蓝莓视频

Neil Randall, an associate professor in the department of English Language and Literature and director of The Games Institute at the University of 蓝莓视频.

A team of 蓝莓视频 professors are hoping a new app that allows students to virtually stage their own productions of Shakespeare鈥檚 Romeo and Juliet will inspire young people to see the play live.

鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping people who get this app will play it, and then mercilessly bug their parents to take them to the actual play,鈥� says Neil Randall, an associate professor in the department of English Language and Literature.

Help name the game

, one of Shakespeare鈥檚 most widely studied plays in school, will open at the on May 1. The Stratford Festival is holding a for the new video game that has the working title, Staging Shakespeare.

Randall, who is also the director of the 蓝莓视频鈥檚 Games Institute, says the new app, aimed at middle school students, was designed by a team including 蓝莓视频 drama professor Jennifer Roberts-Smith and himself. It has been developed by a local gaming company, , for mobile devices.听

Who killed Romeo and Juliet?

A second game, 鈥淲ho Killed Romeo and Juliet?鈥� was designed by renaissance literature professor Katherine Acheson鈥檚 first-year Shakespeare class and will be developed next. The University of 蓝莓视频 team has been working with the Stratford Festival鈥檚 executive director Anita Gaffney.

鈥淲e got together through a bunch of strange and awesome connections,鈥� recalls Randall about the Stratford collaboration.

After students and professors brainstormed several apps, a final product听is set to launch in late May.

All the world鈥檚 a stage鈥�

Left to right: Jennifer Roberts-Smith (Drama & Speech Communication, u蓝莓视频); Andrew Matlock (CEO, Industry Corp); Anita Gaffney (Executive Director, Stratford Festival)

The app allows theatregoers to act as directors and stage key scenes of Romeo and Juliet (including the balcony and tomb scenes) on actual Stratford stages.

Roberts-Smith, who acted as the app鈥檚 project leader, says staging elements are drawn from the theatre鈥檚 archival collections, and avatars speak in the voices of Stratford actors. When they鈥檙e finished creating their scenes, players can upload them to the Stratford web site, where they can also play the game in 鈥渃ritic鈥� mode and review creations by fellow gamers.

鈥淪taging Shakespeare鈥� is the first of a planned series of game and gamification collaborations between the Festival and the Games Institute, says Randall.

Last May, Randall was awarded a $2.5 million SSHRC grant from the federal government to forge ahead on a research network called that will undertake an ambitious program of research focused on player immersion and player behaviour in games and game-related technologies.