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Playtests for This Is A Door festival

Written by Sayraphim

New PlayTests for This Is A Door festival

Zombie Tag

Zombie Tag

We’re heading towards the second annual games festival This Is A Door (through November around St Kilda) and we have some brand spankin’ new games we need to try out, so we have two playtests coming up in the next few months:

 

Saturday 21st September
Saturday 28th September
10 am – 5pm

310-314 Church Street, Richmond

Come play!

email us at rabbithole@popupplayground.com.au to let us know you’re coming

Also, we’ll gladly receive any gold coin donations to help us pay for the space hire.

6b2

Grandma's Ninjas

Grandma’s Ninjas

playtests, This Is A Door,

Interviews with Robert Reid, Sayraphim Lothian and Ben McKenzie

Written by Sayraphim

During This Is A Door in 2012, film maker James Tresise interviewed Robert and Sayraphim about their work, what Pop Up Playground is doing and why it’s important.

Interview with Sayraphim Lothian from James Tresise on Vimeo.

Interview with Robert Reid from James Tresise on Vimeo.

Earlier in the year, James also interviewed Ben McKenzie about games and play

BenGameMechanic from James Tresise on Vimeo.

interview, This Is A Door, videos, ,

Opening the door to an old, fun filled favourite (The Age review)

Written by Sayraphim

This is a Door

Reviewed by Cameron Woodhead

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Pop Up Playground
Theatreworks, season ended

AROUND the turn of the millennium, computer games killed a thriving scene of face-to-face social gaming. We used to have conventions that hosted everything from live role-playing to elaborate strategy; much of that has now migrated online.

Fashion is cyclical, though, and the international games carnival This is a Door at Theatreworks this past weekend was an opportunity for nostalgia as well as an innovative look at new possibilities for interactive play. It wasn’t theatre. It wasn’t even art. But it was spirited, anarchic fun.Read More

media, reviews, This Is A Door, ,

This Is A Door (Beat interview)

Written by Sayraphim

“Games are just agreed sets of temporary behaviour out of which sequences of individual choices and lived experience emerge and become stories of tragic loss and heroic triumph,” says Robert Reid, co-founder of Pop Up Playground. Together with Theatre Works, Pop Up Playground is staging a “social, reactive and immersive” new production this coming weekend – one that harnesses the power of games to help the audience learn something about themselves.Read More

interview, media, This Is A Door, ,

Review: This is a Door (player Hespa review)

Written by Sayraphim

Review: This is a Door

So, I did make it to the previously described This is a Door, and it was awesome fun. Pop Up Playground came up with a really interesting and varied set of games, some easier than others to pick up quickly, but all well suited to engaging a bunch of people with each other and with the task. The set-up felt like a really well-organised version of a games day with friends: there were always two or three games going at once, but with short single-person or two-player activities set up to the side, to entertain people who had gone out in whatever game they were playing – or just didn’t like the current options – and were waiting for another big game to open up.Read More
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This is a Door | Pop Up Playground (Australian Stage review)

Written by Sayraphim

This is a Door | Pop Up Playground

Written by Nick Spunde
Sunday, 29 July 2012 12:20

For the next two weeks, when someone mentions the word “games”, you know they’ll be talking about all the faster, higher, stronger stuff going on in London. The games that have been happening at Theatreworks this weekend however have been an altogether different affair. For starters, the audience have got to play too.

This Is A Door is the work of Pop Up Playground, a collaboration between comedian Ben McKenzie (Dungeon Crawl), fringe theatre maker Robert Reid (Theatre in Decay) and artist Sayraphim Lothian. It takes its inspiration from the New Games Movement, a 70s counter-culturalist drive to involve people in entertainment that was active and participatory, rather than placing them in the passive role of spectators.Read More

media, reviews, This Is A Door, ,

Pop Up Playground – This is a Door (Milk Bar Mag review)

Written by Sayraphim

Pop Up Playground – This is a Door

Posted by Taryn Hunter

When was the last time you played freely, without limits, like a carefree youngster? For me it had been years, so the chance to tap into that inner child for a couple of hours was too good to refuse.

My physical therapy could be found within the doors of St Kilda’s Theatre Works playhouse, guided by the skilled hands of the team from Pop Up Playground.Read More

media, reviews, This Is A Door, ,

Must for THIS weekend (Sometime Melbourne review)

Written by Sayraphim

This is a Door
Pop up Playground, Theatre Works
27 July 2012
Theatre Works
to 29 July

There are rumours that Cameron Woodhead and I tried to exchange a pash last night.

I’m not confirming or denying anything because what happens at Play Club, stays at Play Club.

But I know that it was the most fun I’ve had in a theatre and I want to go back and do it all again.Read More

media, reviews, This Is A Door, ,

Eaglemont duo engage with audience (Heidelberg Leader interview)

Written by Sayraphim

AN EAGLEMONT performer will ask audience members to become part of the show during a unique three-day carnival this weekend.

Robert Reid, who has joined forces with fellow Eaglemont resident Sayraphim Lothian, will run This is a Door at St Kilda’s Theatre Works from Friday to Sunday.

The 35-year-old said the concept swapped actors and scripts for social games and play, using them to engage people within a group.Read More

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