With most of the events in his calendar cancelled, Toowoomba actor Matthew Caffoe decided to jump onto a gaming stream — not to play Minecraft, but to perform Shakespeare.
Inspired by American rapper Travis Scott, who performed a concert inside the popular online game Fortnite, Caffoe decided it was time for a theatre event with a difference.
"I like the idea of bringing Shakespeare to unconventional audiences," he said.
"It's really cool to bring one entertainment industry into another entertainment industry.
"You might not imagine gamers seeing live theatre, but it's a different era, and maybe it's something that translates to them as viewers."
A different kind of marathon
The printed works of Shakespeare sit alongside game controllers in Caffoe's living room, which currently doubles as a broadcast studio.
As the founder of Mashed Theatre, he and his team convinced 45 actors from around the world – including Costa Georgiadis from Gardening Australia – to stream Shakespearean monologues from their living rooms over a 24-hour period.
"Everyone will bring their own flavour to the event," Caffoe said.
"And seeing Shakespeare wrote a monologue with a whole page focusing on plants, Costa will be fine."
Caffoe believes Shakespeare's writing is as at home on a gaming stream as it is on the stage.
"The themes Shakespeare works with in his stories are completely universal," he said.
"Put Hamlet in an office or schoolyard and the story will still work."
Friends, streamers, countrymen
The project is called the Monologueathon, and Caffoe hopes to raise $10,000 for the Actors and Entertainers Benevolent Fund via the Shakespeare stream.
"We have seen unprecedented damages to the live arts and entertainment industries," he said.
"Closure of theatres and voluntary administration of art hubs.
"This is an industry that largely relies on sole tradership and contract work — [COVID-19] has been a recipe for disaster with our arts industry."
Rules of engagement
Each actor will be allotted 20 minutes on the stream.
"They'll be given a random monologue, voted by the audience, and will have no preparation beforehand," Caffoe said.
"In the 20 minutes they'll need to learn the monologue and explain to the audience what they're doing in their process as they're doing it."
Mr Caffoe said he was inspired by Brechtian Theatre and movie blooper reels.
"In a way it's a bit meta, but I'm a huge fan of pulling back that facade of theatre and the stage," he said.
"To take something that has traditionally been thought of as 'difficult' and show it in a fun and entertaining way is exciting to me."
The Monologueathon will be streamed live on Twitch.tv and Facebook from 8:00am (AEST) on Saturday, May 30.
