A Midnight Visit is the Melbourne immersive theatre experience that will blow your mind

Melbourne’s newest theatre experience promises to be an adventure unlike any other. And theatregoers could experience anything from a Freudian dream or gothic nightmare, depending on the path they take — literally.

A Midnight Visit is coming to Melbourne — the biggest immersive theatre experience of its kind in Australia.

Traditions in theatre are being nudged in new directions as Melbourne’s appetite for entertainment options continues to grow.

The appeal of sitting in a proscenium arch theatre and being blissfully entertained will probably always be popular but there is a new wave coming through, initiated in London and New York that is challenging traditional ideas about theatre.

It’s known as immersive theatre and Melbourne is about to get the biggest of its kind to ever be seen in Australia with A Midnight Visit, directed by Danielle Harvey.

A year in the making, this is not the theatre of grand foyers, chandeliers and large auditoriums. Instead, it is a converted car warehouse in North Melbourne that has taken a year and 200 staff to convert into a 36-room theatre space.

The immersive theatre will be nothing like the usual stage show experience.

“Melbourne feels like the right place to embrace this type of work, which is why we have the biggest theatre here, after smaller seasons in Perth — which was in a beautiful old girls’ school — and Sydney, which was also in an old warehouse,” Harvey said.

“It feels great to be breathing life into old spaces and it’s so big that everyone has their own experience.”

In the tradition of New York’s Sleep No More and Punchdrunk’s shows in London, A Midnight Feast asks audience members to take an adventure unlike any other, while being able to make choices at every step along the way.

The night begins, and ends, in a bar when you are led into the theatre space and can walk down whichever corridor and enter any room you choose. In each room, a different performance or experience is taking place.

A Midnight Visit has a gothic theme.

People who attend with a group of friends tend not to end the night with the same friends because they are compelled to take different routes through the maze, also known as a theatrical playground.

It is at once a film set, soundscape and performance with 11 performers with 11 different storylines all under the general inspiration of works by the master of gothic macabre Edgar Allan Poe.

The result is an all-encompassing world which can take a weird path if you choose, or it can be more mainstream.

There are rooms that are like stepping into a nightmare, others are ridiculous, burlesque or resemble a Freudian dream.

“It has a very broad appeal, but I would say it’s more whimsical than scary and it can be enjoyed on lots of different levels by people of all age groups, except maybe children,” she said.

Its director says the scenes are more whimsical than scary.

“Theatre going audiences really love it but audiences who have never been to the theatre really enjoy this too.

“It’s a theatrical experience without it being passive, which really appeals.

“We’re giving audiences agency over their experiences. They’re looking for that — to get out the conventions of being a passive audience member.

“We know there’s such great streaming to do at home that you don’t have to leave your house to be entertained so when you do, it should be for something extraordinary that you’ll talk about with your friends.

“It really is unlike any other experience so we get a lot of repeat visitation. People end up wanting to experience what their friends have when they’ve taken a different route through the space.”

A huge team brought the stage show to live.

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Harvey has worked closely with business partner and creative producer Kirsten Siddle on the show. and together they have amassed a huge team of builders, costume designers, props makers, designers and scenic artists.

“It’s a really complex production with lots of moving parts because everything has to be perfectly aligned and integrated to work,” Siddle said.

“There are more than 10 hours of performative content here so people just choose whether they go left or right and stay for as long as they want to but it would be a very long show if you stayed for the full 10 hours.”

— A Midnight Visit. House of Usher, 222 Macaulay Rd, North Melbourne. Opens August 7. amidnightvisit.com