Writer: Leo Dalton
Billed as an immersive show, Into The Dreamlands is unlike any form of theatre you’re likely to have experienced before. It is less a show and more an interactive fantasy story where the audience provides the direction, narration and even soundtrack. Inspired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, famed for his horror fantasy stories, and anchored in dream theory, this is an unstructured story that evolves in real time.
Our host, Leo Dalton, presenting as an engagingly creepy hybrid of Fagin and the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, welcomes the audience to the performance. He gives an introduction to dreams and dream theory and a rather unflattering introduction to H.P Lovecraft who, it would appear, hated everything and everyone except himself.
The audience is then encouraged to join one of three groups: the explorers, the maintainers, and the navigators. A single member of the audience is invited to be the Avatar, ‘our’ character in the dream. The explorers are invited onto the stage and, with provided pens and paper, asked to document the unfolding story in writing and pictures. The maintainers, also on stage, are instructed to provide a form of soundtrack through humming, chanting, and stomping. The navigators are encouraged to move to the front of the auditorium and to whisper their opinions as to what the Avatar should do at any given moment.
The Avatar is seated centre stage with their back to the audience, and the story begins. Our host sets the scene of the Avatar in a densely wooded area, damp and difficult to navigate. The Avatar notices eyes watching them as they progress, and is given the opportunity to decide what to do… move further into the woodland, approach the animals, turn around or anything possible within that scenario. And so the ‘dream’ starts and progresses.
At any time, any member of the audience can stand up and request to take the place of the Avatar, and so take control of the narrative. Throughout, all characters within the dream, human or animal, are portrayed by the host who moves the story forward based on the collective decisions made by the avatar and audience.
Into The Dreamlands is the first time this production has been produced in this format. It is a truncation of a 24-hour interactive production called The Key Of Dreams that takes place in a Welsh manor house to an intimate group of attendees. And whilst this is very intriguing, it’s not quite a success.
A key high point is Dalton who seems to be taken over by his various forms. His ability to respond to and drive the narrative based on the Avatar’s feedback is quite remarkable, giving a coherent, if spooky and unnerving story.
The setting is less successful, with the Avatar facing away from the audience, it’s near impossible to hear the decisions they’re making. Add to that the rising noise of the whisperers and the chanting, it becomes difficult to follow exactly what’s going on. It ends as dramatically as it starts, basically when the show run time is over. There’s no conclusion or even formal round-up, so there’s a heavy sense of ‘so what’ at the end.
In its original form, as a 24-hour experience in the manor house, with a smaller group, this could be highly entertaining, engaging and even educational. As it is here, it’s intriguing but ultimately unfulfilling.
Reviewed on 13 February 2024
The Reviews Hub Score
Interesting, but unsatisfying
