William Drew

A free immersive take-over of the City of London by Coney and friends on Saturday 15th October.

Developed the initial concept with other members of the Coney network, then wrote three audio adventures for this (The Artful Dodges Again, A Resting Place and Ghosthunting with Brian), the voice of Felix and several sections of London’s Assorted Enigmas and Mythologies in Rhyme.

Writer for all digital content in this hybrid digital/physical experience created by Spyscape in collaboration with Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment and DC. Story by Gail Simone.

“users truly do feel like they're chatting with DC Universe's infamous characters” - Time Out New York

Tickets on sale here: https://spyscape.com/batman

I was commissioned by Future Everything and Mozilla to create a piece of interactive fiction exploring themes of Money and the Environment, as part of Mozfest 2022.

The result of this was a short piece written in Twine called Mine, which takes the reader into three different locations and times, connected by the idea of “mining” and scarcity.

You can play Mine here: https://veniceasadolphin.itch.io/mine

Threads is a digital experience for 10-14-year-olds, exploring sustainable fashion.

It was commissioned by Global Goals Centre in Bristol.

I worked with illustrator Ellie Shipman and developer Viki Johnson to create it in Unity.

It’s available here: https://globalgoalscentre.org/project/threads/

A unique performance using 360 video and live audio by Mammalian Diving Reflex at the Arnolfini in Bristol, presented by In Between Time

Join three incredible young people from Bristol – Alke, Chris and Germain – as they explore how to make a gentler and more contemplative normal.

Just at the exact moment things were really supposed to start happening, this trio were forced to pause their lives. They had no choice, leaned into it and found themselves some simple joy.

The Lockdown Resolution combines 360° video and live performance to take the audience on a virtual tour led by three young Bristolians, for whom the pandemic offered welcome respite. The Lockdown Resolution is about the quandary on so many minds: should we ever go back to the way we were before?

As dramaturg, I developed this work from its inception with Darren O’Donnell and Fi Nicholson. It began as a digital adaptation of Nightwalks with Teenagers and draws on elements of that performance (presented by In Between Time in Bristol in 2015) as well as The Last Minutes Before Mars which was the first time the company had explored the potential of VR.

Welcome to Corby-on-Sea, a typical English seaside town on lock-down. Tune into the community radio station where Stephanie and her callers will be tackling the issues of the day such as: where are all the pets disappearing to, who is that man standing in the street and are the fisherfolk concerned about killer whales?

An original fiction podcast.

The first season was co-written by me and Laura McGrady and was released between May and July 2020.

The second season is being released throughout November and December 2020. It will feature a different writer and musical artist for each episode. This season was made possible with support from Arts Council England.

All episodes are available here, through our website thepeopleoutside.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

Shortlisted for the if:book UK New Media Writing Prize 2021

All of Me: The Twine is an intimate, absurd online exploration for one player of wanting to live, wanting to die and what can happen if we sit together with the dark.

Adapted from the grudgingly hopeful, occasionally funny stage show, it is Caroline Horton and director Alex Swift’s first leap into the world of interactive digital work. In this new Twine version, the player must navigate their own journey through this unapologetically dark show about dark things.

I was brought on board as Interactive Dramaturg, guiding Caroline and Alex through the world of interactive fiction and the format of Twine and exploring possible structures of interactivity.

“Superb creative innovation” – The Stage

“The dramaturgy of this piece is so clever – William Drew’s work is sharp and the journey of the protagonist (of me?) is carefully crafted” – Exeunt Magazine

All of Me: The Twine is available to play for free from the China Plate website here.

The Last Minutes Before Mars is a mixed-reality immersive 360° video and live performance that dangles the audience above a vat of bubbling ethical considerations, asking them to take a position, any position:

Humanity is currently at high risk of extinction. Agree or disagree? Humanity must colonize Mars to ensure our survival. Agree or disagree? The first colonists to Mars should be a diverse group of people representing all of humanity, including the blind, the deaf and people with intellectual disabilities. Agree or disagree? The first colonists to Mars should be our brightest and our best, the healthiest and strongest people we can possibly find. Agree or disagree? The microbes living in the colonists’ intestines have the right to opt out of the mission. Agree or disagree?

The Last Minutes Before Mars premiered at Schauspielhaus Bochum on 25 September 2020. Currently running until 28 November. Tickets here.

