An Immersive Experience Comes to Chapel Off Chapel

Citizen Theatre's newest project Forgotten Places is an immersive theatre and art experience that imagines the future of the City of Stonnington as a musical and enchanting place, where colour rules supreme.

The Forgotten Places immersive experience creates an interactive futuristic city where large scale paintings, singing, storytelling, music and colour will give audiences of all ages a transformative experience to change the way they view and interact with their local area.

The immersive experience will take over Chapel Off Chapel's mezzanine space in February this year.

All of the art works, performances and designs have been been inspired by local residents' photographs. The photographs were taken on a photography walk run by Citizen Theatre in November. A selection of these were transformed into vibrant abstract paintings, innovative performance pieces, beautiful songs and other-worldly costumes.

Citizen Theatre Artistic Director Jayde Kirchert says audiences can expect to be surprised. "With lots of different performances and visual art being presented simultaneously, audiences can let their curiosity guide their journey through our imagined future city. No two people will have the same experience."

Forgotten Places combines meaningful community engagement with artistic innovation and has been supported by the City of Stonnington's Arts & Cultural grants program. A free community matinee will be presented for those who face financial barriers to attending arts and cultural events. The Forgotten Places immersive experience is family friendly and suitable for children aged 5 and older.

Citizen Theatre is an independent Melbourne-based theatre company that has been producing works in non-traditional spaces since 2013, including Twelfth Night in Hares & Hyenas bookshop and The Importance of Being Earnest at Como Historic House & Garden. The company was also the recipient of the 2018 ShowSupport grant to present Ascent at Theatre Works for the Melbourne Fringe Festival.