Modern technology sends 16th century love letters
Are you tired of spending copious amounts of money on run-of–the-mill Valentine's Day presents? To herald the launch of the Shakespeare in Queens Park (SiQP) Festival, USQ has developed a unique idea, allowing people to send a special person something quirky instead.
The SiQP Festival company has recorded a "bunch of a dozen sonnets" for St Valentine's Day and uploaded them to the international iTunes Store, where people can download them for free and forwarded them on. USQ is currently the only one in the iTunes Store offering sonnets for download during Valentine's Day and throughout the festival.
Festival Chair, Dr Kate Foy, coined the concept and said it is a unique Valentine's Day present, or just something delightful to listen to.
'Our actors have recorded the 12 sonnets. People can collect them individually or the whole 12 and pass them on to the love of their life.'
In just over a week the SiQP site has become extremely popular, making it on to the iTunes new and notable list.
'The site has already achieved a very high popularity rating. SiQP Sonnets has reached number 19 of the top 25 in its category (Literature).
'We'd love to see it move higher up into the Top 10. We can make this happen by logging in and downloading.'
The sonnets are free, and those wishing to download simply need to have iTunes on their computer.
'It is very simple to pass them on- drag and drop them into an email. They can also be downloaded on to iPods or MP3 players.
'People who don't have iTunes can download the software from the internet- it's also free.'
Eight sonnets are currently available; another four will be uploaded by St Valentines Day. All 12 will be available throughout SiQP Festival.
'The sonnets are the Festival team's little gift to the public.'
Tickets to Macbeth are available from the Empire Theatre 1300 655 299 and tickets to the Sonnets at Breakfast are available from the USQ Box Office 4631 1111.
Media Contact: Connie-Louise Alexander, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 2977