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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 4 months ago
Theatre isn’t in trouble in this country because of the pandemic. As Robert Reid explains, the problems are much deeper – and older – than the Covid-19 crisis.
People are going to blame the pandemic. Peopl […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 5 months ago
Robert Reid attends The Wilds on the opening night of Rising, and finds that it’s a mixed experience
Described as a “supernatural forest of ice, art, sound and moonlight”, The Wilds at Rising is colle […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 5 months ago
The feminist scifi Mara Korper is challenging, enjoyable and possibly the smartest theatre you’ll see this year, says Robert Reid
We’re shown to our seats in the plastic boxes and told to select a card from o […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 6 months ago
After more than a decade apart, comedy duo Lano and Woodley have lost none of their charm, says Robert Reid
The most remarkable thing about comedy duo Lano and Woodley – the alter egos of Colin Lane and F […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 6 months ago
Malthouse Theatre’s Because the Night is impressive in many ways, but it’s only a first step in realising what immersive theatre can be, says Robert Reid
I walk from Flinders St Station to the Malthouse, b […]
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Really enjoyed this review, thanks Robert–also Alison’s which I managed to read somehow. I’m glad I saw this show, not least because it made me think about what I’m looking for in an “immersive theatre experience”.
I saw ‘A Midnight Visit’ in Sydney a few years ago, and on reflection, though I had many criticisms of that show, I think it was on the whole more successful, though less ambitious in many ways than this one. That show was also melodramatic, though that didn’t bother me much in either case (Jennifer Vuletic’s Gertrude was the clear standout here, in a strangely shouty cast performing intimately in the round). But ‘A Midnight Visit’ was more poetic, in the sense that it didn’t care about telling a story and was more about resonant moments with various ghost or ghost-like characters–like the mysterious figures who did actually have one-on-one interactions with me as I wandered the periphery.
This show, with the Hamlet-inspired plot, the hints of a complex backstory about a logging town, the Aussie vernacular (“You need to start stepping up, Hamlet”), the diverse styles of the rooms, and the maze-like feel of everything, promised intriguing depth but like you I didn’t feel like I got to experience it, and I suspect that it wouldn’t be there on a second visit–the notes and details I examined were not as solid as ‘A Midnight Visit’. In this case I suspect a cast twice as large would’ve made it all a lot more interesting.
I think I want to pay more (like as much as double) for a longer experience with more depth. Something more like an escape room, where you explore and learn and slowly get introduced to a dramatic world that does finally come to a close, but where knowledge is rewarded and influences the scenes that you see. Or where the audience is divided into “teams” in some way that has an impact on how everyone experiences the performance–some way that your choices matter, more than just the randomness of wandering around. At one point in this show a character went into a secret room with a coded lock, and I opened it with a number in a fairly obvious place. The other audience members present spontaneously applauded, and we went into the secret room, where the actor shouted at us in the confined space and then left. But–like the black corridor room mentioned–it didn’t really add anything.
In many ways the best immersive theatre I’ve seen was a Melbourne Fringe Fest show in an actual sharehouse where the audience was repeatedly divided by choice and by ushers into rooms with set scenes–you didn’t get to see everything, but the intimacy was a lot more charged. Eventually I ended up by myself in the candle-lit bathroom listening to a black widow–immersed in the bathtub monologuing about her dead mother–who subtly invited me to sprinkle her in rose petals. Now that’s what I’m looking for. I completely agree with your final point that we’re yet to see the best of immersive theatre.
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 6 months ago
Insider jokes on classic horror tropes and vaudeville clowning make Innes Lloyd’s latest show a fun ride, says Robert Reid
The newest work from comedy duo Innes Lloyd – briefly at The Butterfly Club for the […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 7 months ago
Elbow Room’s joyous production of Enlightenment shows the strengths of Melbourne’s indie theatre scene, says Robert Reid
Elbow Room are a magnificent independent theatre company. Driven by fierce int […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 7 months ago
An irresistible musical with a dark heart, Fangirls summons the chaos of adolescence, says Robert Reid
Fangirls – a multi-award-winning explosion of youthful exuberance in musical theatre form from Belvoir T […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 8 months ago
Branch Nebula’s High Performance Packing Tape pushes cheap material – and Robert Reid’s patience – to the limits
Branch Nebula are a physical theatre and live art company renowned for their rethinking of urba […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 8 months ago
In A German Life, Robyn Nevin gives a masterly performance of complicity as she recounts the life of Goebbels’ stenographer, says Robert Reid
In 2017 Brunhilde Pomsel, stenographer to the Nazi Minister of P […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 8 months ago
In his production of Medea, Simon Stone brings his contemporary approach to classic Greek tragedy, and strips it of much of its power, says Robert Reid
It’s been at least a decade since I last saw a work by S […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 8 months ago
Coming out of last year’s pandemic, two clowning shows – The Anniversary and Jofus and the Whale – show very different aspects of the art, says Robert Reid
It’s perhaps fitting that the return of live theat […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 10 months ago
Michele Lee’s accomplished play Broth Bitch uses a podcast format to follow the life of a “vegan soup goddess”, says Robert Reid
Using the podcast format to tell a story that spans several decades, Broth Bitch […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 10 months ago
‘People ignore it. Children play tag in spite of it. Teenagers dare each other to punch it.’ Robert Reid on Federation Square’s public artwork Sky Castle
Because it caught my eye – and because apparen […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 11 months ago
The Bloomshed’s audio adaptation of Paradise Lost is a delightfully self aware, satirical take on Milton’s classic epic poem
The Bloomshed is exactly the kind of indie theatre company Melbourne specialises in: […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 11 months ago
The Agency of Coney’s Telephone is a playful invitation into a communal online space, says Robert Reid
The Agency of Coney has been a playful shadowy presence in British theatre and live art communities s […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 3 years, 11 months ago
The Powerpoint adventures of a red square invite Robert Reid into a bizarre alternative world
There has been a square red envelope on my desk for a few days now: bright and insistent, urgent, even. My name is […]
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How interesting Rob. My copy of red square included a review written by me and the congratulatory theatre scene was filled with my head. I wonder if they manage to do this for everyone who buys a copy or just reviewers…?
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Wow – yes, I had a crowd of my own head in my copy of Red Square – very cool /creepy that they did this for every one!! Very inventive work, quite like nothing I’ve seen before. A perfectly surreal little lockdown piece…
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 4 years ago
Witness critics preview this year’s Melbourne Fringe program, here despite everything
Melbourne Fringe is now creeping up on its 40th anniversary – counting from the establishment of the Melbourne Fringe Art […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 4 years ago
Darkfield Radio’s Visitors, an audio ghost story in which the set is your own home, leaves Robert Reid hungry for more
UK-based company Darkfield Radio specialises in immersive audio works that are intended t […]
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Robert Reid wrote a new post 4 years ago
Holesp@ce, from multi-disciplinary collective STRANGEkit, is a surreal tour through our hyperconnected present, says Robert Reid
A few people have commented on some of my recent articles and reviews about […]
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right on!