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Pop Up Playground

Pop Up Playground (Time Out interview)

Written by Sayraphim

Pop Up Playground

Thu 19 Apr ,

Pop Up Playground launch their first adventure in pervasive game playing with a massive game of the parlour classic, Werewolf

First published on 25 Feb 2012. Updated on 20 Apr 2012.

According to Robert Reid, it started almost a year ago, last April, when Tassos Stevens from UK-based company Coney quietly slipped into Melbourne for a week of workshops, described at the time by Stevens as “challenges towards how to be a playful secret agent”.

“He basically introduced us to the kind of work Coney does – a form of pervasive games,” explains Reid.Read More

interview, media, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, ,

Expect the Unexpected

Written by Ben

At this week’s Pop Up Playground for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Sarah Jones (Squeaky Clean Comedy) was the first member of the village council to be executed; after Alice Fraser was murdered,  Brenna Courtney Glazebrook (More Than This) was next accused, but the audience who had cruelly taunted her during their investigations decided not to lynch her when it came to the vote. She died the next night, leaving Jack Druce (Introvert Def Jam) and Richard McKenzie (Dungeon Crawl) as the final suspects; the audience voted to lynch Jack, only to discover that he was innocent – and that Brenna, wounded by their cruelty, had killed herself and had her revenge on the bloodthirsty village by ensuring they would kill an honest man!

It’s these kinds of impossible-to-predict outcomes that make game so much fun – and we’re looking forward to another amazing game this Thursday night! See you there.

Melbourne International Comedy Festival, News,

Comedy Festival in full swing!

Written by Ben

Thanks to all our lovely audience who came along to the first Pop Up Playground public game at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival last Thursday! Our guest players were:

Read More

Melbourne International Comedy Festival,

Pop Up Playground (The Pun review)

Written by Sayraphim

Pop Up Playground

31 March 2012
Violence! Voting! Vaginas! Tax collectors! All that – and some peculiar hats as well.

If you like your comedy on the interactive side, if you like the idea of comedians talking with you instead of merely at you, then Pop Up Playground is here for you. Take a walk up the stairs of the John Curtin Hotel and find yourself plunged into murder, mystery and the obviously difficult democratic process.

Pop Up Playground is a team of comics brave enough to let the audience decide the fate of characters and the course of the narrative. Emceed by the always erudite and quick-witted Ben McKenzie, the format appears to be only loosely scripted, allowing plenty of ad lib opportunity for performers and open conferring with audience members throughout the show.Read More

media, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, reviews, ,