A Midnight Visit


A Midnight Visit is an Australian multi-sensory immersive theatre experience based upon the works of Edgar Allan Poe. The audience walks at their own pace through a variety of theatrically designed rooms featuring adult concepts, uneven floors, small and large spaces, and low-level lighting. Finding themselves as co-creators of their own experience, audiences are transported into a macabre dream world, and negotiate encounters with peculiar characters who sing, act, dance and even perform circus aerials.

Production

Created in 2018 by Kirsten Siddle and Danielle Harvey of theatre company Broad Encounters, the production has toured sold-out shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane. Sydney
  • Perth "House of Usher Girls School"
  • Melbourne
  • Brisbane
In November 2021 it became Brisbane's longest running theatre production breaking the record held by The [Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)|The Phantom of the Opera] in 1996–1997.

Format

Typically transforming abandoned city warehouses into theatrical playgrounds, A Midnight Visit follows in the footsteps of internationally renowned promenade theatre projects such as New York's Sleep No More (2011 play). With more than 10 hours of simultaneous performance in each 60 to 70 minute viewing, a site production can be set over 2500 square metres and involve up to 250 creators.
"Part choose your own adventure, part performance, part film-set, part playground, part sound world. Set in an abandoned warehouse over two floors and more than 30 rooms... a multi-sensory and magnificently macabre experience, A Midnight Visit invites you to explore a dark dreamworld of thrills, obsession, decadence and awe. All senses will be tantilised - even the sixth."
There is over 30+ rooms each in the various iterations with the latest Brisbane production having 36 rooms.

Characters

Core characters

Characters that have been in every iteration of the show include:

Edgar Allan Poe

''"Our tortured dreamer in A Midnight Visit. Each room brings him face to face with ghosts from his past and the creatures of his imagination. Madness is sure to take him!"''

The Raven

Based on The Raven narrative poem.
''"The charismatic human-animal hybrid stalks the residents and visitors of A Midnight Visit as the incarnation of death and guilt. Beware the mischief maker..."''

Madeline Usher

Character from The Fall [of the House of Usher]
''"Stuck in a sick and twisted relationship with her brother, her body and mind begin to deteriorate. Be careful, behind the laughing mouth are sharp teeth"''

Rodrick Usher

Character from The Fall of the House of Usher.
"''A hypochondriac gothic dandy. Fearful and crazy, plotting, or is he remembering, his twin sister... entombed alive..."''

The Actress

''"Representing the ‘fatalistic dead woman’ prevalent in literature and film. Our Actress shapeshifts through classic texts – how many will you know? She lives for the applause. She may die when it stops. Adore her, The Actress, a shapeshifting beauty with a sinister streak."''

Ligeia (The Nurse)

''"A cruel nurse who runs a tight ship, or a former patient? A nightly metamorphosis occurs as Ligeia sheds her old skin to begin again."''

The King

"Sometimes a king full of bravado and beer, and sometimes an orangutan full of fury. The King is powerful, egotistical and temperamental."
Amalgamation of several characters/figures/ideas in Poe's work, but does act as the King from the Hop Frog short story.

Additional characters

Characters that do not appear in every production:
  • Virginia Poe - "The young and innocent wife and first-cousin of Poe. We find the muse Virginia singing and dying a bloody death on endless repeat."
  • Hop Frog - "Jester to The King, enjoy his tricks and merriment but remember, they are but a momentary diversion of the true horrors that await us all. He can see who you really are..."
  • Detective Dupin - "The ultimate game player likes to get up close and personal with his work. But has he gone too far? In knowing the criminal mind, has reason and motive now left the building?"
  • The Black Cat - "Sneaky, slinky and strong, the Cat will help guide you through the maze of spaces. Follow at your own risk. Deeper and darker you will journey. Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble..."
  • The Undertaker
  • Lizzie Reid - a school girl character that was specific to the Perth production, utilising the Old Perth Girls School as the venue. "''School Girl Lizzie Reid reads a lot of Poe. She dreams about The Raven. She hallucinates tombs and bloodied teeth. Now dead, she has dragged Poe and his phantasms out of the shadow world."''

    Seasonal sharacters

During shows around Halloween, additional performers and characters were added to the temporarily to the production including:
  • The Scarlet Prince
  • Alice and Alice
  • Isabel of Fairyland
  • The Sailor
  • Monsieur Mallard

    Cast

* denotes performers/characters that made special appearances for Halloween season shows.
** Tom Oliver was called in short notice to temporarily perform the role of Rodrick Usher following cast absences due to COVID-19.

Works referenced

Fiction by Edgar Allan Poe

A Midnight Visit is Broad Encounters’ first large-scale work, winning Concrete Playground's Best New Event of 2018 for Australia and New Zealand.
The 2019 Perth iteration of the production, as part of Fringe World, was awarded four and half stars by Simon Collins of The West Australian. "Ninety minutes was barely enough time to explore this lurid, chaotic, enchanting and voyeuristic world. No two experiences are the same."
The Age wrote a four star review of the 2019 Melbourne production. "As an homage to Poe, you couldn't ask for more."
The extended 2021 season in Brisbane was lauded by Phil Brown, Arts Editor of The Courier Mail, as, "An incredibly enriching experience. You will never have seen anything like this before, I promise. It's a blast!".