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Romeo and Juliet: star-crossed lovers, tragic ending. It's a story so ingrained in our cultural consciousness that we rarely stop to question it. But what if we did? What if, instead of a double suicide, Juliet woke up, told Romeo to sod off, and went on a journey of self-discovery backed by pop bangers?
This isn't just a crazy dream after too many pints at the local - it's the premise of &Juliet, the West End musical that's been shaking up the theatre scene since 2019. Indeed, we got to watch it at The Opera House in Manchester for our anniversary couple of weeks ago. &Juliet isn't just about giving Shakespeare's heroine a new lease on life. It's a bold statement about the power of alternative endings and a challenge to the stories we've accepted as gospel.
Alternative endings aren't a new concept. We've seen them in literature, film, and even in those choose-your-own-adventure books that were all the rage in the 80s and then revisited when Google Slides became a thing for EdTech enthusiasts in the late 2010s. But what if we applied this same innovative thinking beyond the world of entertainment? What if we used it to reshape our businesses, our schools, or even our own life stories?
This isn't about fairy tale endings or unrealistic optimism. It's about the gritty, sometimes uncomfortable process of questioning established narratives and daring to imagine different outcomes. It's about innovation in its rawest form - the audacity to look at a story everyone knows and say, "Actually, I think it could go another way."
We'll explore how the spirit of &Juliet can drive innovation, shake up stagnant thinking in business and education, and even challenge our understanding of history. And yes, we'll do it all with a soundtrack of pop hits playing in the background. Because if we're going to rewrite endings, we might as well have a good tune to do it to.
The Power of 'What If?'
"What if?" It's a simple question, but it's the spark that ignites innovation. It's the question that led Tim Berners-Lee to invent the World Wide Web, and it's the same question that had Shakespeare's contemporary, Christopher Marlowe, penning alternative endings to classical myths.
In the UK, we've got a rich history of 'what if' thinking. Take George Orwell's 1984 - a chilling exploration of what if totalitarianism went unchecked. Or Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy - a daring reimagining of what if parallel universes existed and every person had a physical manifestation of their soul. While ostensibly a fantasy adventure, it's a complex exploration of free will, religious authority, and the nature of consciousness. Pullman's work doesn't just entertain; it provokes readers to question fundamental assumptions about reality and morality.
But 'what if' thinking isn't just for authors and playwrights. It's a powerful tool for innovation in any field. Here are three ways 'what if' thinking can drive innovation:
1. Problem Reframing: By asking "what if?", we can redefine problems in new ways. Instead of asking "How can we sell more products?", a company might ask, "What if we didn't sell products at all, but experiences?" This shift in thinking led Rolls-Royce to move from selling jet engines to selling "power by the hour" - a model where airlines pay for the time the engine is in flight, rather than for the engine itself.
2. Challenging Assumptions: 'What if' questions force us to examine our base assumptions. What if money didn't exist? What if schools had no classrooms? These seemingly outlandish questions can lead to breakthrough ideas. It's this kind of thinking that led to the creation of Bitcoin and the rise of distance learning platforms.
3. Exploring Extreme Scenarios: 'What if' allows us to push ideas to their logical extremes. What if climate change accelerated rapidly? What if AI became sentient? While these scenarios might seem far-fetched, exploring them can help us prepare for future challenges and opportunities.
The power of 'what if' lies in its ability to break us out of conventional thinking. It's not about finding the right answer, but about asking better questions. And sometimes, those questions lead us to reimagine endings we thought were set in stone.
This is precisely what &Juliet does with Shakespeare's classic tragedy. It takes a story we all thought we knew and turns it on its head. But how exactly does it do this, and what can we learn from its approach? Let's take a closer look at how &Juliet subverts expectations and gives agency to a character long defined by her tragic fate.
"The end of Romeo and Juliet isn't the end of Juliet's story. What if she chose not to die and went off on a journey of self-discovery instead?"
David West Read, book writer for &Juliet
Breaking Free from Tragedy
The musical doesn't just give Juliet a happier ending; it gives her agency, choice, and a voice of her own. It's a masterclass in subverting expectations and reimagining established narratives.
&Juliet innovates on the classic tale by fundamentally challenging the status quo. It doesn't just accept Shakespeare's ending as the only option. Instead, it questions why Juliet's story should end with her death and dares to imagine an alternative. In business and education, this translates to questioning established practices. Why do we do things this way? What if we didn't?
The show empowers the voiceless. In the original play, Juliet's fate is largely decided by others. &Juliet puts her in the driver's seat of her own story. This mirrors modern approaches to user-centric design and student-led learning, where the focus shifts to empowering the end-user or learner.
Perhaps most strikingly, &Juliet embraces anachronism. By setting a 16th-century character's journey to contemporary pop songs, it creates a delightful cognitive dissonance that forces us to see the story in a new light. This willingness to blend seemingly disparate elements can lead to innovative solutions in any field.
The show also highlights the power of collaborative creation. Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway argue over the plot, reflecting the collaborative nature of storytelling. This echoes modern approaches to innovation that emphasise diverse perspectives and co-creation.
