About the Project
R&J is an intimate, multi-day, immersive experience and mobile game for two players.
Romeo & Juliet has long captured our imaginations when it comes to love, fate, and factions. We’ve seen the story play out at theaters, in movies, and on TV, but what would we actually do with an opportunity to connect deeply with a stranger whose background and loyalties are completely unknown to us? R&J elevates this 423-year-old story to a contemporary, embodied experience that questions our relationship to self, stranger, and story.
R&J is far from a passive theatrical experience. Players interact with the narrative in highly impactful ways, allowing them to weave through the stories of both Romeo and Juliet based on the personal life experiences they bring to the game as well as their in-game choices. The game sets participants up with narrative scenarios to play through over the course of five real-time days- the exact length of time that Romeo & Juliet plays out in.
Fun fact: the titular characters get married the morning of day 2 🤦 🤷.
Scenes are adapted from Shakespeare’s play but players’ actions are uniquely open-ended, guided by their own inner voice and interactions with NPCs as well as their co-player. As the game progresses, players build trust and intimacy, gradually unlocking in-game events such as dancing, crafting “marriage” vows, and swallowing mysterious potions. Players remain anonymous to each other throughout the game, known only by their initials. Ultimately, each player must decide whether it is better to have loved and lost or never to have loved at all.
Thus, with a text, we play 🪶📱💓
Learn More at ikantkoan.com
Production Team
