Carnevil – The mystery of the missing mystery.

No good can come from spending two hours in an underground car park past sundown and post CarnEvil’s theatre experience in a Collingwood car lot, that statement certainly still rings true.

CarnEvil’s blurb implied that the audience would be entering an interactive theatre experience where they would actively search for clues to solve a murder mystery. The show’s promise of a life-size game of Cluedo set in a carnival was in essence, a great idea.

It’s delivery on that promise however, fell short.

The show was divided into performances on a main stage that occurred between intervals where audience members roamed stalls and sideshows at their own pace. If there were clues to be found during these intervals, the audience were not made aware of them. If these clues were within each side-show, the audience would have had to purchase more carnival tokens to watch them as we only received six tokens on arrival, which was not enough to view each show.It is understandable to charge for games or products at each stall but paying extra to see elements of the show that audience members have already paid for is something that should be reconsidered.

The main stage acts also did little to imply there was a mystery to solve at all. In fact, bar an impressive pole dancing performance from Sam Whelan and a comedic weight-lifting display by Alexandra Meerbach, the main stage acts did not carry the “wow factor” you would expect to see at a carnival.  The only time the audience were clearly privy to the murderous subplot was during the last ten minutes of the show which seemed rushed and created an air that something was missed over the previous couple of hours.

The company would do well to consider embedding more visible clues and hints throughout the entirety of the performance in order to give the ending more weight. The concept itself is excellent and with a bit of work on clarity, would provide the audience with a far more engaging experience.

What did hit home however, were the design elements of the production.

The choice of location in an underground car park cleverly guaranteed an eerie and otherworldly backdrop to the show. Make shift tents, fairy lights, swathes of material draped here and there and an overall effective lighting scheme truly transformed the setting into an underground fiendish festival.

The character’s costumes were well thought out and fit nicely with the old-school carnival vibe. The combination of design components successfully created a little slice of creepy carnival heaven.

Sadly the carnival’s ambiance was occasionally let down by poor organisation and inconsistent performances from some of the actors. Miscommunication between members of the company meant audience members were ushered to areas of the carnival that were shut down for the night or told to enter the performance space before the company was ready. Furthermore, prior to entering the performance space we had a clear view into the carnival area where actors didn’t yet seem to be in role despite being in plain site of an incumbent audience.

Actors slipping in and out of character seemed to be an issue that prevailed throughout the night. While a clear effort was made to stay on role during main stage acts, they seemed to forget to carry their characters through when interacting with audience members. There were however, exceptions to this observation. Special mentions go to Stephanie Wood playing Miss Scarlet, the hot-tongued burlesque seductress and Alexandra Meerbach who doubled as the Eastern European Weight Lifter and Elderly British Medicine Woman. These ladies seemed to make a conscious effort to consider the way they moved, talked and interacted with the audience throughout the entirety of their exposure to them.

While CarnEvil has definite scope to create a truly exciting piece of immersive theatre, there is still much room for improvement. When constructing an interactive performance piece every single nuance needs to fit with the atmosphere you are trying to create. A greater attention to detail and clarity of the themes the actors are trying to portray would not go amiss in this production.

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