Richard E Grant To Star As Hologram In Musical

Actor Richard E Grant will appear in the world premiere of a stage musical – as a 3D hologram.

The creators of Water Babies, which makes its debut at Leicester's Curve theatre next week, have used a "21st-century twist" on a Victorian illusion to put the Withnail and I actor in the show.

He spent a day in a London studio in front of a black screen, and had his performance filmed using a high-end digital movie camera.

That will then be projected from below onto an angled transparent surface on stage – described as a "very, very fine invisible substitute for glass" - making it appear to the audience as though he is on stage.

Executive producer Tristan Baker told Sky News: "We’re using a 21st-century twist on a technique known as Pepper's Ghost.

"Instead of having an actor hidden in the orchestra pit reflected onto an angled sheet of glass, we're using an HD projection onto a glass substitute."

The technique was most famously used at the Coachella festival in 2012 where a CGI version of the late rapper Tupac Shakur was projected on stage.

Mr Baker added: "It’s been done before with Tupac and Madonna, but this is the first time the technique has been used by a theatre.

"We've been working on this for six years. We're excited. It will look like he's on stage, mingling with the other actors."

Grant plays the part of Kraken, the ruler of the underwater world.

He told the Leicester Mercury: "I got a call from my agent asking did I want to be a hologram in a production of Water Babies.

"The Kraken is not in the original book of The Water Babies, it's a role created just for this production.

"I had to spend the whole day in a grey suit sitting in a rocking chair made out of plumbing and piping.

"It was a bit like doing a voiceover part for an animated film. You come in for the day and that's your entire contribution."

He said he plans to travel to Leicester to watch the show when it opens on April 24.