Ninja's Tweets Have Never Seemed So Dramatic
Whenever a piece of theatre compares itself to Shakespeare, viewers know that things will be, well, ambitious. While most wouldn't expect a dramatic recitation of Tyler "Ninja'" Blevins' tweets to compete with the famous playwright, YouTube personality Alpharad recently put on a show attempting just that.
In a now-viral video, fans can see Alpharad stage a performance of some of the Twitch star's divisive, iconic, and, in many cases, deleted tweets during a show called "Copypasta Theatre." Highlights include a performance of Ninja's infamous "It's just a game" tweet, an unfortunate "League of Legends" comment that Ninja has since removed, and a sealed pack of Pokemon cards hidden under every attendants' seat. Between Alpharad's recitations, performers such as Deanna Gowland, a musician and project manager for Alpharad, delivered their own monologues based on other famous Twitch copypasta lines.
According to Alpharad's amusing lead-in to the footage of the performance, the entire event came together on a whim, and the "Super Smash Bros." streamer scrambled to find a theatre to host his production on short notice. Eventually, he stumbled upon the Black Box Theatre in Los Angeles, which accommodated his performance ... with some interesting stipulations. Here is how Alpharad made Ninja's tweets more dramatic than ever.
Alpharad made full use of the set of Rent
When Alpharad booked the Black Box Theatre, they were told that its use was conditional due to an ongoing performance of the musical "Rent," although, as Alpharad notes, it wasn't exactly the "Rent" that most would be familiar with. Apparently, it was a performance of "Rent School Edition," starring a much younger cast than most would associate with a play that deals with some pretty adult issues.
Alpharad and his group worked both around and with the unconventional stage setup. Most of the participants simply performed their Twitter recitations from a cleared-out section in the center of the stage, although Alpharad made full use of the raised walkway in the background.
The event gained so much traction on YouTube and Twitter that the true star of the evening, Ninja, even retweeted the footage, although he didn't comment on it officially. Gamers wasted no time sharing their appreciation for the avant-garde production, sharing memes, their favorite cringe-worthy alleged Ninja tweets, and general appreciation for the entire performance.
All in all, the event made some of gaming's less fun elements — unfortunate comments on social media — a lot more enjoyable, at least for one afternoon. The audience, performers, and even Ninja all seemed to get something positive out of the experience. While Shakespeare may not have much to worry about, "Copypasta Theatre" will at least go down as a successful experiment.