| A Midnight Visit | |
|---|---|
 The doorway entrance to the dream from A Midnight Visit | |
| Date premiered | October, 2018 |
| Place premiered | Newtown, Sydney, Australia |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Immersive, macabre |
| amidnightvisit | |
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.[1]
Created in 2018 by Kirsten Siddle and Danielle Harvey of theatre company Broad Encounters,[2] the production has toured sold-out shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane.[3] Sydney (03 Oct 2018 - 09 Dec 2018)
In November 2021 it became Brisbane's longest running theatre production breaking the record held by The Phantom of the Opera in 1996–1997.[4]
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 (especially?) the sixth."[5]
There is over 30+ rooms each in the various iterations with the latest Brisbane production having 36 rooms.[6]
Characters that have been in every iteration of the show include:
"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!"
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…"
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"
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…"
"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."
"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."
"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.
Characters that do not appear in every production:
During shows around Halloween, additional performers and characters were added to the temporarily to the production including:
| Character | Sydney | Perth | Melbourne | Brisbane |
| Edgar Allan Poe | James Raggatt | Nick Maclaine | Andrew Johnston | Sho Eba |
| Virginia Poe | Bobbie Jean-Henning | Bobbie-Jean Henning | Bobbie-Jean Henning
Meg Hickey (Sep 2019) |
Gabby Caron* |
| The Actress | Megan Drury | Megan Drury | Megan Drury | Meg Hickey |
| Madeline Usher | Bri Emrich | Bri Emrich | Bri Emrich | Bri Emrich
Rachel Dowse (Dec 2021) |
| Rodrick Usher | Jason Winston | Tom Oliver | Cameron MacDonald | Daniel Kirkby
Tom Oliver (Jan 2022)** |
| Nurse (Ligeia) | Hannah Raven | Hannah Raven | Hannah Raven | Hannah Raven
Melissa Budd (Nov 2021) |
| The King | Drew Fairley | Stee Andrews | Stee Andrews | Lucinda Shaw |
| Hop Frog | N/A | Jon Madd | Kristian Santic | Kristian Santic |
| The Raven | Johnny Hawkins | Hudson Emery | Hudson Emery | Gina Tay-Limpus
Gabby Carbon (Nov 2021) |
| The Black Cat | Caitlin Drysdale | May Greenberg | Saro Sawakchim
Piaera Lauritz |
Ela Bartilomo* |
| Detective Dupin | N/A | Andrew Hale | John Marc Desengano | Reagen Warner* |
| The Scarlet Prince | N/A | N/A | N/A | Reuben Kaye* |
| Alice and Alice | N/A | N/A | N/A | Cocoloco* |
| Monsieur Maillard
aka The Doctor |
N/A | N/A | Drew Fairley* | N/A |
| The Sailor | N/A | N/A | Hilton Denis* | N/A |
| Lizzie Reid | N/A | Atara Lebransky | N/A | N/A |
| The Undertaker | Hudson Emery | |||
| Isabel of Fairyland | N/A | N/A | Penelope Elena* | N/A |
* 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.
A Midnight Visit is Broad Encounters’ first large-scale work, winning Concrete Playground's Best New Event of 2018 for Australia and New Zealand.[7]
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."[8]
The Age wrote a four star review of the 2019 Melbourne production. "As an homage to Poe, you couldn't ask for more."[9]
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!".[10]