That depends on your distro. On Debian/ubuntu(-based) distro’s, you can try apt list --installed playerctl, which will output nothing if the package isn’t yet installed, or the package name with version info if it is installed. To install it, run sudo apt install playerctl

On arch(-based) distro’s, you can try pacman -Qi playerctl, which should return an error if there is no such package installed, or several lines of info if it is installed. To install it, run sudo pacman -S playerctl, ideally after running a full system upgrade with sudo pacman -Syu

VLC appears to support MPRIS, so commands like

$ playerctl play-pause
$ playerctl next
$ playerctl previous

Should be able to control it. See the Relevant arch wiki page for more info.

VLC also appears to have a TUI interface. Check out the VLC wiki