Mansion
Electric Goldfish have been behind a number of online only shows which we have previously enjoyed. Mansion is the first step out of the online space for this creative collective who have previous backgrounds with other companies in the live immersive theatre arena.
Mansion took place at Antwerp Mansion, a fantastic setting for this show. The mansion itself has been the home of many things from a gentlemen’s club to numerous raves throughout the years.
Mansion takes the audience on a journey through time as you explore the fascinating building that is Antwerp Mansion.
From the moment you arrive at the venue you can instantly tell that this building has a story or two to tell. Once you enter and are introduced to the caretaker everything starts to become clear as you are guided around the building learning about those who have come before.
The story takes the audience on a journey through time. The use of the building superbly fits this story and every room you visit has been fantastically thought out as the story progresses.
The acting is great, really immersing the audience in the narrative with multiple elements that engage the audience rather than the experience being purely passive. This makes you feel part of the story.
There was a great use of lighting and practical effects throughout. Personally particularly liked the scene with the swing and the ballroom. Both very different but equally engaging.
The soundtrack itself cleverly continues throughout the experience. While the melody remains constant the instrumentation changes as the story progresses. This happens so subtly you may not immediately notice until reflecting back on the experience.
Overall this was an absolutely fantastic piece of immersive promenade theatre. It was appropriately haunting with great acting talent and theming throughout making use of the fantastic venue at every opportunity.
While this show’s run has finished we would absolutely recommend keeping your eyes open on social media for what’s next for Electric Goldfish.
Keep the Candle Burning
Keep the Candle Burning is the latest creation from the team of creatives at Electric Goldfish. The team who previously brought you the Pandora Network.
The experience comes in the form of an audio recording taking the listener on a wild audio ride into three different ghost stories. Each story offering something different from the one before.
To get the full effect of the audio recording it is recommended that you listen in the dark and if you really want to immerse yourself you’ll want to gather a few props before hand like a doll, candles and a knife!
I personally listened to the experience over a number of evenings and this worked quite well providing some post Halloween spooks before bed.
The experience isn’t just an audiobook, the use of sounds, special effects, as well as 3D sound, draw you deeper into the stories.
From the three stores, I felt a slight Paul Jennings (of Round the Twist fame) vibe which brought me back to my childhood, listening to creepy tales. I think this is due to the engaging and gripping nature of the stories.
Each story has been well crafted to play with peoples fears and are all quite different. The first was my personal favourite and the one that I engaged with the most. The second I’d really recommend following the narrator’s suggestions with regards to props etc. and the third could leave some people downright terrified.
The hour and a half experience takes the listener on a rollercoaster of emotion from tension and fear through to a real sense of calm and relaxation. This is all created from a combination of a clever soundtrack, great scriptwriting and dramatic narration.
Words don’t give the experience justice and I’d highly recommend grabbing yourself a copy of this experience. You can get the download from the Electric Goldfish website for only £4.99 which is an absolute bargain.
Electric Goldfish have knocked it out the park again with an immersive, terrifying experience that can be enjoyed almost anywhere.
The Pandora Network – Nightlight Circus
A little while ago the quaint town of Pondermere received a visit from the Nightlight Circus, whose shows and attractions have been delighting and thrilling locals and tourists alike since the Big Top was put up. All was going well, but then a group of local children went missing and vanished without a trace. The Pandora Network were quickly called in to help investigate, ably assisted by myself and a group of fellow online analysts. Time was clearly of the essence to unravel the mysteries and find the missing children.
And so Nightlight Circus, the second instalment of The Pandora Network, from Electric Goldfish (a collaboration of Faceless Ventures, Incognito Experiences and Nick Hutson Music) began. Myself and the rest of the Scare Directory team had previously participated in the first episode, Burying the Hatchet (review can be found here) earlier in the year. As a very active ‘analyst’ last time round I was keen to see what weird new occurrences had been going on Pondermere since my last virtual visit.
The Pandora Network experience is an online interactive mystery played out through Facebook over the course of a week. At the start you’ll be befriended by the head of The Pandora Network, Benedict Spalding and invited to a private Facebook group where the majority of the story unfolds. You’ll also virtually meet field agents Felix Chase and Beatrice Blackthorn. Felix and Beatrice will act as your groups eyes and ears in the town of Pondermere.
You’re quickly immersed in the background to the mysterious disappearance of the kids, the spooky Nightlight Circus and its intriguing characters. On your own or with the help of the rest of the analysts in the group you then start directing Felix and Beatrice on what to investigate next, who they should speak to and what questions to ask. For this type of experience you’ll definitely get a more interesting and fulfilling time the more that you put in to it. That said, I probably spent about half an hour a day on average reading about the latest developments and adding my own sceptical musings on the events. The interaction that you have with the field agents and the rest of the analyst team really help as you bounce ideas off each other, or completely disagree if you feel like it.
