DARKNESS - Theatre Review

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Posted 2023-02-06 by Jenny Hatton Mahon ⇒ follow

Tue 10 Jan 2023 - Sun 12 Mar 2023

Provocative, haunting, confronting. Darkness, presented by Newtheatricals, fully captivates the audience from the moment they sit in their seats to the end of the performance, and beyond.

The theatre where Darkness is performed is a beautifully restored space above The Library, a unique heritage-listed building which was formerly the Newtown School of Arts.

Entering The Library is like stepping into another world. With rooms full of eclectic furniture and walls lined with lost and extinct things, it is a museum of curiosities and collectibles. As you enter its doors and ascend the staircase, you become immersed in the past, present and future.

Darkness is a drama inspired by a true and extraordinary event from the year 1816 when five friends, including poet Lord Byron and Mary Wollstonecraft (later Mary Shelley) gathered at the Villa Diodati on the shores of Lake Geneva in The Year Without a Summer. The climate crisis meant they were unable to go outside, and Byron proposed they each write a ghost story...Borrowing from this theme, Darkness explores the crises and uncertainties of our day and age, questioning the future and whether there is a reason to go on. Each character has a story to tell - a tale anchored in truth, yet told as a fantasy. Each story is dark and demanding, revealing spirits of the past which talk to the future.

Performed in an intimate setting with the audience surrounding the set, Darkness is immersive and intense. The staging and set are striking, gothic and resonant, evoking feelings of fear, frustration, turmoil, foreboding... and a glimmer of hope.

Darkness has been created by artists Andrew Bovell (Lantana, Head On, When the Rain Stops Falling), Zoey Dawson (Australian Realness, The Unspoken Word is Joe, Calamity), Dan Giovannoni (Loaded, Merciless Gods, Jurassica) and Megan Wilding (GAME. SET. MATCH, A Little Piece of Ash), together with director Dino Dimitriadis (Cleansed, Angels in America Parts I & II, Overflow).
Darkness is a feast of storytelling, conjuring spirits and looking to the past to contemplate the future, a truly unique theatre experience that will be an absolute treat for theatregoers looking for something intimate and immersive.At the end of the performance, consider gathering at The Library bar and, drink in hand, talk about the stories shared and contemplate the past, present and future until darkness descends.The performance runs for 100 minutes with no intermission.Tickets can be purchased here .