Agent in a Box (2014)

This research project has fed into the development of our new theatre game A Moment of Madness

You’re away overnight for work. A busy day ahead tomorrow.
First a boring night in your hotel room awaits: Rolling News on the telly and a Room Service dinner.
We’ve got other ideas…
An incognito box; Containing an hour-long narrative game;
Designed to be played alone or with a partner in your hotel bedroom. Things have started to get interesting…

An interactive story of espionage told through paper fragments, phone messages, websites and social media, provoking the player to accept the invitation of the anonymous hotel room: to become someone new if only for one night.

The game employs a Transmedia Storytelling Engine that communicates with the player via a mobile phone included in the box. This automated interactive text, voice call and voice message system delivers the hour-long narrative experience, providing multiple opportunities for player interaction and rich audio content.

Inspired by The Other Way Works’ 2008 immersive theatre production ‘Black Tonic’

A collaboration between
Katie Day – theotherwayworks.co.uk/ | Alyson Fielding – pyuda.com/ | John Sear – birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/digitalhumanitieshub/staff/sear-john.aspx / wallfour.co.uk/

This research project fed into the development of our theatre game A Moment of Madness

Young male performer sought for new interactive performance in Birmingham

September 6, 2016 by

Young male performer sought for new interactive performance in Birmingham

The Other Way Works – a new theatre game – ‘Agent in a Box’

We are looking for a performer to play ‘Hussein Kissar’ in a new theatre game we are developing, who fits the character brief below.

The part would suit a student performer, or someone with a playing age of 19-21. Ideally Birmingham/West Midlands based. Must be aged 18+.

The part

– Short Voice recordings of voicemail messages
– Live performance (observed by audience sitting in parked cars)

– – Walking around a multi-storey car park, agitated, on the phone
– – Potential meeting with ‘Michael Makerson’ in the car park, argument/hug/kiss etc
– – Potential delivery of envelope to audience members in parked car and short dialogue with them from back seat of car.

The character

“Hussein Kissar”
Age: 19
Nationality: Saudi Arabian

Hussein Kissar is a Saudi-born young man. The son of a wealthy Saudi businessman, he has been privately educated at top UK boarding school.
He is now a University student in London. He is independently wealthy and free to enjoy his life.
He has a keen interest in environmental issues and the green agenda.
He is a homosexual and is ‘out’ to his peers in the UK, but not to his family, or to friends in Saudi Arabia. He is therefore discreet about his sexuality in public contexts where this might attract unwanted coverage.
He has been having a secret affair with the politician and Environment Secretary ‘Michael Makerson’ for over a year. Makerson met him when giving a speech at his school, where Makerson’s own children also attend. Aged 17, he was invited by Makerson to shadow him as part of the school’s work experience programme.

When

– We’d like to make voice recordings in mid September, in Birmingham (or remotely)
– Performances as part of a public ‘playtesting’ event in central Birmingham on Monday 26th September 10am – 6pm

Potential performances in London on 12 & 13th November (under separate agreement)

Fee

£100

To cover 1 day of rehearsals and performances on 26 September 2016 and recording of short vocal recordings before that, inclusive of travel.

Contact

Katie Day, Artistic Director, The Other Way Works
www.theotherwayworks.co.uk
info@theotherwayworks.co.uk

Please send an email to info@theotherwayworks.co.uk telling us about your performing experience and why you would like to be involved by WEDNESDAY 14th SEPTEMBER 2016.
Please make the Email Subject: Hussein Kissar Role.
Please attach a CV and links to any photos/showreels/profiles online.

Thanks.

Agent in a Box selected for Caravan Showcase

May 10, 2016 by

We are very pleased to have been selected by the Caravan Curatorial Team to be part of the 2016 Caravan Showcase.

The showcase presents a programme of the best new English performance to a selection of international promoters, festival organisers and presenters as part of the Brighton Festival.

We will be presenting a pitch about our new project Agent in a Box, on Monday 16th May 2016 at 10am in Brighton.

Funding awarded for Agent in a Box Prototype!

May 5, 2016 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: Agent in a Box.

Currently at concept stage, Agent in a Box will be a new kind of spy-themed narrative game. Players provide back room support to an agent live in the field, on the brink of closing a tricky case. The paper fragments enclosed in the box together with a cheap mobile phone that accesses an automated interactive sms, voice call and message system deliver the hour-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.

The first port of call for us will be the Caravan Showcase in Brighton later this month, where we’ll be pitching Agent in a Box to a selection of top international promoters, alongside ‘England’s most exciting artists’.

Agent in a Box R&D

April 18, 2014 by

We were lucky enough to be awarded a ‘CATH’ grant last year, and have been working in collaboration with some excellent people to create a new concept using our 2008 production Black Tonic as its inspiration.

Agent in a Box is a collaboration between:

Katie Day – http://www.theotherwayworks.co.uk/

Alyson Fielding – http://www.pyuda.com/

John Sear – http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/digitalhumanitieshub/staff/sear-john.aspx  /  http://wallfour.co.uk/

Inspired by The Other Way Works’ 2008 immersive theatre production ‘Black Tonic’

This pilot project has been delivered through the Collaborative Arts Triple Helix, a research project by the University of Birmingham in partnership with University of Leicester, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council as part of their Creative Economy Knowledge Exchange programme.

Agent in a Box will eventually be an hour-long spy thriller, theatre game experience, to be played alone in an anonymous hotel bedroom.
Agent in a box is an exciting creative content offer for those boring evenings you spend in chain business hotels when travelling for work with only CNN for company.

The experience is delivered in the form of a portable box (the size of a box of chocolates), which can be purchased for yourself or as a gift. An interactive story of espionage told through paper fragments, phone and text messages, provoking the player to accept the invitation of the anonymous hotel room to become someone new if only for one night.

We are now seeking partnerships to help us develop the project.