A Moment of Madness

Created by Katie Day, John Sear and Tim Wright

As the press gather for a big announcement on the new environmental bill, a politician’s future hangs in the balance.

Thrust into the heart of a spy thriller, you’ll navigate the political scandal of the decade. Staking out a multi-storey car park, you must use every mode of surveillance to hunt down facts and intercept evidence. As agents of the state you will expose a complex network of corruption that threatens to destroy the UK’s path to environmental progress.

A Moment Of Madness explodes out of the confines of the theatre into the gritty reality of the city – fusing compelling drama with the excitement of real-time gameplay to create a visceral new live experience.

Touring Spring/Summer 2019

World Premiere in Birmingham 3-6 May 2019, in association with Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Flatpack Festival.
Tickets available now via Flatpack Festival.

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, with Birmingham Open Media, Sir Barry Jackson Trust, John Feeney Charitable Trust & Unity Theatre Trust.

A Moment of Madness 2019 Tour Dates

November 30, 2018 by

Touring in 2019

Birmingham 3-6 May 2019
World Premiere in association with Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Flatpack Festival.
BOOK TICKETS NOW via Flatpack Festival.

Welcoming Tricia to the team

July 6, 2018 by

We are very pleased to welcome Tricia Coleman to the team, as Producer of A Moment of Madness.

Tricia Coleman is an arts and event producer with a special interest in interactive performance, digital arts practice and new commissions. She is producer for Manchester International Festival (MIF) a biennial arts festival of new commissions; and previously for Abandon Normal Devices (AND), a programme of new approaches to art-making, new cinema and digital culture. Recent projects include: the international tour of virtual reality exhibition Björk Digital by Björk (MIF); Joshua Sofaer’s Workshops in People’s Homes, featuring performative workshops in domestic spaces (AND); and Missing, a game-based interactive theatre experience for young people (with youth charity 42nd Street).

The Other Way Works is seeking a freelance Producer

February 26, 2018 by

The Other Way Works is seeking a Freelance Producer to join our team to deliver the development and 2019 tour of ‘A Moment of Madness’ – a brand new immersive theatre meets real-world-gaming experience from The Other Way Works in collaboration with game designer John Sear.

This is a key management role, working alongside the Artistic Director Katie Day to ensure that the project is delivered in a high-quality and timely manner.

For further information and application process, please download the full Job Pack PDF here.

The deadline for expressions of interest is Saturday 10th March at 5pm.

Playtesters Wanted! Help us playtest our new immersive theatre experience

January 24, 2018 by

Date: Saturday 3rd February 2018, 2-3pm / 4-5pm
Location: BOM (Birmingham Open Media), 1 Dudley St, Birmingham B5 4EG
Free but advance booking essential via this link: https://goo.gl/forms/BTIB9RVMGYIalp7I3

As we continue to develop and refine ‘A Moment of Madness’ our immersive theatre meets urban gaming experience, we are looking for a group of willing volunteers to help us test some of our new material.

So if you’re happy to look beyond some very rough edges, and you’re excited about trying out a new interactive real-world game really early in its creative development, you’re exactly who we need right now!

This playtest will focus on getting to grips with the narrative, and we will be seeking playtesters’ input into what aspects of the story are making an impact, and where we need to work harder to make things clear.

Each playtest session will last 1 hour, and testers will work as a group. There will be an opportunity to provide feedback at the end with Katie Day, Artistic Director, The Other Way Works and John Sear, Technologist and Experimental Game Designer.

No experience is necessary to take part, only a willingness to engage. (16+)

Please sign up here to book your place – thank you!

Katie Day & John Sear
www.theotherwayworks.co.uk

(If you have any further questions please email them to info@theotherwayworks.co.uk)

A Moment of Madness is supported by BOM and Arts Council England.

Project funding success for A Moment of Madness!!

by

We’re very excited to announce that we’ve been awarded funding from Arts Council England to make A Moment of Madness a reality.

An immersive theatre meets urban gaming experience, A Moment of Madness explores the morality of surveillance and our expectations of the private lives of public figures.

The project pioneers exciting new ground in the areas of digital technologies and interactive performance, bringing these together with puzzle-based gaming in a way that we have never seen done before.

We’ll be developing the production with support from our partners BOM this year, with the premiere scheduled for Spring 2019. We know that’s quite a long time to wait, but we promise it will be worth it!

In the meantime watch out for opportunities to test some of the elements in development over the next few months.

Prototype version cast list and supporters

November 30, 2017 by

The prototype phase of A Moment of Madness (2016-17) was funded by Arts Council England, and supported by Birmingham Open Media (BOM).

Creative Team
Director: Katie Day
Developer/Game Designer: John Sear
Writer: Tim Wright

Performers: Zain Ellahi (live), Jill Dowse, Tim Wright, Graeme Rose, Vimal Korpal, Greg Hobbs, Louise Latter (recorded)

Prototype performances at First Bite 2017

March 15, 2017 by

We will be presenting the 60 minute prototype version of A Moment of Madness as part of the First Bite Festival at the Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester.

This may be the last chance to see the prototype before the project goes into its final stage of development in preparation for the premiere of the full version in 2018

Saturday 25th March 2017
Attenborough Arts Centre
University of Leicester, Lancaster Road, Leicester LE1 7HA

Performances:
2:30pm
4pm
5:30pm
9:15pm

There are only 8 places available per show

Booking info here

A Moment of Madness explained

December 6, 2016 by

Two of the key ‘A Moment of Madness’ collaborators have written very useful blog posts explaining what the project is, and what its like to experience it as an audience member/player.

Tim Wright, Writer

John Sear, Game Designer

Performances of A Moment of Madness at Watermans Digital Weekender 2016

October 7, 2016 by

We’ll be performing our prototype version of A Moment of Madness at Watermans Arts Centre’s Digital Weekender over the weekend of 12-13th November 2016.

All the information, including booking can be found on Watermans’ website.

This game is played in pairs so tickets are sold as pairs. Four players play at one time, so two pairs together. Sessions last 1 hour. The experience includes some strong language and is only suitable for adults 18+. A pair of tickets costs £10.

Performance times are:
Saturday 12th Nov 2016: 2pm, 3:30pm, 5pm, 7pm
Sunday 13th Nov 2016: 2pm, 3:30pm, 5pm

Funding awarded for A Moment of Madness prototype development

by

We’re really pleased to announce that Arts Council England have awarded us a grant to support the development of a prototype of our new project: A Moment of Madness (previously being developed under the name ‘Agent in a Box‘).

Currently at concept stage, A Moment of Madness will be a new kind of spy-themed narrative game. Players provide live support as an agent in the field on a stake-out mission. The paper fragments enclosed in the packages together with a cheap mobile phone that accesses an automated interactive sms, voice call and message system deliver the hour-and-a-half-long narrative experience.

Artistic Director Katie Day will be collaborating with John Sear, an experienced game designer and software developer to create this new kind of narrative game.

We’re excited to be developing the project at BOM Lab, as an R&D Residency there over the summer.