A bare stage greets us at the Gryphon The­atre.  It seems big­ger than usu­al with a sound­scape that hints at vast des­o­late spaces where the only thing alive is the whistling wind. Then noise! Lights! And a tat­tered crea­ture that stut­ters out from the wings as if glimpsed by light­ning flash­es. Vladimir the Crow is a fan of humans and the way we are drawn to the dark side — mon­sters, spirits…other humans. He’s opened a por­tal to the oth­er world for us to step through and explore the world of hor­ror with him.

Paul Bourke is a com­mit­ted per­former with good Bouf­fon skills who can hold a char­ac­ter and inter­act with the audi­ence. He keeps an earnest smile on his face as we take some time to warm up to the idea of what he wants us to do. (Be aware: he’s not afraid to clam­ber through the seats in search of some­one who will play along.) Alter­nate reac­tions of pleased or hor­ri­fied fol­low once we’ve under­stood. Bourke is sup­port­ed by Dar­ryn Woods on lights and Stephen Bourke on sound. Loop­ing, dis­tor­tion and oth­er effects enhance the some­times dreamy action on stage (and through­out the the­atre). It feels as though there are sev­er­al good set pieces in the show that have been stretched out. Con­se­quent­ly the expe­ri­ence is unnat­u­ral­ly even paced. Luck­i­ly it is enter­tain­ing if you let your­self fall into Vladimir’s world.

There are many invi­ta­tions for audi­ence par­tic­i­pa­tion so per­haps have a Garage Project #NZFringe beer (Cucum­ber, lime, mint flavours) from the bar before the show.