RSC Forms New Creative Partnership With Google

People all over the world will be able to join the Royal Shakespeare Company and Google live in Stratford-upon-Avon and online, as they present a one-off digital theatre project, Midsummer Night's Dreaming. This creative experiment will take place over Midsummer weekend, 21 -24 June 2013 and will explore different ways to make and watch theatre. www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/midsummer-nights-dreaming/trailer.aspx

This ground-breaking project is the first time Google has collaborated with a theatre company. Experience A Midsummer Night's Dream in a very different way, as the story is told in the real time of the play over three days and performed by a group of actors directed by RSC Artistic Director, Gregory Doran. Audiences will be able to watch iconic scenes from the play over the Midsummer weekend and enjoy a day of events on Sunday 23 June in Stratford-upon-Avon. The story will also be reported as it happens, by new characters created by a group of commissioned artists, and shared through the internet. Audiences across the world will be invited to join in, engage or watch the story unfold through an online stage powered by Google+ the sharing tool from Google.

After the event, the RSC will release an online audio recording of A Midsummer Night's Dream performed by The Acting Company, which will be annotated with the content and side-stories created by the commissioned artists and audiences over the weekend and posted on Google+.

Gregory Doran, Play Director and Royal Shakespeare Company Artistic Director, said: 'I am delighted to be working with Google on this truly daring and innovative project. We will be exploring what happens when one of Shakespeare's best loved plays isexperienced through the eyes of the internet.'

Tom Uglow, Project Director and Director of Google's Creative Lab, said: 'Google loves thinking big and we wanted to re-imagineA Midsummer Night's Dream for a digital age. Adding a little of our digital fairy dust to the magic of the RSC, the idea is to take the play from theatre into the real world, online and off, allowing people who can't visit to experience and interact with the play via Google+.'

Geraldine Collinge, Project Director and Royal Shakespeare Company Director of Events and Exhibitions, said: 'I am enormously excited to be working on this project which allows us to play in and between live and online worlds. We're looking forward to engaging people in a new way with Shakespeare, sharing our Midsummer Night's Dreaming with audiences round the world and welcoming people to Stratford.'

Audiences are invited to join the RSC on Google+ to follow Midsummer Night's Dreaming, where new material and updates will be released each week: www.google.com/+royalshakespearecompany

Further details of the live performances of Midsummer Night's Dreaming and how audiences can attend will be released in mid-May 2013.

Midsummer Night's Dreaming, taking place live at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon and online, in collaboration with Google.

Project directed by Google's Tom Uglow and the RSC's Geraldine Collinge
Play within the play directed by Gregory Doran