It was one of the most raw, violent and surprising productions of Hamlet I’d ever seen.
Last week, a YouTuber going by the name of Rustic Mascara performed parts of Hamlet within the live online game world of Grand Theft Auto.
Other players kept killing him before he finished his soliloquies — but wouldn’t Shakespeare have loved that? The Bard was certainly fond of a bit of reckless murder, but he also believed in democratising storytelling and making it accessible for all.
This is just one of the many examples of stories today being shared in multi-layered ways across different mediums, including virtual worlds, and reaching new audiences.
Today we are able to challenge the hierarchy whereby a great novel should be lauded over a brilliant narrative arc in Love Island, say.
Some of the best storytelling is happening on TV screens. If a story moves you in some way, it’s done its job and an explosive night at Casa Amor can be just as dramatic and elicit just as much feeling as a brilliant work of fiction can.
It’s something we’ll be digging into more as part of our Stories Festival initiative, in association with Westfield.
This has also informed the bold new direction of our storytelling competition, which encourages entries performed in a two-minute video or that are written in no more that 1,000 words as poetry, lyrics, dialogue or long-form.
Many of the most exciting storytellers are not afraid to shift between genres and forms. There is something joyfully amorphous about the work of someone such as Kae Tempest, for example, a poet and performer who released an album and was nominated for the Mercury Prize.
Equally excellent is George the Poet, a spoken-word performer whose podcast — Have You Heard George’s Podcast — combines music, dramatisations, documentary, fiction and archive audio to give an incredibly rich and multi-layered insight into the experience of, among other things, being a young black man in Britain.
From TikTok to podcasts to live performances in the metaverse, more and more people are taking ownership of their story and finding ways to engage an audience.
Substack is one of the innovative new platforms giving anyone with a story to tell the means to share it — and to monetise it. Farrah Storr, its head of writer partnerships for the UK, said: “Substack allows writers to connect to their audience and tell their story in a very direct and intimate way.
“We have writers who read their work aloud to their audience. Writers — like Fight Club’s Chuck Palahniuk — who release their fiction episodically to their readers. We have writers and podcasters and illustrators who create entire communities around them.”
As those Substack millionaires know, really connecting with people is key. We’ve long seen stories that started on the page reach a whole new audience and gather even more momentum when adapted for screen. Just look at Dolly Alderton, whose magazine writing inspired a book that became a hugely popular BBC show, or Sally Rooney, who managed to make a meteoric dent in culture with both her books and their associated TV adaptations.
Both Rooney and Alderton used their life experiences to inspire their work and this is what the other judges and I will be looking for.
Ever since early man depicted the gossip and shenanigans of fellow cave-dwellers on their walls, humankind’s appetite for stories has been insatiable. Now is your chance to tell your story and win the opportunity to publish it or perform it across the Evening Standard’s platforms. You will receive mentorship from the judges and an invaluable big break into the publishing industry.
So what are you waiting for?
HOW TO ENTER
Answer the question, ‘What’s your Story?’ in 1,000 words written as poetry, prose, a script for any medium or performed in a two-minute video.
Entries close on July 24, 2022 at 11.59pm.
There will be two long-listing processes before a shortlist is submitted to a final judging panel. Judges will select one overall winner and two runners-up.
There is no fee to enter and the winner will be given a platform and audience via standard.co.uk to showcase their work while receiving mentoring from the brightest stars across the creative industries.
