The RSC explores new ground on Twitter.
Working with 4ip, Screen West Midlands and a host of other collaborators and sponsors, the RSC is pushing forward innovation in theatre by launching the first tweeted Shakespeare production 'Such Tweet Sorrow'.
Six actors take on characters from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, tweeting their lines in real time over the next 5 weeks. There is no script as such but writer Tim Wright and Director Roxana Silbet have a tightly scheduled timetable of events including character deaths and the masquerade ball.
This interactive production allows audience members to engage with the characters and the characters to engage with real life. We are assured the general election will feature, one of the characters is running The London Marathon and Julietcap16 reads Heat magazine, has an unhealthy interest in the Coles and is currently following Justin Timberlake and Fearne Cotton on Twitter.
Taking 'theatre' in its broadest interpretation, RSC Head of Events and Exhibitions Geraldine Collinge said "It is theatre but it's theatre in a new form and a new way. I think in the 21st century we're going to be asking lots of questions about what theatre is, where it happens, who it's for. And for me, this is the beginning of that questioning."
She explained the motivation behind the RSC's involvement in the tweeted production: "The RSC's been looking at lots of new ideas, different ways to engage an audience and different opportunities to work in different places. So working on Twitter seemed like a natural part of that engagement
On stage it happens in context in a moment; on Twitter it's there forever. It's based on Romeo and Juliet and we've used that as a springboard and a starting point. We're thinking about teenagers now. When they have this overwhelming love as most teenagers do, how would that play out today? How would the drama unfold? How would people be touched by it now?”
Here are some sample tweets from the young Julietcap16 and the hot headed, horny Mercuteio:
Julietcap16: “I so hate being stuck in this house!! I have school tomorrow too...EW!”
Mercuteio: “Big breasted nympho's you've let me down - date with my right hand it is then (or maybe the left). Night fellow twits”
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