The town of Hope Hill is haunted by the story and the history of the Wolf – a woman who will appear in the middle of the night and take things from you. But as with any local legend, everyone has their own take on truth, lies and how to combat the coming of the wolf.
Hour of
the Wolf is
Malthouse Theatre’s next foray into immersive theatre after Because the
Night in 2021. That was also set in a small town, but while its narrative
was based on Hamlet, this new show has created an experience around truth
– how people hide it, how we come across it, or how we might discover it, if we
dig underneath the surface.
The spooky
small-town vibe is an anchor for the audience. We’ve seen films and television
shows and read books telling stories of small towns haunted by their own pasts
and the legends that grow up around them. We’re in familiar territory, yes. The
story is full of tropes, sure. But how we experience that eerie hour between
three and four a.m. is what separates this show from other narratives of its
kind.
Immersive
theatre is not new to Melbourne, so any shows of this type can’t get away with just
dropping people into strange sets and have them react to being centimetres away
from an actor. Hour of the Wolf finds some new tricks to engage the
audience. It’s part theatre, it’s part audio experience, part investigation,
part escape-room. And all the moving parts fit so well.
In other
immersive works I’ve seen, design – costume and set – has been the true wow
factor. If nothing can really be compared to Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More
in New York – because of its epic scale, the sets of Because the Night
were compelling because they were surreal and oddly detailed. In Hour of the
Wolf, the rooms you explore – a karaoke bar, a hospital waiting room, a
bedroom, a convenience store, amongst others, are strangely naturalistic. It’s
the sound design that takes the experience to the next level.
All the
audience members wear headphones. The actors wear body mics, but we are also
treated to a kind of narration from actor Natasha Herbert. She welcomes us to
the town and guides us on our way after each scene ends, but the work of the
headphones does not end there. As you leave one room for the next, the audio atmosphere
changes – and if you are willing to explore empty rooms or alcoves, the
soundtrack is altered for a more personal experience. It encourages you to
explore in explicit and subtle ways.
The
fractured and repeating narrative is intriguing in its own way. Non-linear
narratives are not unusual to modern audiences, but in this instance, during
the show’s 65-minute running time, you will see scenes again – and with more
information than you had before. For example, when I first saw Keegan Joyce
dressed as a Priest, I thought that’s who he was. The next time I saw this
character, my whole impression of him changed. The truth was stranger than
that.
The show’s
cast is stacked with extraordinary performers – giving clear, compelling
performances that you can dissect when you’re sometimes closer to them than the
other actors. It’s hard to pick stand-outs in a show like this, but it’s hard
not to appreciate that Lucy Ansell has had a remarkably busy year on Melbourne’s
stages, and she’s extraordinary here once again. But go see Emily Milledge in a
Laundromat. Katherine Tonkin in an artist’s studio. Follow Kevin Hofbauer from
the bar to the convenience store. Witness the aftermath of a car crash and find
what is hidden around the edges of every room.
Keziah
Warner’s script is clever in the way that it is both clear and obfuscates the
truth nearly every step of the way. One minute you think you have a character
pegged and the next, you have to reassess. The construction of the experience
is orchestrated by co-creator and director Matthew Lutton, who brings out rich,
affecting performances from the cast, but also knows how to move them from
space to space in an interesting way. Each and every transition in clear.
Anna Cordingley’s
set design is layered and functional in straightforward and elaborate ways. You
feel like you’re in those spaces when you are there, but moving between them is
like a dream. Jethro Woodward’s composition and sound design is another
character that you become intimately familiar with as each room comes with a
soundscape of its own.
I
personally figured out the answers to some of the puzzles that lay around and
was pleased to have unlocked a space that not every audience member would find.
But based on fleeting glimpses and my face pressed up a square of glass, I know
there was something else – a whole other experience – that I totally missed.
Hour of
the Wolf tells the
story of one hour on one night, reckoning with the truth and fiction of a local
fairytale. It’s one thing, though, to think that you might solve or resolve
these narrative questions. It’s another to give yourself over to a whole
different kind of experience. For me, immersive theatre is never about layered
characters or complicated narratives. It’s about reading notes on a wall, watching
the same scene from a different angle, finding new ways in and out of the rooms
and these stories the characters tell themselves.
For me,
this show succeeds because you do feel part of Hope Hill, even if you don’t
have any hope of seeing or understanding the history or the current story of this
town or its denizens. It’s enough that you spend a dreamlike hour there. And
you climb through these vivid moments, perceiving moments of truth that are
clear and in a combination that no one else will see.
- Keith Gow, Theatre First
Hour of the Wolf has tickets on sale through December 3rd – but it may continue to extend
Photos: Pia Johnson
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