The show's approach has clearly struck a chord. As Michael Paulson wrote in The New York Times, "&Juliet is a feminist reimagining of Romeo and Juliet that has become a hit in London's West End." Its success demonstrates that audiences are hungry for fresh takes on familiar stories.
&Juliet’s innovative approach to storytelling offers valuable lessons for anyone looking to challenge established narratives and imagine new possibilities. It demonstrates that even the most well-known stories can be reimagined, and that doing so can lead to fresh insights and perspectives.
AI Generated Image: Midjourney Prompt: reimagining the story in the style of david hockney ar16:9
Alternative Endings in Business and Education
The concept of alternative endings is a powerful tool for innovation in the boardroom and the classroom alike. In business, it's about pivoting when the original plan falters. In education, it's about fostering creativity and critical thinking.
Take Spotify, the Swedish-born but London-headquartered music streaming giant. When faced with the challenge of differentiating itself in an increasingly crowded market, they didn't just accept their fate as another music app. Instead, they asked, "What if we weren't just a music streaming service, but a creator of original audio content?"
This led to Spotify's bold move into podcasting, with a particular focus on exclusive content. In 2019, they acquired Gimlet Media and Anchor, signalling their serious intent in this space. But it was their 2020 deal with Joe Rogan, reportedly worth over £100 million, that truly shook up the industry.
Spotify didn't stop there. They've since signed exclusive deals with the Obamas, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and Kim Kardashian, among others. They've also introduced video podcasts and interactive features like polls and Q&As.
This pivot has paid off handsomely. By Q4 2022, Spotify reported 489 million monthly active users, with 205 million premium subscribers. Podcast consumption hours on the platform continued to grow at double-digit rates year-on-year.
This example shows how a tech company, faced with fierce competition from the likes of Apple Music and Amazon, reimagined its role in the audio landscape, transforming from a mere platform into a content creator and innovator in its own right.
Or consider Brewdog, the Scottish craft beer company. They faced a potential alternative ending when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and pubs closed. Rather than accepting defeat, they asked, "What if we could use our facilities differently?" This led them to pivot to producing hand sanitiser during the height of the pandemic, keeping their business afloat and contributing to public health efforts.
In education, alternative ending thinking is reshaping how we approach learning. The Open University, a pioneer in distance learning, has long asked, "What if university education wasn't confined to a physical campus?" This question has become increasingly relevant more lately, with traditional universities scrambling to adapt to remote learning models that the OU has been refining for decades.
At a secondary school level, Bedales School in Hampshire is challenging traditional educational narratives. They ask, "What if we focused on developing intellectual ambition, creative thinking, and independent learning as much as exam preparation?" This approach has led to innovative teaching methods that prioritise students' ability to think critically, solve problems collaboratively, and engage deeply with subjects beyond standardised testing.
Bedales has developed its own unique curriculum and assessment system called Bedales Assessed Courses (BACs), which complement traditional GCSEs. The school plans to further expand BACs while reducing GCSEs to only English language and mathematics. This allows students to follow more of the school's tailored curriculum, designed to foster intellectual curiosity and prepare them better for A Levels and life beyond school.
The school's approach includes hands-on experiences like growing food and building sustainable structures, weekly community service, and initiatives to develop digital portfolios for all students. Bedales aims to cultivate skills such as collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving, which are expected to become increasingly important in future workplaces.
Listen to Bedales' Will Goldsmith on Edufuturists podcast
These examples show that alternative ending thinking isn't about blind optimism or ignoring reality. It's about being adaptable, creative, and willing to challenge assumptions. It's about recognising that the first ending we envision - whether for a business strategy or an educational approach - isn't necessarily the only or best one.
By embracing this mindset, businesses can find new opportunities in the face of challenges, and educators can better prepare students for a world where the ability to imagine and create alternative endings is increasingly valuable. The key is to cultivate an environment where asking "what if?" is not just encouraged, but expected.
The Ethics of Rewriting History
While reimagining endings can be a powerful tool for innovation, it's not without its complexities, particularly when it comes to historical narratives. There's a fine line between creative reinterpretation and historical revisionism, and navigating this boundary requires careful consideration.
Take the recent trend of "alternative history" in British literature and television. Works like Robert Harris's Fatherland or the BBC's SS-GB imagine a world where Nazi Germany won World War II. These narratives can offer thought-provoking insights into our society and values. However, they also risk trivialising real historical tragedies if not handled with care.
In public history, we've seen heated debates about how to present Britain's colonial past. The National Trust's efforts to acknowledge the links between historic properties and slavery have been met with both praise and accusations of "woke" revisionism. This controversy highlights the challenge of balancing historical accuracy with evolving social perspectives.
Even in academia, the concept of rewriting history is contentious. The "What if?" approach, known academically as counterfactual history, has gained traction in recent years. Historians like Niall Ferguson have argued that exploring alternative historical scenarios can provide valuable insights into causality and contingency in history. Critics, however, argue that it's mere speculation that distracts from the study of what actually happened.
