Anywhere Theatre Festival: Meet Me At The Museum

Meet Me At The Museum is an interactive theatrel experience where a small group of audience members (approximately six) arrive at a designated meeting point in the Queensland Museum, are given headphones and an ipod, and are instructed to press ‘play’ at the same time.

The audience then listens to the instructions of the story’s narrator while observing and following actors who play the roles of museum staff and patrons.

The narrator is a zoologist who has a secret, which slowly unfolds as the group explore various exhibits. They hear about her life story from the moment she decided to study animal biology on her  first visit to the museum as a young girl.

This is an entertaining (albeit sombre) piece. The innovative way of telling the story helps to spark a new interest in the museum exhibits; the narrator’s instructions help focus the audience’s attention.

The Anywhere Theatre Festival was the perfect opportunity for Melbourne-based arts practitioner Nina Barry-Macaulay to showcase her site-specific work. Influenced by the immersive and innovative theatre she experienced while living in Europe, the multi-talented Barry-Macaulay not only wrote and produced the work, but composed and narrated the soundtrack.

The three actor’s who help to play out the journey are Matt Gaffney as a museum patron, Riley Cauchi as a museum staff member, and Adelaide Lowis as the narrator’s younger self.

The production quality is high and would work well as a permanent addition to the museum’s educational program.

Meet Me At The Museum runs for forty minutes and will be playing at the Queensland Museum in Southbank until May 11.

For bookings, go to the Anywhere Theatre Festival Website