Interactive mobile app Bannerman Quartet launches this weekend

A new mobile app has been created to allow a whole new interactive experience in one of the province's oldest and most historic parks.

The audio app, Bannerman Quartet,is the brainchild ofChris Brookes, a veteran documentary producer and owner of theBattery Radio production company.

St John's Morning Show4:40The Bannerman Quartet

A park stroll like no other.

Brookessaid the project grew fromInside Outside Battery, an app that was designed a couple of years ago. Ittakes a person on an interactive journeyfrom Battery Road to the North Head Trail.

"Well, the Battery thing is an app that you walk through the Battery, and GPStriggers voices as you go through. It's non-fiction," said Brookes.

"Almost magically, a voice triggers in yourearbuds,and you're right there at the spot where this person is describing so I thought what if we do that withfiction?"

Brookes told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Showthat heapproached writers Michael Winter,SaraTilley, MeganColes and Joel Hynes, and asked each ofthem to write a short story about BannermanPark.

"So we have a quartet of short storiesset in Bannerman Park, four characters, read by people like Allan Hawco and Petrina Bromley," he said.

"So as you walk through the park, you can follow the route of one particular character, there's alittle map on your phone, or you can just wander around. And as you pass the spot where an event in the story happens,it'll trigger the story."

Broken hearts and a Dear John letter

Brookessaid each of the four Bannerman Quartetcharacters isgoing through a life crisis.

"There's Iris, who has taken her best friend's little boy to the playground. But she's going through a breakup, and so she gets involved in textingand suddenly she looks up, and the kid's not there," he said.

"If you walk anywhere near the playground with this app, you'll encounter Iris madly tearing around, desperately looking for the little boy named Harry."

Brookessaid as you approach the park's famous bandstand, you're likelyto bump into Michael Winter's character.

"He's a sad sack named Sam, and he'sfearing that he's going to get a Dear John letter by the time he gets to the clock there by the bandstand and of course he does."

Bannerman Quartet is already available on iTunes, and officially launches Sunday at The Ship in St. John's at 8 p.m.