April, including the final ‘Plymouth’ version of events taking place at Brickfields Sports Centre.
The Future Undokai Project is a groundbreaking Japanese initiative exploring the future of intergenerational community sports and how communities might design new multi-player physical games. And Plymouth is home to its UK & European premiere!
The Plymouth Undokai project is all about bringing people together to have fun and play games. Participants get to play traditional Undokai games - similar to what they might play at a school sports day, fair or carnival but with a twist and a bit of tech mixed in - and also create and play brand new games just for Plymouth!
Creating and playing your own games that fuse traditional sports with future tech is a unique aspect of Undokai and we can’t wait for Plymouth to get involved.
Image: an example of a Future Undokai activity in Japan
There will be two main ways for people to take part in the Plymouth Undokai
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As a Player - someone who plays the traditional games and the new games made in Plymouth (for ages 8-88). This is idea for:
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People who want to have fun and play games
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People who like mixing with lots of different people
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People who really enjoy sports day at school
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People who like beach or park games
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Groups such as football clubs, scouts, guides, cubs, brownies, boys brigade, girls brigade, young carers, home school groups, duke of edinburgh groups.
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As a Developlayer - someone who helps co-create the new games and events in Plymouth and then joins in with the players to play them! This is ideal for people aged 10+ who are:
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Community Leaders
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Dancers / choreographers / movement artists
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Sports Coaches
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Teachers
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Students
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Tech whizz kids
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Gamers
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Image: an example of a Future Undokai sports day / Developlayer event in Japan
Plymouth Undokai is hopefully the first annual event. In Japan, there are 70,000 Undokai events a year - with 10 million people taking part!
Laura Kriefman, Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Director, Barbican Theatre, Plymouth said
“Why can’t we, as a city, invent our own sports? Imagine inventing, here in Plymouth, the next ‘football’ or ‘curling’! I am so excited to be able to bring this amazing project to our city and see what games Plymothians want to make, to play together. We have our fingers crossed that this is the first year of many for Plymouth Undokai. I look forward to the laughter and the amazing games we invent.“
The first ever Plymouth Undokai takes place over two weeks in April 2023, with three ways to join in:
PLAY IT: JAPANESE STYLE GAMES
15 & 16 April: @ YMCA Centre in Honicknowle
Play traditional undokai games designed and led by the team from The Undokai Association who are coming over from Japan, they’ll include games such as tug of war, relay races, long rope jumping, centipede racing and more fun activities. We’ll also mix in a little bit of tech in the afternoon!
For: ages 8-88.
Tickets: Pay What You Decide (including £0)
On Sale Now: GET TICKETS (1 day pass)
DEVELOP IT: CO-CREATE THE PLYMOUTH GAMES
21 April @ University Of Plymouth & 22 - 23 April @Brickfields Sport Centre
As a DeveloPlayer people get to rewrite the rule book! This is a seriously cool opportunity for them to design and create a new series of games with the Undokai Association team from Japan while they are in Plymouth. We'll have students and leaders from University Of Plymouth's Arts Institute and i-DAT who are working on Games Design and Games & Experience Design to incorporate their innovations and tech ideas into the games as well.
Then on the final day we'll gather 200 people at the centre to play your games with you!
Fri 21 April @ University Of Plymouth - an ideas lab where we'll all meet and run through ideas and maybe do a few testers.
Sat 22 April @ Brickfields Sport Centre - our main DeveloPlayer day. Get stuck in and co-create 6-8 games for people of all ages and abilities to play the day after. It's a hackathon with a twist!
Sun 23 April @ Brickfields Sport Centre - PLAY IT Plymouth style. Our final day of Plymouth Undokai - we'll have 200 people come together to play the games developed over the two previous days
For ages 10+
Tickets: Pay What You Decide
On Sale Now: GET TICKETS (3 day pass)
PLAY IT: PLYMOUTH STYLE
Sunday 23 April @ Brickfields Sports Centre
On our final day we’ll get into teams and play the new games developed in our DeveloPlayer sessions - these will be the first ever players to try them out! It’s going to be so much fun and is as much about taking part than winning (although we will have medals and awards at the end of course!) We can’t yet tell people what the games will be like (they don’t exist yet) but imagine a mashup of Takeishi’s Castle meets TaskMaster meets your school sports day and you might have a bit of an idea!
For: ages 8-88.
Tickets: Pay What You Decide
On Sale Now: GET TICKETS (1 day pass)
Image: Plymouth Undokai taster and team building session at University Of Plymouth arts Institute on Sat 14 Jan.
A number of taster ‘play days’ have been in held in communities across the city in January, February and March (at University Of Plymouth, Keyham and Devonport) in the lead up to the main events in April when teams from Future Undokai Association in Japan will be in Plymouth (please see events list above). We’re also thrilled to be holding a Conference and Conversations event at The University Of Plymouth as part of Plymouth Undokai (more information on the conference to be published shortly).
Our first taster and team building day was held at University Of Plymouth in the Arts Institute on 14 January where students and course leads from their Games Design MA worked with members of the public to discuss, play with ideas and hear from the Barbican and Undokai teams.
Hanah Irwin, Strategic Projects Manager, The Bridge at University Of Plymouth said
“The Arts Institute team at University Of Plymouth are really excited to be partnering with Barbican Theatre and Undokai Association to bring such incredible opportunities to Plymouth. Our students and facilitators in games design, digital media and events are already so invested in this project which is allowing them to develop what they have studied in the real world with communities and the games innovators at Undokai. I can’t wait to see the results of everyone’s hard work in April”.
Image: Upcycled tower building (to hold an egg!) at the taster day held at Devonport Live Cafe on 11 March
Plymouth Undokai is produced by Barbican Theatre, Plymouth in partnership with The Future Undokai Project and the Undokai Association and funded by
Daiwa Foundation, Sasakawa Foundation, University of Plymouth, Arts Council England, and Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.
Tickets for all Plymouth Undokai events including PLAY IT and DEVELOPLAYER days are all Pay What You Decide, which includes £0. Book tickets now at barbicantheatre.co.uk
Details of the Plymouth Undokai conference will be published shortly.
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