To Date or Not to Date: Shakespeare’s Lessons in Love at The Butterfly

A theatre is putting on an interactive virtual play all about the trials and tribulations of love – just in time for Valentine’s Day.

The Butterfly Theatre’s new production To Date or Not to Date: Shakespeare’s Lessons in Love will show scenes of the bard’s most famous lovers, from Romeo and Juliet to Hamlet and Ophelia.

But the show comes with a twist – audience members will get to vote on what the lovers do, where they go and even who they kiss next.

Each performance will have 10 interactive participants on Zoom who will get to share their anecdotes, play games and offer advice to the on-stage couples

The show can also be watched on a live stream, where viewers can add their comments in the chat and cast their votes.

Aileen Gonsalves, artistic director of Butterfly, encouraged the audience to bring whatever they have at hand to the show.

She said: “They co-create the environments and world with simple costumes and props and bring the settings – confetti and candles for weddings, flowers and houseplants for enchanted forests.

“Bringing whatever is at their disposal to make creative storytelling and play at its best.”