Thirty-nine people surround an unlit room, straining to make sense out of the shapeless void ahead. Two vague figures burst in, stumbling onto a solitary bed. However, to the sensory shock of the audience, the space remains pitch black. For the following 30 minutes, they can only perceive the action of the performance via fleeting glimpses, and, more importantly, what they can hear, smell and feel.

Welcome to the world of His Ghostly Heart, which portrays one emotionally tortuous night shared by two people (Riley Nottingham and Bundy Marston). Directed by New Zealand actor and director Richard Edge and penned by British screenwriter Ben Schiffer (Skins), this will be its third season after premiering at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a reappearance in at the 2012 Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Edge says the production will question how people glorify past relationships and how this can cloud the ability to love, hurt and grieve. He says the play’s darkness will compel the audience to pay attention.

“We really don’t want the audience to be able to sit back and comfortably watch and experience this,” he says. “We really want work on that idea of the theatricality of the moment and working on people’s imaginations.”

Edge believes that theatre will continue to be popular because it is constantly alive and has a “human presence”, and that Melbourne Fringe is the perfect place for this production because it is a creative and innovative space.

Brisbane actor and the play’s producer, Riley Nottingham (ABC’s The Gods of Wheat Street, We are Darren and Riley) says he wants to challenge the notion of a safe and boring theatre.

“This is the theatre capital of Australia and so, we want to challenge ourselves this year and do something out of our comfort zones,” he says.

Nottingham has become more aware of the needs of contemporary audiences, after last year appearing in a comic web series alongside his childhood friend Darren Low. The show was nominated for two awards at the 2015 LA Webfest.

Nottingham believe that if real theatre wants to survive in the modern media culture of Netflix and Foxtel, it will have to “be better”.

Edge and Nottingham, together with fellow Brisbane actor Bundy Marston, say they want to show that theatre does not have to conform to the traditional methods any more. His Ghostly Heart will allow for an experience which is both immediate as television, but still physically and emotionally confronting because of the reality of theatre. Marston says they intend to entice and surprise those who would normally choose to stay at home during the weekend.

“It will take the audience by surprise, I think, because they won’t be expecting what we’re going to deliver,”  she says.

Many say that “seeing is believing”. Yet, in the case of His Ghostly Heart, it is what is kept from sight which is believed to be true. Embodying the core philosophy at the heart of Fringe, it will encourage the audience to make choices about what to perceive and to experience art by being a part of it.

His Ghostly Heart will be on at Upstairs at Errols from Saturday September 26 until Saturday October 3, at  10:30pm, and on Sunday, 27 September at 9.30 (no shows on Mondays).

To purchase tickets, please visit melbournefringe.com.au or call (03) 9660 9666.