Hell House
Arts House – Meat Market
3–5 July
Presented by Arts
House and Back to Back Theatre
Director - Bruce
Gladwin, Designers - Mark Cuthbertson
and Emily Barry, Sound Designer - David Franzke, Lighting Designer - Jennifer Hector,
Costumes - Emily Barry, Artistic Associate - Marcia Ferguson, Production
Management – Bluebottle.
If you are interested in theatre that provokes debate don’t miss Hell House and subsequent Forum – if you can get to get to the
Meat Market in North Melbourne today. It will be discussed for months and
judging by the Provocation Forum (Friday evening), the ideas examined, will germinate awareness,
considerations and questions about both organised religion and theatre – that
will be influential.
Presented by a huge cast made up of professional actors from
Back and Back, and fifty or so volunteers, as far as installations go it is effective
and has the potential to deeply disturb, depending on the position one takes as
viewer. Amazingly it is a prescribed
copy of a serious modern day morality play staged yearly in the Bible belt in
the USA!
The audience sets off in large groups following a ‘Devil’
tour leader. The journey, through ‘hell’ is a bit like a ghost train
particularly towards the end were the imperative builds towards heaven and is
released in the barn were sugary rewards of cordial and lamingtons are offered
with songs of love and community from an earnest gospel band. Each group of four tours is followed by a Forum exploring aspects of the work.
The whole is full of horror, death and dying and features
the marginalized as victims of their own sin.
No matter how one approaches stock standard demonization, this production
and forum demonstrate, that, the tacit acceptance of medieval concepts of
heaven and hell mask toxicity, cruel exploitation and very real lurking danger.
Suzanne Sandow
For Stage Whispers
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