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.