#ItWasGreekToMe
Production URL (chatbot Facebook)
Producers note
#ItWasGreekToMe is a digital retelling of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare for the social media-driven world. A world where millennials are in charge of Rome. Senators are the stars, influencers and entrepreneurs of the day.
Produced by Jason O'Leary, Faculty of Arts, the University of Melbourne as a transmedia, immersive, digital experience exploring how technology can be used to tell a 400-year-old story by William Shakespeare. Using messenger chats, texts and social streaming video where the dialogue by Shakespeare is not edited but presented in a way we experience the world today.
Taking inspiration from wiki leaks, whistleblowers, CCTV government surveillance, and celebrities and politicians’ insatiable appetite for baring all on social media, #ItWasGreekToMe tells the story of Brutus, Cassius, Antony and Caesar. Told through 43 different digital assets drip-fed through Facebook messenger via a chatbot over three days.
The audience is also able to explore the world through a pop-up VR experience; RVR Tiber Water, run by Mark Antony as a way to promote his side of the story. The production also deploys a game; Bottle Dash (on iTunes and Google Play) where new content can be unlocked that supports Mark Antony's cause. The audience can slip between online and offline to experience the story world.
The production makes us question what we do when presented with the truth, in an era of fake news and the 24hr news cycle.
#ItWasGreekToMe can be explored free online: https://m.me/ItWasGreekToMe
Jason O’Leary
Producer
January 2019
Press release
Unimelb Newsroom - Social Shakespeare chatbot meets Julius Caesar
Assets
Image credit: Still from #ItWasGreekToMe Abdul Muhaimin 3rd year Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne as Mark Antony
Assets from the production - for sharing and embedding
Please note: always reference: #ItWasGreekToMe Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne in credits.
Act 1 Scene 2: 2.mp3
asset_#2: recorded on the streets in the Capitol towards the course. Caesar speaks!
Jonah Winkler as Caesar
Lachie Clarke as Casca
Esther Randles as Calphurnia
Abdul Muhaimin as Antony
Meg Dunn as Soothsayer
Indey Salvestro as Brutus
Anthony Yangoyan ss Cassius
Act 1 Scene 2: 6.mp4
asset_#6: It was Greek to Casca. A blunt fellow. Chats recovered by DoID.
Act 2 Scene 4: 20.pdf
asset_#20: DoID covert transcript and artefact from Artemidorus' hand.
Act 3 Scene 2: 33.mp4
asset_#33: Antony speaks on the gram at Caesar's funeral on the gram. Friends, Romans, countryman lend me your ears...
Abdul Muhaimin 3rd year Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne as Mark Antony
Act 5 Scene 2: 40.mp3
asset_#40: Brutus on the field of battle.
Indey Salvestro as Brutus
Music from the production
Blood on Our Hands
Credits
Lyrics by: Jason O'Leary
Music by: Liam Whittaker, Troy Rogan & Cotter Kypriotis
Lullaby
Credits
Music by: Liam Whittaker, Troy Rogan & Cotter Kypriotis
APP - Bottle Dash
Bottle Dash - Download on Apple App store & Google Play
RVR Tiber Water - Pop-up shop
Shakespeare VR Experience
Glyn Davis Building
University of Melbourne
Parkville
VIC 3010
Media contact
All media requests please contact:
Claudia Hooper | Media Advisor
The University of Melbourne
Phone: +61 3 9035 8952
Mobile: +61 435 969 818
Email: hooper.c@unimelb.edu.au