Given the impact last year had on live performance, Malthouse Theatre could be forgiven for playing it safe this year and opting for familiar, comforting classics. But the company is instead pinning its hopes on one of the most daring and unique theatre productions Australia has ever seen. Because the Night is a new work loosely based on Hamlet for which Malthouse has transformed most of its Southbank theatre space into an immersive, labyrinthine set in which a cast of six – and an audience of 60 – can freely move about and explore. “There's certainly an element to the way an open world video game is constructed – you can freely roam, there's always a central narrative, but there are also side quests,” says Malthouse artistic director Matthew Lutton. "I was playing a lot of Final Fantasy, while I was thinking about this show."
The most immediate comparison theatre lovers will want to draw from Because the Night is to Sleep No More, Punch Drunk’s similarly immersive Shakespeare-adjacent production based out of New York’s McKittrick Hotel. “What’s different is that [Because the Night] is more story based,” says Lutton. “What you're watching is more like a film set, playing out six different stories at the same time.” Those six stories are loosely based off Hamlet, though don’t come expecting anyone to tenderly whisper “good night, sweet prince”. Instead, Malthouse uses six primary characters from the play as a launching point for a more contemporary story. With one slight change: the villainous King Claudius has been replaced by the far more morally complex Claudia (played by Maria Theodorakis and Nicole Nabout).
What you're watching is more like a film set, playing out six different stories at the same time.
While Claudius has typically been read as a conniving despot, Nabout says her role as Claudia is more nuanced and involved her looking deep into the psychology of “evil”. “We like to feel that there's a strong line between good and evil. In reality, when you start investigating the difference it's really quite a thin line,” she says. “I think for Claudia, although she has performed an evil deed, in terms of killing her brother, she really would feel that she was compelled to exercise that power to protect others.”
It’s not just the characters that are the same, but different. Because the Night remains set in Elsinore, but it’s far from the fictional Danish castle of Hamlet. This Elsinore is an eerie 1980s logging town; David Lynch, eat your heart out. Lutton says, “I really loved the idea of a logging town because I wanted to create a community that had a very direct connection to nature and place where there was an industry.”
But the real drawcard to Because the Night’s Elsinore is the fact that the audience will be able – nay, encouraged – to freely explore it. The Malthouse team have constructed a maze-like set that takes over the venue's theatres (plus carpark) and transforms the spaces into an elaborate world, filled with endless details and secrets that are impossible to discover in just one night. “The creative detail is extraordinary in each room,” says Nabout. “The storytelling that is simply from how these rooms have been created is magnificent. It's like an art piece, really.”
The constructed world is fluid too, as Lutton explains. “Doors open and close throughout the show. So just because the door is closed at the beginning of the show, doesn't mean it won't be open and available later in the show,” he says. Naturally, the fluctuating, meandering set has us wondering if it’s possible for audiences to get lost. “No one will be left in the theatre overnight,” laughs Nabout.
"Just because the door is closed at the beginning of the show, doesn't mean it won't be open and available later in the show."
The fourth wall is somewhat of a casualty in Because the Night, and having an audience (albeit an intimate, 60-person audience) roaming around, touching things and generally being agents of chaos presents its own problems. Although audience members will be masked and won’t be interacted with by the cast (there isn’t any oft-dreaded audience participation), the cast and crew are preparing for every eventuality. “We can't predict what the audience will do. We don't know where they will stand every night. So the actors are also constantly on their toes and responding,” says Lutton.
Even in conventional productions, the audience is “an integral part of theatre,” says Nabout, and having stand-in audiences is a big part of preparing for Because the Night. “We've had other actors step in as audience members to get a feeling of what it's like to have somebody 1.5 metres away from me, or to have somebody leave the space or enter the space,” Nabout says. Everything from mobile phones ringing to guests misbehaving has been accounted for, as Lutton explains. “We go through all the scenarios from just the inconveniences to actual issues that might mean that we have to stop the performance.”
With six different characters acting out six different narratives simultaneously, you might be wondering how best to experience Because the Night. Lutton says the good news is that “there's no correct way to see the show” (though, as above, maybe refrain from bringing your phone in or being a nuisance). “If you want to follow the actors the whole time, you can; if you want, [you can] go and explore the rooms by themselves,” he says. “[For] the people that haven't gone to theatre before, I'm hoping we're pulling down any barriers that they might see.”
Because the Night is currently showing at Malthouse Theatre. Current tickets are sold out, but more are due to be released soon. You can also sign up for early access to tickets by joining the Malthouse Muses and Mates program.