New Theatre Style ‘Casts a Spell’ on Audiences
By Katie Kobel
It’s 1690 at 39 Hale Street in Beverly, MA and magic and witchcraft are very real and alive. Inside these walls, no one can be certain what is truly going on. Is it witchcraft? Is it illness? Whatever it may be, it’s up to you to decide.
The Dolbeare household invites you to come witness the spectacle of the effects of demons on the spirit of a young woman. Housemaid Susannah “Sukey” Gould was rescued from the frontiers of Maine where she was infected with a demon. The charitable Mistress Dolbeare asks you to bear witness and pray for the soul of Susannah. During your stay at Hale Street, you will see Sukey’s ‘episodes’ and have time to speak to members of the house to determine what these episodes might mean. Throughout your time in the Dolbeare household, you will also meet many friends and family of the estate. Dr. Nathan Ward will be present to attend to any medical needs, while Reverend Richard Hallowell will be there to protect your spirit. Also in attendance is Master Retire Dolbeare and his sister, Mistress Deliverance Dolbeare. The house maid and laundress, Goody Frye, will be there to ensure proper hospitality.
It is up to you to decide what is truly happening to Sukey Gould. This is Daemonologie: Blood and Bone.
Daemonologie: Blood and Bone is an immersive interactive production with show times from October 5 – November 3 on Fridays and Saturdays, at 7:30 and 9:00 pm.
Intramersive is Interactive Theatre at Full Volume
Unlike your typical interactive murder mystery dinner theater, Intramersive offers an experience that makes you a part of the performance. It’s more than just breaking the fourth wall, with immersive theater, the fourth wall is gone completely. The audience is not only gets engaged, but becomes a part of the story as well. . Blood and Bone takes you into the world of the 1690s, invites you into their home, treats you like a guest, lets you decide the fate of the final scene.
As the audience, you can ask the actors questions about their characters’ lives, writer and director Diana Dunlap has worked tirelessly to develop a whole world for these characters. The actors have embraced the world that has been created for them and are able to answer audience members’ questions with ease. Night after night they continue to make emotional connections to audiences and gain the trust to make them believe in their characters’ innocence.
The directors and actors of the show have made it a point to be historically accurate. Bringing in experts to train the actors on how people in this time would actually talk, the slang that was used, and the way the community would work. It was important to the team that the accuracy of the time was upheld to make it seem more realistic. That being said, the audience members are greatly encouraged to embrace the magic and believe in the witchcraft.
Some of the actors have stated after the show how much they really dove into the world of the 1690s. Doing extra research on the time frame, looking more into their specific characters and how they would have actually lived at the time and the beliefs that people had. They have expressed that ‘having audience members who get really into it and ask us so many questions is so fun for us. Most of the time we don’t even scrape the surface of the worlds that have been created for our characters.’
With the power to decide the fate of the show, audience members have come up with many different conclusions. At the end of the show, the cast talk with the audience about their decision and how they came to it. This is always something that is interesting to the cast because it gives them a different view on their own show. Having the audience point out how they perceived things and draw their own conclusions is what makes this show so unique.
With no one ‘correct’ answer, audience members are encouraged to see the show more than once to test out different ideas with new knowledge. You cannot gather all of the information about the show in just one trip, because of the way the show is structured, it’s impossible to be everywhere at once. This is why multiple viewings can be beneficial to your knowledge of the characters and storyline. Coming back to see the show a second and maybe even third and fourth time, brings you into a whole new mindset and deeper in the world of the Dolbeare house.
The best part about going multiple times is that no show will ever be exactly the same. This is what makes this show so unique. Going to the 7:30 showing on one night could be a completely different experience than going to the 9:00 showing that same night. Each group of audience members all perceive the show in a different light and come to a variety of different conclusions.
Intramersive offers an experience unlike anything you’ve seen before. During your time in the Dolbeare home, you immerse yourself into the world of these characters, and it leaves you questioning everything you know.
Get your tickets for Blood and Bone today, spots will fill up fast. The Dolbeare family awaits your visit in the journey to find out what is really happening with Susannah.
