The Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds just carried out an admirable experiment. They invited people to sit-in on their final Dress Rehearsal for their latest production “Dangerous Corner” and tweet. Live. To the Public. No rules or regulations.. no “please don’t say who dunnit”or “please don’t take photos” Instead they trusted complete strangers to come along, sit in their best seats, drink tea and tell the world what they thought about what they were doing in that very instant.
Now, we could have said “Bored, picking my nose…” or ” I wish the person to my left would stop texting, it’s most disturbing”. But no, with an equal smattering of Android, iphone and Blackberry devices we set to and commented on the action on stage, and the set, the decor, the costumes, the smoking, the language and the fantastic quotes from J.B Priestley.
The evening’s tweets can be viewed here: Dangerous Corner Twitter Stream
Whilst each twitterer has a unique take on what is unfolding on the stage, we’re talking to each other about it and still following the plot.. but it all falls silent when a certain character starts confessing all – suddenly our fingers are still and we’re waiting . . .
.. and I have to say the play was excellent and the cast unfaultable! I hadn’t seen it before but it is definitely one of those classic tales which remain as relevant today as ever.
So, big well done to all those involved – I really enjoyed it – I hope the Theatre Royal will continue this intrepid step into the world of Social Media, explore what it might bring to them and encourage more directors and actors to take the plunge… someone tweeting from backstage would have been fun!
Whether or not Theatres and Directors have realised, people are tweeting about them – at probably every performance, invited or not so, I admire this approach.
Tickets for “Dangerous Corners” 10th – 19th March are on sale now online at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds
My thanks to @ricgardner @chrisgrady @adrian_watson21 from @TheatreRoyalBSE and congratulations to @colinblumenau below for a fun evening!