Buried alive in Gothic tales

THEATRE

A Midnight Visit

Girls School

4.5 stars

REVIEW SIMON COLLINS

You don’t need to know Edgar Allan Poe from Poh Ling Yeow to become fully immersed in A Midnight Visit.

After a bumper 12-week season in a Sydney warehouse, this mind-blowing interactive theatre experience from Broad Encounters Productions has taken over the old Girls School in East Perth.

The producers have cleared out Homecraft Textiles in St James (shout-out to Yusuf) and turned the imposing three- storey building into a massive haunted house, an amazing maze with surprises both delightful and devilish around each corner.

An American author and poet who died aged 40 in 1849, Poe was no barrel of laughs and his twisted Gothic tales inform the action that takes place throughout the building.

A jester tricks a king into dressing as an orang-utan (Hop-Frog), a clock ticks under the floorboards in what looks like a detective’s office (The Tell-Tale Heart) and The Raven hosts a danse macabre in the main hall which culminates in Poe being buried alive to a pop soundtrack.

The less revealed here the better, as self-discovery is key to engaging with this rocky Gothic horror show.

The highlight of my visit, which began at 8.30pm after some Dutch courage in The Raven’s Rest courtyard bar, came after discovering a tunnel and crawling into a graveyard.

There Poe’s bloodied bride Virginia Clemm (WAAPA graduate Bobby-Jean Henning) performed a soliloquy before directing me into a room containing ... not gore or dismembered bodies, but a massive pink ball pit.

Visitors choose their own adventure. Explore as much of the maze as possible, or focus on catching performances from 12 colourful cast. Or a bit of both.

A few tips: don’t travel in groups, you won’t get lured into Midnight madness if you’re chatting to friends. Maybe pair up, so you’ve got a hand to hold tight.

Explore, and be brave. That looks like a treasure chest but could lead somewhere amazing — or diabolical. Gore-soaked chambers lead into a room of beach sand and blue skies.

Ninety minutes was barely enough time to explore this lurid, chaotic, enchanting and voyeuristic world. Apparently, there are 14 hours’ worth of Poe-inspired shenanigans. No two experiences are the same.

Perchance, another visit?

A Midnight Visit runs until March 3.