VHS Volume 2: The Great British Burn Off
A new British-flavoured chapter of the original cult Virgin Voyages VHS workout experience.
Eight years ago, we put Sailors into an imaginary VHS fitness tape.
Somehow, they're still doing it.
The original VHS was one of the experiences I created around the launch of Virgin Voyages: an immersive 80s workout class that starts to unravel as the people in the room are pulled inside the tape itself.
It went on to become something of a cult favourite.
So when we began developing new Happenings for the fleet, the challenge wasn't to replace VHS. It was to work out what another volume could be.
The answer was VHS Volume 2: The Great British Burn Off.
Same gloriously ridiculous universe. Completely new tape.
This time we're rummaging through British pop culture, school discos and the songs that somehow still make people immediately want to move, keeping the references recognisable enough for an international audience without turning the whole thing into a Union Jack souvenir shop.
Behind the curtain
Music dictated a huge amount of the development.
Working with Adam Wright / Adamusic, we grouped tracks by BPM and built three continuous nine-minute mashups around the journey of a workout: warm-up, workout and cool-down.
That means the soundtrack isn't simply a playlist of British songs. Each section has somewhere to go, allowing choreography, comedy and theatrical moments to develop with it.
Visually, we pushed away from polished royal-Britain clichés and towards something scruffier: British punk, Vivienne Westwood, denim, tartan and grungy London energy.
The experience begins in The Manor with the VHS world appearing on screen. Before long, that boundary disappears and the cast, and eventually the room, are pulled inside it.
It's ridiculous.
It knows it's ridiculous.
And that's precisely why VHS still works.
Press play. It's time for Volume 2.