The quality of the media used to progress the story were great, the audio elements always a highlight. It was also great to see a few new elements had been added to the second chapter of the mysteries of Pondermere. These were a nice touch and helped enhance the interactivity and immersion over the course of the week. I also felt that the pacing of the story worked well and was improved from the first chapter with many of us deeply involved towards the end of the week.
It’s also worth noting that each of The Pandora Network’s events are standalone and so no prior knowledge or experience is needed to enjoy it, though if you have taken part in Burying the Hatchet you may find an Easter egg or two. The Pandora Network – Nightlight Circus will run again starting on 2ndAugust and tickets are still available here. More details of The Pandora Network can be found on their website and Facebook page.
Overall another really enjoyable week in the strange world of Pondermere and its weird occurrences. Whilst we can all get out a bit more now, this form of virtual immersive theatre is still massively relevant and something I’d enjoy doing lockdown or no lockdown and I look forward to seeing what new mysteries await in future visits to Pondermere.
The Pandora Network – Burying The Hatchet
In this time of lockdown and social distancing the Scare Directory team are looking for activities to keep us entertained. The Pandora Network, a collaboration between Faceless Ventures, Incognito Experiencesand Nick Hutson Music was just that. A week-long murder mystery experience taking place online through Facebook.
The whole team managed to take part in this experience, each having different experiences that we will try and summarise below.
Steven managed to interact with the experience quite a bit, so the bulk of the review will be from his perspective.
The Experience
During the week, the team and many others of our 25-ish strong group had several online conversations with the two field agents who were in situ in the town of Pondermere and were able to act as the eyes and ears for those of us in the online analyst community. Through them we were able to respond to what they had unearthed, posting our own theories, asking them questions to follow up on and give suggestions as to where to go next in the investigation.
As with all immersive events with interactive elements, we found that the more you put in, the more you get out of it. In a normal in person event that has a short set time span, it’s relatively easy, self-confidence aside, to do so, free from external distractions. In an online only environment that’s much trickier, especially as you may have several fellow agents all posting multiple potentially divergent ideas throughout the day.
The amount of time spent delving in to the world of Pondermere, apart from one fun mid-week activity, decreased slightly over the course of the mystery, which is understandable given that there are likely to be multiple investigative strands to follow at the start, but as these converged or theories were eliminated the same sense of agency at the start of the week wasn’t there towards the end.
Personal Perspectives
Steven
As someone that has a lot of free time during the current lockdown, I was looking forward to this initial instalment of The Pandora Network. Not only would it be a welcome bit of entertainment, but I knew I could put in more time if needed to help solve this mystery. As such I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and stayed very engaged with the evolving nature of the interactive whodunnit.
I found the frequency, depth and variety of these interactions with the field agents to be really good, with plenty new to respond to and the personal nature of many of the online chats and in particular some of the messages to be a really nice touch and helped with the sense of immersion. The other aspect is of course chatting with your fellow online analyst agents about the case and bouncing ideas and theories off one another. These interactions helped to set up the town of Pondermere and how this may evolve in future instalments..
That said I didn’t sink masses of time in to the experience, probably on average about half an hour to an hour each day, but I did dip in and out multiple times a day, usually whenever a new piece of information came to light. This helped me to keep on top of not only the work of the field agents, but also to easily keep track of what everyone else was saying.
I’ll certainly be keen to don my mac, fedora and shades again to delve in to the mysterious world of Pondermere and its secrets
Ashley
Due to various external factors I struggled to keep up with the frantic theorising of the ‘agents’. While not having time to interact much in the experience I thoroughly enjoyed reading what others thought and experiencing the multimedia elements throughout the week. It was great to see people speculating and searching the web for additional historical facts that might help solve the case. I particularly enjoyed the summary of the week’s events at the end, this rounded things off well with great production value and storytelling that even without as much focus during the week was an enjoyable piece of media.
Even without the heavy interaction I still found the event enjoyable and would recommend the experience, especially to those who have the free time to fully engage with the process. The storyline was gripping and interesting to follow throughout the week.
Josie
I’m a massive murder mystery fan and was really intrigued by the experience and how it would be run. Overall, it was clear how much time and effort had been put into running the experience and the variation of interactions, including Facebook posts, pictures and audio, was very well done and kept a good pace. The experience could benefit from a clear outline of the anticipated time commitment and an indication of the number of people who will be taking part at the booking stage so that all participants can prepare themselves appropriately. Myself, like Ash, found the pace of the experience hard to keep up with due to the current circumstances, number of participants and posts, however overall it was an excellent experience which was fun and well executed.
Summary
All in all, we really enjoyed this experience. It was a welcome change and something different than many of the online only experiences completed during the lockdown and for the price we thought was great value. It was an excellent idea for a fun event to do with friends during lockdown as you can theorise together or part of the wider group.
Keep an eye out on The Pandora Network Facebook Page for details of any future mysteries.
