Immersive Theatre App The Hungry Ghost Walk Takes a New Look at Surry Hills

With graceful, repurposed trolleys and plays in your lounge room, Art & About is making us rethink the familiar. And what's more familiar than everyone's favourite leafy, cafe-on-every-corner suburb of Surry Hills? Mei Tsering's The Hungry Ghost Walk is an immersive theatre app that will open your eyes to a few things about the suburb that was more slum than style in the early 1900s.

After downloading the free app on a smartphone and heading to start point Bourke Street Bakery, individual theatre adventurers are introduced to a sleep-deprived Eddie, who is curious to unearth a troubling family mystery. Eddie finds out more about his Chinese ancestry and tries to feed his Hungry Ghost, and with every step, rarely told stories are uncovered about the early Chinese community who called Surry Hills home.

Relying on a gripping soundscape by Nick Wishart, The Hungry Ghost Walk app uses binaural technology, meaning you'll hear things from all directions, so a good set of headphones is a must. Post-play pins and needles from sitting still for two hours are likely to be avoided here, but sensible shoes would be, well, sensible.

The app also features graphics by world-conquering Sydney artist Matt Huynh and the voice work of actors Charles Wu, Odile Le Clezio and Gabrielle Chan, directed by Susanna Dowling (Girl in Tan Boots).

Leave behind the incessant whisperers and loud laughers who annoy you at the theatre, and prepare yourself for a sensory adventure solo.

The Hungry Ghost Walk is now available for free download from the iTunes App Store or Google Play for Android. Art & About is on until October 12, though The Hungry Ghost Walk will live on after.

Top image by Newtown grafitti via photopin cc.