Twitter is being used as more than a way for companies and individuals to get the word out about a specific topic. The micro-blogging Web site is now being used to create art.
The Royal Opera House in London is using Twitter to create an opera and is asking the Twitterarti to get their creative juices flowing and participate by sending tweets to form a libretto or text of the opera.
“The idea was inspired by the game of consequences (when one person writes the first line of a story and folds the paper over, then the next person writes something),” said Sara Parsons, Royal Opera House spokesperson. “We were looking for a way to do this digitally so that lots of people could be involved and decided to use Twitter.”
“Opera is, after all, a story set to music and we’ve asked people to contribute and help us write that story,” she added.
The Twitter project is also part of the Royal Opera House’s Deloitte Ignite season, which takes place Sept. 4, 5 and 6, and is focused on getting more people interested in the creative side of opera.
“It’s the people’s opera and the perfect way for everyone to become involved with the inventiveness of opera as the ultimate form of storytelling,” said Alison Duthie, head of ROH2 at the Royal Opera House. “Who knows how the story will evolve, but get tweeting and you can play your part in the opera.”
The opera’s first two scenes are already complete, Parsons said. The first scenes include a man named William who was languishing in a tower after being kidnapped by birds who wanted revenge after William killed one of them. Someone named Hans has promised to rescue William, and a woman with no name is working in her biochemistry…