Watch the trailer here.

I was Guest Artist for the show in Bochum, collaborating with Darren O’Donnell (remotely), Jana Eiting and the cast (in person).

Photo credit: JU Bochum

George is hungry. Katie's bitten off more than she can chew. A love story.

Hungry Like was written to be performed by an actor to their webcam. It was selected to be part of part of Papatango’s Isolated but Open programme and performed by Rosie Day.

You can watch it here.

The text has been published by Nick Hern Books and is available to read for free here.

“a neat, intriguing premise with a surreal touch” Edward Lukes in Once A Week Theatre

“captures the slightly ominous world of YouTube fame” Alice Hiley in Reviews Hub ****

How can we secure our fortunes in the future of work?

This immersive story-game, made by BAFTA-winning play-makers Coney in partnership with the Future Work Centre of the RSA uses experiential focus groups, playing futures and provoking debate to take us on a journey into 2035.

“Here at VSNRY we’re tackling the Big Qs, Big Qs about you. We do this with our experiential focus groups: playing futures, provoking debate and discovering how we feel in the face of uncertainty.

But what if your future wasn’t uncertain? What if all the tools we need to better grasp certainty are right here?

Join VSNRY for the invaluable opportunity to better understand your own fortune, simply by answering some simple questions and making some minor decisions. Together, we can find more options in the evolving present.

Writer for this Coney project, in collaboration with the RSA’s Centre for Future Work. This was intended to be part of Futurefest in March 2020. Due to the pandemic, the work was moved online and one of the three interactive stories I wrote are hosted on the Futurefest website here: https://futurefest.org/experience/big-tech-future/

What foul deeds did you do last night? Jekyll / Hyde is an interactive mobile game that plunges you into a world where your memory can’t be trusted, and neither can those around you. You’ll have 90 minutes to search for hidden clues around the streets of Lambeth: uncover the truth about your actions decide what your future will hold... if it’s not already too late.

Part theatrical adventure and scavenger hunt, Jekyll/Hyde blends mobile game technology with narrative storytelling and real-world characters. You’ll be guided through the streets via a web app on your smartphone, whilst also encountering a cast of real-life characters as you make your way through dark and sinister surroundings.

Writer on this real-world game inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novella for Fire Hazard Games, running at Vault Festival in London until 22 March.

Tickets available here

“an exhilarating night out… William Drew writes a compelling script” (Broadway World *****)

“The story is a real hoot” (Theatre Weekly ****)

kintsugi haiku was created for Global Game Jam 2020, the theme of which was “repair”. It is an interactive poem where the reader can change the words to create their own version.

It’s available for free on itch.

Here you are.
And here we are.
There’s no show yet.
There’s no story.
But it’s okay. We’re going to make one.
We’ve got a wall, some pens and a whole lot of post-its. We’ve got the whole of human history, every story ever told. Together we’ll tell a story.
Together we’ll create a world.
And maybe destroy it.

The First Time as Tragedy is a piece of playing theatre using contributions from the audience and improvisations from the actors to build a narrative that will be entirely different every time it is performed.

It will be an attempt to examine Karl Marx declaration that “all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice (…) the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.”

The First Time as Tragedy was developed in association with HighTide and Coney, with support from Arts Council England and the Peggy Ramsay Foundation.

It received two work-in-progress sharings: the first on 17 March 2019 at Camden People’s Theatre and the second on 11 Sept 2019 at HighTide Festival in Aldeburgh.

Guest directors for the development process are: Tassos Stevens, Chloe Mashiter. Jack McNamara, Natasha Nixon and Brian Logan. Performed by Bella Heesom and Tom Lyall.

Other collaborators: Angela Clerkin, Kieran Lucas and Ben Pacey.

Looking to tour the UK in 2020.

COULD YOU MAKE THE CUT AS A COLD WAR SPY?

Can you invent a cover story, plant a dead-drop or tail a suspect? Can you pass the miniscule tests of character and behaviour devised by The Circus to evaluate your ‘agent potential’?

I was lead writer on this sell-out real world street game in September 2018 created by The Ink Factory and Fire Hazard Games.

You’re invited on an adventure in search of the Cheshire Cat. Follow the mischievous cat’s curious clues on a journey across the city into the strange, surreal and absurd. Weave through galleries in search of reflection, scour the literary archives for wares of Wonderland word and descend into cellar vaults to paws for drinks. Discover a darker side to the world of Wonderland. And perhaps to yourself, too.

