Little bit like New Coke, but having grown up with the story — from the stage play to the Decaprio/Danes film version — I find myself really enjoying seeing these characters bob in and out of my twitter feed.
I became aware of the project, which is a collaboration between the Royal Shakespeare Company and Mudlark (which produces entertainment on mobile telephones), by the New York Times piece, “Such Tweet Sorrow.” CNET’s coverage has an even better title: “Romeo and Juliet Now Killing It on Twitter.”
Here are a few sample tweets from @julietcap16:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9Z8qY_0EPw dont be too mean! I have a cold and… im so embarrassed.. but yeah here it is. Song number 1 x
I just wanted to preach to the twitter world, my love for my sister @Jess_nurse 🙂 She is the best sister in the world! Mum would be proud!x
@LaurenceFriar haha i love it! This is definite retweet material! You’ve set a high standard i must admit 🙂 x
shut up @Tybalt_Cap you have no choice!!! Xx
RT @why_so_random: @julietcap16 should so make @Tybalt_Cap dress up as a fairy princess! 😛
Have no idea what this is doing for actual sales, or actual arts education. This is quite different from a film version. It’s like the dvd extras on a film. It’s new media enriched. It’s new coke. Better than the real thing? No. But part of the value of art is the simple experience, and this project has actually managed to bring Shakespeare – in an oddly unselfconscious way – into my daily life.