This famous 1816 gathering of literary figures Lord Byron,Mary Shelley,John Polidori,Percy Bysshe Shelley and Claire Clairmont over a weekend in Switzerland,is the basis forThe Darkness,a site-responsive theatre work taking over Newtown’s 1911 School of Arts building.
Co-creators Megan Wilding and Andrew Bovell with director Dino Dimitriadis (centre).James Brickwood
Set in the near future, also draws from an explosion in 1815 of Mount Tambora in Indonesia,which darkened skies and triggered chaotic weather patterns. For three years following the so-called “year without a summer” crops were ruined,food prices rose,disease spread and unrest rippled through society.
More than two centuries later,the world faces similar issues.The Darkness,created by stage and screenwriter Andrew Bovell,writers Zoey Dawson,Dan Giovannoni,and writer and actor Megan Wilding,tackles what five modern-day minds can surmise about our future.
Director Dino Dimitriadis says,within enormous flux and uncertainty,both gatherings trigger creative genesis and passionate debate.
“Over that weekend in 1816 they were trapped together in the Villa Diodati beside Lake Geneva during a torrential rain event,” Dimitriadis says. “They challenged each other to tell ghost stories to get through what they were facing in the world.
“It was that weekend Mary conceivedFrankensteinand the seeds of theDracula story were also planted in a story from Polidori.”
“The Darkness is not about that weekend. It’s about taking that meeting and asking what does that event look like now? Now that we’re facing questions around the future,around the state of the world,around ecological crisis.”
The show’s five characters,named after Byron,Shelley and co,are modern versions of their namesakes facing a version of our future.
“It could be 2030,it could be 2080,” says Andrew Bovell. “Like they did in 1816,five very smart people will gather together in a time of climactic uncertainty and increased social control and ask,‘How do we survive this? What’s the right way to manage this?’.”
Bovell sees similarities to Margaret Atwood’sThe Handmaid’s Tale,in which society and people’s freedoms are increasingly curtailed and restricted by government.
“We’re not there now,” he says. “But we’re not far away.”
The Darkness also bears similarities to immersive theatre but is not interactive in the vein ofSleep No More in New York or Australian productionsA Midnight Visit andEternityland.
Filling every corner of the Newtown School of Arts (previously independent theatre and music venue Old 505) the Victorian Gothic-inspired design by Isabel Hudson has a stage and audience seating.
Black walls frame the building’s central staircase,its carved wood balustrades creaking as people walk up and down. Chandeliers light sooty picture frames and early 19th-century paraphernalia.
The Darkness creative team,asking that little is given away about the design,encourage audiences to explore every nook and recess before and after the show. The Apothecary bar located on the ground floor will also serve drinks.
“We want people to be surprised and enter the experience completely,” Dimitriades says.
Wilding hopes audiences are also inspired to voice their feelings about the world’s future.
“I want them to feel it’s OK to yell into the abyss and wait for an answer,” she says. “Because maybe one will pop up. Rather than just sitting and going,‘Oh,it’s all doom and gloom’,keep yelling into the darkness.”
The Darkness is at The Library,5 Eliza Street,Newtown until March 12