I was part of the game design team for HiddenCity on this immersive game that takes place across the streets of London.

https://cheshirecat.inthehiddencity.com/

You wake in a dark room in the deepest depths of a dungeon.

It’s dark…

You must have committed some grave sin but that’s behind you now. All you have is this flickering torch. You need to get out of here.

What is that sound? That is not the sound of any mortal man! The eyes… the horrible, horrible eyes… They are drawn to the light. They will come for you.

Get out, if you can…

The Unseen is a short horror game created for Ludum Dare 39 with Kev Adsett and Gavin Dylan Jones. I did the writing.

You can download it for free here: https://nk.itch.io/the-unseen

Act. Don’t Act was an immersive and co-creative experience created by Coney and C-Space. It brought consumers and brands together to discuss possibilities, worries and uncertainties based around 3 key consumer concerns. Control, Trust, Community. It did this through telling a story about a person (You) and a self-driving car.

I wrote the script for this immersive theatrical road-movie/buddy movie which wove in and out of discussion points, taking these key concerns as touch-points.

For more about the project, check out this video: https://vimeo.com/226876643

The Snooper’s Charter is law.

They are watching you online,

Join us as we enter a post privacy world…

How does it feel when your privacy is invaded? It’s London 2018 and a revised bill on state surveillance powers is about to be voted. Secret activists look to protect you and the public but risk being outed. State agents use tools to keep tabs on us via our access to the internet and smartphones. You are players in the system of surveillance.

Following the passing of the Snoopers Charter by UK parliament in November 2016, YOUR CONNECTION IS NOT PRIVATE invites you to play an immersive game of surveillance, in an attempt to expose how governments and corporations are accessing our private data, what it feels like to have our privacy invaded, and what we can do to protect ourselves.

Based on interviews with experts in the field and drawing on the latest research, you’ll leave with a tail of online tools and tactics made by Coney against encroaching surveillance by both corporations and state.

The show was developed in conversation with leading free expression organisations including Open Rights Group, Big Brother Watch, Liberty, English Pen and ARTICLE 19.

Commissioned by Free Word and Camden People’s Theatre, it was presented to an invited audience at the Free Word Centre in March 2017.

I was the writer, designer and researcher for the show, the core of which was a live Twine game played by the actors on-stage using the majority votes of the audience to guide them through a mystery.

Ever wondered what it would be like to be an amoeba?

Sure you have.

Now's your chance to find out. Finally.

It's Congamoeba: the world's first and only amoebic friendship simulator.

Meet a fellow amoeba. Chat. Get them to join your conga line.

Think amoeba. Think conga. Think Congamoeba.

Made by me, Gavin Dylan Jones, Nick Jacops and Kev Adsett for Ludum Dare 38.

Play it here: https://nk.itch.io/congamoeba-the-amoebic-friendship-simulator

You are Loki the sheepdog, herding disobedient, ungrateful sheep to higher ground - to keep them safe from an encroaching tide. Can you save them all?*

Created for Global Game Jam 2017 in Brighton, UK!

Play it here: https://nk.itch.io/the-shepherd-and-the-sea

Team
William Drew - Writer
Kev Adsett - Producer & Programmer
Anna Hollinrake - Artist & Stretch Co-Ordinator
Oliver Ryan - Artist & Diet Coke Supplier
Jack Hamilton - Artist & UI
Le-Roy Karunaratne - ProgrammaaaAAAAAH
Gavin Jones - Programmer & Design Sage
Emil Larsson - Musician & Spiritual Guide

*No. No you can't.

Wayland, a mythical craftsman, challenges you to uncover a city transformed by imagination. Once a visionary smith sought by gods and kings alike, he now invites you on a journey of cryptic clues. On your adventure, you'll uncover a legacy of ice empires, floating literature and frozen fiery cream. Solve his final challenge, and he might have something for you.

I was lead writer and lead designer on this real world game for HiddenCity. Launched in 2016.

You can still play it here: https://www.inthehiddencity.com/london/mind-of-the-maker

Winner of the 2015 Oxford Samuel Beckett Award, The Machine was an interactive circus performance created as a collaboration with UK circus collective collectifandthen… and Serbian artist Karkatag.

