NIGHT MOVES
Spooky immersive theatre production, A Midnight Visit looks set to unnerve and delight adventurous audiences.
Immersive theatre is continuing to grow in popularity as companies explore its potential. It is site-specific, participatory and improvisational and, when most successful, brings an intimacy to an audiences’ experience that conventional theatre cannot.
New York’s Sleep No More and Queen Of The Night are among the best known examples, and now Australia has developed its own critically acclaimed contribution, A Midnight Visit.
Staged in an abandoned North Melbourne warehouse, the part film-set, part performance experience has been created by director Danielle Harvey and producer Kirsten Siddle of Broad Encounters.
“The world of A Midnight Visit is based on the stories and life of gothic master, Edgar Allan Poe – not that you need to know anything about him to enjoy it,” says Harvey. “I’m a lover of fantasy and mystery and he had such a huge influence on these genres. Many of his tropes are still found in today’s popular film and television, such as Stranger Things and Sherlock Holmes.
“Poe leaves a lot open to interpretation,” she says. “This has enabled our own dream world to be ever-changing and complex. It’s gothic and fantastical at the same time.
“Kirsten Siddle and I wanted to create truly impactful work that Australians would love. A large-scale immersive work was the most ambitious thing we could come up with and we wanted it to be bold, big and beguiling!”
A Midnight Visit’s strange characters and intense scenes have a definite David Lynch vibe, which many will find whimsical, even erotic. But at times it can be unnerving and somewhat macabre.
“People want to feel things,” says Harvey. “They want to not always be in the role of the passive audience member, and with so much amazing content to stream these days, going to the theatre should give you something special. Immersive is special, because you completely put yourself into another world.”
Production-wise, enormous effort has gone into creating Harvey and Siddle’s theatrical vision, which ABC Arts favourably compared to Sleep No More.
“The scale is unique to this production,” says Harvey. “There are over 36 intricately designed rooms to explore, and 11 performers to tantalise and confound, as we invite you into the story to creep, crawl, dance and discover. The briefing, the sourcing, even the building is intense,” she says.
Now in its third iteration, the rehearsal and production process lasts seven weeks. Each new building comes with new challenges and opportunities, so the show and the design have to adapt. It takes over a hundred creatives to make the rooms and props and those moments where the audience has contact.
Harvey is keen to make clear that it is not an improvised show, but one where performers have an opportunity to use a gamut of skills. The multidisciplinary cast ranges from stage and screen actors to special performers with specialty skills such as circus, dance, live music and burlesque.
“We look for performers who are going to enjoy the intensity of working closely with an audience. They have to know how to work and adapt to different audiences and spaces. The show touches on all things human – guilt, curiosity, desire, greed, love, memory and a fascination and respect of death. If audience reactions from previous seasons are anything to go by, they will exit with a lot to talk about!”
There are over 36 intricately designed rooms to explore, and 11 performers to tantalise and confound…