When you think about it, it’s a little odd that Nick Cave, a handsome man with a recognizable face and a tremendous amount of presence, hasn’t done that much acting. The man does have a few different careers, and he keeps himself busy; Carnage, the album that he recently made with Warren Ellis, is now just one week old. But whenever Cave has showed up in movies over the years — a larger-than-life rockabilly named Freak Storm in Johnny Suede, a doomsaying saloon singer in his The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford cameo — Cave has popped. Today brings the strange but cool news that Cave will take part in a new Shakespeare production.

The Guardian reports that Cave has joined the cast of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new interactive production, which is inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the 50-minute show, Cave will play the voice of “a virtual forest.” If you’re going to cast someone as a virtual forest, Nick Cave seems like a pretty good choice.

According to The Guardian, the show “combines virtual reality and video game technology with live performance.” The show follows the Midsummer Night’s Dream character Puck, and viewers can control the fireflies he encounters. The Royal Shakespeare Company is producing the show with Manchester International Festival, Marshmallow Laser Feast, and the Philharmonia Orchestra. It’s a live show filmed in a motion capture studio.

Cave and Marianne Faithfull’s 2018 duet “The Gypsy Faerie Queen” was inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In that Guardian piece, Manchester International Festival head of music Jane Beese says, “With his mystical voice and dark vocal tones, Cave is the perfect person to represent the forest, helping audiences traverse the otherworldly land of Dream.” Makes sense to me!