Taking a voyeuristic approach to Shakespeare comes a new take on Romeo and Juliet, currently playing out across Twitter, as well as other social networks, from the Royal Shakespeare Company and Channel 4's digital investment fund 4iP.
Six characters will help the plot advance via Twitter over the five weeks that the project is running, improvising dialogue and interacting with each other and their audience via smartphones and computers.
Michael Boyd, the RSC's artistic director, explains: 'This digital experiment allows our actors to use mobiles to tell their stories in real time and reach people wherever they are in a global theatre. It's a toe in the water for us and we look forward to seeing how people engage with this new way of playing.'
Juliet's Birthday party took place on Friday. Here's the facebook invite and invitees also had the chance to contribute songs to her Spotify playlist. The characters have been building up a following over the last couple of weeks, but the story will start to follow the play's original plot more closely from here on in.
And, to counter the blink and you'll miss it nature of twitter, those late to the party can catch up with the full back story at www.suchtweetsorrow.co.uk.
Birmingham-based cross platform events company Mudlark is the company behind the action. Tim Loosemore, head of 4iP, adds: 'When used cleverly, digital media offers a great opportunity to make the arts more accessible to a younger generation and I can't wait to see the response to this really innovative idea.'
Follow the characters: @romeo_mo, @julietcap16, @Tybalt_Cap, @Jess_nurse, @LaurenceFriar and @Mercuteio
