All the World’s a Tweet

Shakespeare’s Globe is delighted to announce its collaboration with Twitter on Word by Word, as part of Twitter’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. From Thursday 5 May, a tweeting typewriter installed in the Globe’s foyer will type out The Complete Works of Shakespeare, sourcing its words from Tweets sent out in real time. As a Tweet appears somewhere in the world containing the next word, Word By Word will release it – until the Complete Works, including all 37 plays and 154 sonnets, have been gradually revealed.

So as you tweet about your cat, your lunch or your best mate you could be helping to finish the Complete Works!

The installation will be on display in the Globe’s foyer from May 5, and will remain for as long as it takes for the entirety of The Complete Works to be typed. The display includes the typewriter and a screen showing the manuscript in progress, working from the W.W. Norton definitive version of the text. Visitors can also see the play title, word count, the percentage of the work completed so far and the next word required, allowing them to follow along in real time.

Originally part of 2015’s #PoweredByTweets exhibition at Somerset House, the Word by Word typewriter was developed in association with Pixie Labs. As not all of Shakespeare’s language will be found in real time Tweets, the typewriter will stop when it cannot find the next word – at which point, the public will be asked to help out by tweeting it themselves, using the hashtag #TheCompleteTweets.

Categories: Theatres

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