Presented by Nathan Schulz Presents
Reviewed 3 March 2017
If you book tickets through the Fringe website, you may notice that the description of The Curiosity Experiment begins by asking, “Care to hear a peculiar tale this Adelaide Fringe?” The two key words in that sentence are hear and peculiar because it is, indeed, a curious experiment to behold.
Seated around a darkened table, a mysterious host reads a letter by torchlight that talks of a mystical experiment that was looking into objects exposed to extreme emotions and if they retained any psychic memory of the event. The reading goes on a little too long but is followed by guests being asked to blindfold themselves and focus on the objects in the room.
What follows is an effectively eerie soundscape that floats around the space, combining actors and pre-recorded sounds to depict a horrific murder brought on by a haunting. The uncredited cast is superb, creating an unsettling story of whispers, guttural sounds, echoing voices and things that go bump in the night. This is a radio play in surround sound, with the extra sensory fright of feeling a breath on the back of your neck or a voice whispering in your ear. Most of the actors seem to move constantly, giving the impression that spectres are, in fact, moving about.
There’s nothing here to grab at you or make you scream but The Curiosity Experiment is a unique curiosity that may leave you scratching your head or leaving the lights on at night, depending on your own sensibilities.
The grand old haunted mansion known as Carclew is the right environment for this creepy foray into the unknown, and thank goodness, we still have artists willing to bring something odd and new to the Fringe.
In the beginning, they dare you to peak from behind the blindfold, but I dare you to put it on.
Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet
Rating out of 5: 3
Venue: Carclew, 11 Jeffcott St, North Adelaide
Season: until 7 March 2017
Duration: 75 minutes
Tickets: $15 – $25
Bookings: FringeTix
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