This Friday and Saturday, Manchester teenagers are set to tell their own real-life stories through live transmissions from the streets of the city.
My Neck of the Woods, a collaboration between Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre and BAFTA winning interactive artists Blast Theory, is part documentary, part performance, part live-stream online video experience.
The online experience will see young people from the Exchange’s Truth About Youth programme, broadcasting from the streets of Manchester, in places that hold personal meaning, using portable media.
To take part, viewers will go online and choose from three young people’s live streams, listen in and, if they get curious, join in the conversation. You can already “meet” the six young people involved, as they introduce themselves, their interests and start to outline the sort of things they want to hear from you, from seeking advice, to shared experiences or simply your favourite food. These introductory videos start to encourage an open dialogue with the performers and falls inline with the Truth About Youth’s aims to support young people by helping to challenge and change the widespread negative perceptions of young people .
The six young performers have been working with a team of artists from Blast Theory to develop the project idea, identify locations which mean something to them, and learn about the complexities of performing live to an online audience. Working alongside them, a team of young technicians have been building the online web interface and learning how to use the technical equipment for the final live event.
The public will have the chance to be part of MY NECK OF THE WOODS on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 September from 5.30pm to 7.30pm – either playing live in the Great Hall foyer space of the Royal Exchange on a special bank of computer monitors or playing online at www.myneckofthewoods.co.uk – this is an experience not to be missed.
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