In ‘Hamlet 360’, the play is the thing wherein to catch the concept of virtual reality drama.

How well can you present a serious theatrical performance with virtual reality (VR) tech?

That’s the challenge taken on by “Hamlet 360: Thy Father’s Spirit”, an hour-long condensation of the play created by Boston’s beloved Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and Google. “Hamlet 360” can be seen online but is best delivered to small groups of people, each with their own VR headset and swivel chair. We were lucky enough to see it in its short Boston run, presented by Commonwealth founding artistic director Steven Maler.

Given Commonwealth’s professional skills, it was no surprise that the play was beautifully acted and staged. We quickly adjusted to the VR setup. The headsets and earphones were comfortable and easily removed. The visual resolution and color quality were disappointing, like a 360-degree version of old broadcast TV. Some of us particularly liked being held within our own hermetically sealed VR environment, some of us not so much.  I wondered how the experience would strike people in their teens and twenties, who grew up with sophisticated computer games and primitive VR platforms such as Nintendo’s Wii.

We were soon turning in our chairs to follow the action, which might be anywhere around us since we were in the middle of each scene. (Yes, the inverse of theater-in-the round.)  Since that viewpoint is fixed during the scene, the director and performers may need to fundamentally reconsider their stage directions. But the action scenes were convincing, especially the fatal duel between Hamlet and Laertes. And there’s a twist at the end of the play that has nothing to do with tech and that I found moving.