Gina Schien’s new immersive theatre work as part of the Deadhouse: Tales From Sydney Morgue program, Louisa Collins: A Poison Crown, is a project that’ll tickle people who’ve yearned to see live performance in an interesting venue. The audience gathers outside the crypt under St James' Church, waiting to be ushered inside. Kyla Ward, our guide, pale and gaunt as if she is a dead woman or ghost herself, beckons us with black, lace gloves. She introduces us to the tale of Louisa Collins, a woman hanged for the murder of her two husbands. For the next hour, the audience will be taken through the crypt and witness a dramatised history of the (probably) wrongly condemned woman.
A Poison Crown’s opening is suitably creepy but it doesn't quite keep its promise of intrigue and fear-inducing immersion. While on the surface the crypt is a spine-tingling place, the haphazardly hidden equipment of its daily operations as a commercial kitchen jolt us from our journey, as do the varyingly polished and committed performances. Immersive theatre has a great edge in its activation of unused spaces to flesh out stories. The crypt under St James' Church, though, which has been in daily use for many years now, falls short of that potential.
Executive producer Stephen Carnell describes the project as a "combination of immersive theatre with true Australian crime stories in a real historic setting", but there's little inspiration here. Louisa Collins: A Poison Crown is fun and interesting, but more for the presentation of its story than a truly rich theatrical experience.
Director Liviu Monsted works fairly well with the unique space’s opportunities, and the audience’s movement through different zones is smoothly facilitated. Chris Miller’s performance as Mr Lusk and Lord Carrington is a standout. His performance is full-bodied, percussive and precise. As the impassioned defence lawyer we feel his pain at being unable to defend Collins from the vengeance of the state. As a crypt isn’t built with acoustics in mind, we lose a lot of the actor’s voices. Miller’s gusto overcomes this frustration. Sandra Campbell too provides us with a real class performance. She manages to combine the soap opera drama needed with a strict believability and sense of fun. These two performers heighten the piece, and leave the audience with a sense that they might try Deadhouse again, though perhaps after a breather.
