REVIEW: Hotel Bella Luna
Image: Adrien Stark. Photo: James Mantle
Improvisation and interactive theatre might scare away some, but in Flight Path Theatre’s Hotel Bella Luna the shy can choose to clasp on a VIP (Very Introverted Person) badge to avoid the ensuing chaos.
The show begins with an induction for audience members, introduced to the highest-rated Moon Yelp hotel, also the only one on the Moon. The bellhops are very proud of this, and kindly tell the introverted that they can become extroverted anytime they wish. Bonza!
The plot, such as it is, involves a hotel on the Moon experiencing a possible breakdown in life support systems. It is up to the bellhops, a resident guest, and a robot prone to dancing to save the hotel and themselves. The Imaginatrix computer has broken down and there are various ways to fix it. The audience is invited to help in this rollicking quest.
Audience members are invited to follow the characters to various spaces, such as the engineering room (covered in foil floor-to-ceiling) or the foyer, to help save the hotel and its denizens. For those who volunteer, it’s an experience of a sort of private theatre (and the shy VIPs are welcome).
Still, improv can be hit-and-miss. The seven cast members rotate through the show’s run and the dynamics change with every performance. And with every audience. Hotel Bella Luna will be well served with an audience as clever and extroverted as its creators. Go with a group of friends and have some unpolished interactive fun. And no fear, the dancing robot will command dancing when all systems fail.
Until Nov 7. Flight Path Theatre, Addison Road Community Centre, 142 Addison Rd, Marrickville. $23-$28+b.f. Tickets & info: www.flightpaththeatre.org
Reviewed by Olga Azar