The key consideration in all these cases is intent. Are we rewriting history to gain new perspectives and understanding, or to obscure uncomfortable truths? Are we challenging narratives to broaden our viewpoint, or to push a particular agenda?
Moreover, we must consider the consequences of our reinterpretations. Even well-intentioned efforts to provide alternative narratives can have unintended effects. For instance, attempts to highlight historical figures from underrepresented groups sometimes risk oversimplifying complex historical realities in the pursuit of a more inclusive narrative.
Ultimately, the ethics of rewriting history come down to a balance between creativity and responsibility. We should encourage imaginative reinterpretations that challenge our understanding and provoke thought. But we must do so with a commitment to intellectual honesty and an awareness of the power of historical narratives.
In essence, when we choose to rewrite endings - whether in art, business, education, or history - we take on a significant responsibility. We must wield the power of "what if?" thoughtfully, always mindful of the implications of the new stories we choose to tell.
"When you ask "why", "what if" and "why not" you force yourself to explore what's possible and not just what is."
Josh Linkner
Technology and Interactive Storytelling
The digital revolution hasn't just changed how we consume stories; it's fundamentally altered how we create them. Interactive storytelling has exploded in the digital age, offering new ways to explore alternative endings and narrative paths.
One of my favourite examples is “Bandersnatch", the interactive episode of Black Mirror produced by the inimitable Charlie Brooker (trailer in the video above). This Netflix experiment allowed viewers to make decisions for the main character, leading to multiple possible endings. It's not just gimmickry; it's a new form of storytelling that challenges our notions of narrative control and audience passivity. I also watched Netflix's Kaleidoscope, a show where all eight episodes, cleverly labelled as colours rather than numbered in a sequence, reveal different pieces of the story's jigsaw puzzle built of greed, corruption, heartbreak, and betrayal. This series can be watched in any order - you choose the colour you want to watch next. This means that, yes, there are more than 5,040 possible ways to watch the narrative unfold.
In theatre, the UK has been at the forefront of integrating technology into live performance. Punchdrunk, the British theatre company known for their immersive productions, have used technology to create branching narratives in their shows. Their production of The Drowned Man used RFID technology to track audience members, tailoring each person's experience based on their choices.
Video games are pushing boundaries even further. The Scottish studio Rockstar North's Grand Theft Auto V offered players unprecedented freedom to shape their own narrative within a vast open world. It's less about alternative endings and more about alternative journeys - each player's story is unique.
In the business world, companies are using similar technologies for scenario planning and strategy development. Virtual reality simulations allow teams to explore different decision paths and their consequences, essentially creating alternative endings for business strategies in a low-risk environment.
However, as with any technological advancement, there are challenges. The more control we give to audiences or users, the harder it becomes to craft a coherent narrative or deliver a specific message. There's also the risk of choice paralysis - too many options can be overwhelming rather than empowering.
Moreover, the data generated by these interactive experiences raises privacy concerns. When every choice a user makes can be tracked and analysed, we must consider the ethical implications of such granular insights into individual preferences and decision-making processes.
Despite these challenges, the rise of interactive storytelling represents a significant shift in how we engage with narratives. It's not just about alternative endings anymore; it's about alternative journeys, personalised experiences, and a blurring of the lines between creator and audience. As technology continues to evolve, so too will our ability to explore, create, and share new narrative possibilities.
"I think the future is in storytelling becoming more of a dialogue between the storyteller and the audience."
Annette Mees, Head of Audience Labs at the Royal Opera House
Writing Your Own Ending
What ties all these threads together is a simple yet powerful idea: the ending isn't set in stone.
This isn't about magical thinking or denying reality. It's about recognising that in most situations, we have more agency than we might initially believe. It's about cultivating the creativity to imagine different possibilities and the courage to pursue them.
This might mean pivoting when your original strategy hits a wall. It could involve reimagining how we measure success beyond tests or bell curves. It might be about redefining what a 'happy ending' looks like for us.
The &Juliet approach - taking a story everyone thinks they know and boldly reimagining it - can be applied far beyond the theatre. It's about questioning assumptions, challenging the status quo, and being willing to write a new script when the old one isn't working.
But this isn't always easy and nor should it be. Rewriting endings often means facing resistance, taking risks, and stepping into the unknown. It requires resilience, creativity, and often a good dose of humour (after all, if Juliet can navigate her alternative ending to the tune of pop hits, surely we can face our challenges with a bit of a song, even if we despise Backstreet Boys!)
As we wrap up, it's worth remembering that every great innovation, every paradigm shift, every societal advance began with someone asking "What if?" What if we did things differently? What if we challenged this assumption? What if this isn't the end of the story?
So, as you leave this newsletter and return to your normal lives, I wonder if we can embody the spirit of &Juliet. Be bold enough to question the endings that others have written for you. Be creative enough to imagine alternatives. And be brave enough to pick up the pen and start writing your own story.
We’re not just the actors - we're the writers, directors, and sometimes even the ones who decide when the curtain falls. So why not make it a story worth telling?
Further Reading
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