It was presented at the Barbican Pit for two weeks in September/October 2016.

I worked as production dramaturg on the project in Belgrade, Bristol, Newbury and London.

The Green Gold Conspiracy was a Coney project commissioned by Chester Zoo, as a piece of interactive dinner theatre to raise awareness about sustainable palm oil. We created a tabletop role-playing game pitting each table against each other as plantation owners in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

I created, wrote and designed this with Tassos Stevens.

This was presented at Chester Zoo and the Lowry Centre, Salford, in 2015.

New Scientist wrote about the project here: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2075047-gaming-theatre-could-spark-a-playful-interest-in-science/

An experience inspired by the world of Sherlock Holmes.
Professor James Moriarty invites you on a journey through the criminal underworld. Solve a trail of clues, sent to your phone, as you attempt to seek out his safehouse. Succeed and he'll present you with an offer you won't refuse... 

I was co-writer on this real world game from HiddenCity, released in 2015.

You can still play it here: https://www.inthehiddencity.com/london/moriartys-game

You’ll be tailing someone who works in the heart of the financial system. You’ll need to blend into the city around you, so that you don’t draw attention. We don’t have permission to be doing this. We don’t have permission to be here. What happens next – well, that’s up to you.

We can’t tell you anymore.

Adventure 1 is an adventure by Coney, exploring our relationship to the financial system and the ongoing repercussions of the 2008 crisis. It takes place in the financial district of a city, first made for London but with an eye for new versions to be made in other cities.

Players exchange emails with an associate a few days in advance of the adventure. On the day, they use a smartphone, earphones, and their wits.

I co-write and co-designed Adventure 1 with Tassos Stevens.

The Other Minute Hand is an investigation into a quiet ongoing act of civil disobedience that goes back to the introduction of Railway Time in 1840: the keeping of Bristol Time (ten minutes behind GMT).  In today’s globalised world, is it still possible to go your own way?

Listen here: https://www.mixcloud.com/mayfest_radio/the-other-minute-venice-as-a-dolphin/

Written by William Drew

Performed by Stefanie Martini and William Drew

Sound Design - Kieran Lucas

Commissioned by Mayfest in Bristol

Hello. This is public radio. You are the people. This is the radio. Any of you could be a victim. Any of you could be a killer. Pick a card. Choose your fate. Listen to the radio. 

Developed at Camden People’s Theatre as part of Starting Blocks 2015 and first presented in Sprint Festival 2015.

Voice of the radio: Lucy McCormick

Sound design and live operation: Kieran Lucas.

Kill Your Speed: Urban Snail Racing from 1979 to the Present Day was developed at Theatre Delicatessen as part of Spaced. It was part exhibition about a fictional East End tradition of snail racing and part actual live snail race with live commentary from Lucy McCormick. Participants placed bets on the snail of their choice.

Performers were Lucy McCormick, Lucy Wray, Michelle McMahon. Sound design by Kieran Lucas.

Imagine:

…it’s 2018 and you are in the car park of Fort Knox to take a special photograph. 
…it’s 2025 and you’re in the Nishitama district of Tokyo to deliver a package of unspecified contents. 
…it’s 2032 and a voice in your ear is guiding you to a vantage point over a business park in Madrid.

What happens next?

Futureplay was commissioned by Nesta for Futurefest at Shoreditch Town Hall in 2013, a piece of interactive theatre exploring the future.

I co-designed and co-wrote the original Futureplay with Tassos Stevens. We then adapted the games inside it into three live games which we renamed Crowdplay.

Crowdplay was playtested at w00t Copenhagen and played at Generator Malta Festival, Poznán in 2014.

The Hunt for the Yellow Banana was a week-long game designed with Andrea Hasselager that took place on the streets of Malé (Maldives) and online. The ultimate aim was to save the banana, who entered a deep existential crisis, from ending its existence.

The work was created as part of the Maldives Exodus Caravan Project, presented at the Museum of Everything’s Pavilion as a Venice Biennale’s Collateral Event in 2013.

The game was featured in the Danish National Press, Danish Public Radio and in Kill Screen.

The Eschaton was inspired by the game described in David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. It was first play-tested at the Battersea Arts Centre with Coney and then presented at festivals such as Playpublik in Berlin and igFest in Bristol.

Here’s a video of the first play-test: https://vimeo.com/39562023