So their ceiling fell in. But that is not going to stop the oldest theatre company in Australia from getting a show on! Would a destroyed venue have stopped alumni like Kip or Kit or, wayback, Clive and Germaine? Not likely.
Sydney University Dramatic Society (SUDS), has been creating performance for nearly 130 years. So, during their displacement from the Cellar Theatre, they have taken root in the Common Room plus they have branched out into the wilds of Annandale. IN TWO CIRCLES is SUDS’ immersive theatre experience and it begins at the Annandale pub.
We meet Prof Gerald who is obviously under pressure and who has a theory about a time and place shift. In his halting and nervous way he explains that there has been a series of disappeared persons over 100 years in the Herald obituary sections. The latest is someone he knows.
Esse appears to be one of the disappeared. Gerald has sent a call to arms on Reddit and here we are. The ten of us will join with his colleague Michael to make a dozen warriors. We bond as we travel though lanes and backstreets and later when I find myself confronted with a scary run-in with ‘The Patron’ I can grab a young man’s shirt and request his assistance. Enjoyed that may be a bit too much. Moving on.
Through the portal, armed with a recent picture of Esse we go. We enter … The Vale!!! (It’s more ‘Welcome to Night Vale’ than Littlefinger territory.)
Immersive theatre is all the rage, from escape rooms to takeovers of historic buildings. And each, the good ones anyway, has a distinct story, genre, cast of characters and raison d’etre. IN TWO CIRCLES is detailed, well created, immaculately conceptualised and there must be an English Major there somewhere because it is beautifully plotted and, in a few places, scripted. Not to mention the terrific improvisational talent of the performers.
The space has detail enough to keep participants wandering and questing without either real world intrusion or any claustrophobia. The intent of the props and sets are conducive to detective work, whether you are a brooding thinker looking for signs or an action seeker searching for events.
The fairly modern costuming does the trick to support the artist’s character but the real delight is in the makeup. Apart from highly visible audience members, such as an elder citizen with grey hair and a notebook, it would be hard to recognise those from whom information might be elicited. That’s where the makeup empowers a participant. It clues one in to the internal struggle and therefore what can be believed. It’s really clever!
Obviously an audience requires some kind of herding toward a conclusion, a solution, an experiential climax. In this production, some simple, effective lighting and audio goes a long way toward that but shepherding inevitably falls to the cast. The immersion is about 50 minutes and not one of those actors dropped character or showed any sign of fatigue, even after a 4 show day. Each character has some kind of arc, can answer backstory questions and yet travel the mystery forward.
There is something for everyone in IN TWO CIRCLES. SUDS have taken their adverse architectural situation by the orbs and held a contorted mirror up to an alternate reality. Great concept, great fun it continues until 12th August.