SEER - Next Wave Festival review

Using Edgar Allan Poe’s short story Shadow – a Parable as its inspiration, experimental theatre artist and stage designer House of Vnholy's SEER is an immersive exploration of darkness and silence and a study on being alone. Performed as part of the Next Wave Festival, this site-specific show at the Darebin Arts Centre combines ritual and poetry to encourage us to consider not only our life and our death but also the part in between.

The most powerful part of SEER takes place inside the main theatre of the Darebin Arts Centre where you took a seat in a specially designed booth facing the stage. There was something very eerie about being the only person in a theatre that can seat almost 400 people. I constantly felt like figures were emerging from the stage, standing up from the seats and staring at me through the darkness. No doubt the haunting soundscape designed by Jannah Quill contributed to this disorientation, and along with the light images being projected onto the stage, I was continually questioning if I was experiencing a painful death or an uplifting rebirth.

Dialogue in the Dark review

I've lived in Melbourne for 30 of my 34 years. I've come to know the city quite well in that time with many places serving as a reminder of an experience I've had every time I visit it. But what happens when you can't see that place anymore? Dialogue in the Dark takes us on a simulated tour through some well known Melbourne locations with a twist: the tour is conducted in total darkness. Led by blind guides, we must touch, smell and hear our way around places that were once familiar to us.

Our host provides us with a white cane and we enter the pitch black venue fumbling in the darkness as we slowly making our way to our guide who is calling out to us. She introduces herself as Lauren and she sounds young - or younger than me at least. There's a warmth and confidence in her voice and I start to feel more secure in my surroundings, whatever they may be.

The Dark Chorus review

You don't notice it as you first enter the Meat Market, but then a shadow catches your eye and you stop and take a second glance. And it's then you see a figure cloaked in a black gown, head down slowly walking in the darkness around a circle of light. And then you see another, and another, and another, until it’s all you can see, and you wonder how you didn't see them in the first place, which is the perfect way to describe the thoughts and themes explored in Lucy Guerin's brilliant dance work, The Dark Chorus.

Presented as part of Melbourne Festival, the show is an intimate look at the darker thoughts and voices in our heads and how they can consume us. Throughout the performance, The Dark Chorus can be heard whispering and chanting and while you can only make out some of what is being said, feelings of dread and fear slowly seep inside you.

His Ghostly Heart review - Melbourne Fringe

Performed at this year's Melbourne Fringe Festival, His Ghostly Heart is an intimate 30-minute two-hander with a couple lying in bed just after having sex. Written by Ben Schiffer, best known for his work on TV series Skins, and directed by Richard Edge, its exploration of love and what it means to be loved is designed to be performed entirely in the dark.

Unfortunately, due to the necessity of the exit sign inside the performance space, the venue was not in pitch blackness, which was ultimately integral to the show’s overall effect. While you could not see facial expressions, the body outlines and movement were still quite visible. In order to experience this the way it was intended, I did have my eyes closed during the performance.

His Ghostly Heart - Melbourne Fringe Festival preview

As a theatre critic, one of the things I always look for is how comfortable the actors appear on stage in their character as well as in their interactions with the other actors. Furthermore, the set and costumes are always indicative of how much effort and thought has gone into a show. However, with Melbourne Fringe show His Ghostly Heart, this is all going out the window as the show is performed entirely in the dark. Pitch black darkness.

"Performing in the dark is challenging, but it simply heightens the focus you need to have to connect with your other actor through touch, smell and hearing. It is actually quite liberating," says performer Riley Nottingham. "This is definitely a show that requires the audience to engage and it will challenge them. There are a lot of issues explored in the play and some audience members will want to see it a second time."