A disrupter, enabler and agent for innovation, Broad Encounters works creatively with artists and other brave minds to create live performances and experiences that matter.
Broad Encounters creates, presents and tours unique multi-sensory, immersive live productions that ignite the imagination, engage the senses and immerse audiences in brave new worlds.
Introducing bold new visions of how audiences can engage and interact with creative work, we stake ourselves passionately at the frontier of contemporary Australian productions, curating remarkable experiences that blend forms, shatter conventions, transform spaces and inspire imagination.
We are a small, flexible, passionate and committed team with skills that range the gamut of the creative arts practices, marketing and audience engagement and technical production skills. The company is led by co-founder and director, Kirsten Siddle.
Got questions? Get in touch.
Peek into our world –
It’s Showtime –
Love Lust Lost
Love Lust Lost is the newest immersive experience from Broad Encounters.
Descend to an enchanting new world, where madness roils, dreams unfurl and aching secrets bloom through the dark. An immersive, multi-sensory and intimate adventure where the timeless tales of Jules Verne, Hans Christian Anderson and Joseph Conrad collide across far-flung realms. The phantasmagoria that is Love Lust Lost will flood the far reaches of your mind with an intricate underworld – of terrible sacrifice, sweet surrender, lost souls and other-worldly fun.
“Love Lust Lost is a convention-shattering theatrical experience that will delight and enthral adventurous souls and curious minds. Do not miss this extraordinary adventure.” - The Plus Ones
Maho Magic Bar
Maho Magic Bar is a celebration of Japanese culture, contemporary and traditional, and an invitation for audiences to suspend reality and be eclipsed by the wonders of magic.
Set in a bespoke touring pop-up bar, all neon fun on the outside and cool sophistication on the inside, master close-up magicians (direct from Japan!) visit each table to perform an intimate show for each group.
This experience merges immersive entertainment, the art of illusion and the ambience of a high-end cocktail bar to create a unique experience that is part performance, part bar and part unique destination.
Tickets are now on sale for our return season to Adelaide in The Garden of Unearthly Delights for Adelaide Fringe.
“The tricks themselves are varied and clever, with something to impress everyone, whether you’re a first-time magic attendee or a grizzled cynic whose joy comes from trying to dissect how everything works.” - The Age
“Kickass and kawaii!” - Upside Adelaide
A Midnight Visit
A Midnight Visit is Broad Encounters’ first large-scale work.
Inspired by the works, world and legacy of Edgar Allan Poe, the multi-sensory show upends boundaries and expectations, combining theatre, art, dance, film, soundscape and cabaret.
Set over 2500sqm and involving over 250 creators, the immersive theatre production has captivated over 58,000 people across Australia to date, received multiple five-star reviews, and won Best New Event of 2018 for Australia and NZ (Concrete Playground) and Best Performance Adaption from The International Edgar Allan Poe Society based in Baltimore.
“A gothic playground for adults” - Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane
“As an homage to Poe, you couldn’t ask for more.” - The Age
A Journey Most Unusual
A theatrical experience takeover of the legendary Hotel Palisade this collaboration between Broad Encounters Productions and Hendricks Gin asks you to leave the mundane behind you and prepare to encounter strange characters, erudite entertainments, mind-expanding challenges and alluring scenes.
Part performance, part immersive experience, when you undertake A Journey Most Unusual, the only thing to expect is the unexpected.
“Step into a parallel universe that is accentuated by textures, smells and delectable tastes of Hendrick’s Gin to create a cosmos of its own” - Scene Point Blank
When Night Comes
The soiree of the year . . . dark, decadent and delicious. A bespoke, multi-sensory and distinctly intoxicating performance experience, The Society invites you to attend When Night Comes.
When Night Comes is an immersive performance for small groups that blends theatre and cocktails in a singular experience. Encounter tantilising provocations, empyreal characters and an alluring bachanalian world, in search of amusements, treats, tipples and secrets.
A hedonistic night out, where visions and sounds, smells
and textures, tastes and feelings are conjured.
When Night Comes will have its premiere season in Melbourne this June.
Fame and Fortune –
Response to LOVE LUST LOST
"Enticing, imaginative, esoteric and provocative.”
- The Blurb
“Enjoy the sense of being the accidental curator of your own experience – it is really an enormous amount of fun.”
- Arts Hub
“This production delivers all the promise and excitement of immersive theatre and creates a truly luscious and unique event that would be madness to miss.”
- Stage Whispers
“I was both floored and touched by LOVE LUST LOST. I truly loved it and would go back in a heartbeat.”
- Lilithia Reviews
“Love Lust Lost by Broad Encounters emerges as a radiant supernova of creativity, storytelling prowess, and immersive adventure.”
- Dance Life
"Entering the world of 'LOVE LUST LOST' (the EV Nautilus) is truly like entering a new realm”
– Scenestr
"An unconventional, unique adults-only experience. Intimate but also communal.”
– Blue Curtains Brisbane
"Love Lust Lost is an innovative work of surreal beauty that smashes the conventions of traditional theatre in all the best ways and sinks its teeth into you in a way that will make you want to return again and again. It cements Broad Encounters as a company at the forefront immersive theatre in Australia and one of the companies in the field to watch internationally. The narrative and the world that they have created is on par with the early productions of Punchdrunk, one of the world’s leading immersive theatre companies, and hopefully it’s just the beginning for Broad Encounters. It’s a privilege that we get to see a Meanjin-based company pushing the boundaries of their chosen form and testing it on us locals.”
- Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane
Response to A Midnight Visit
“A sure hit … Inside, a maze of ghoulish delights awaits. Every experience will be different”
– The Age
“Mind-blowing… An amazing maze with surprises both devilish and delightful around every corner”
– West Australian
“An exciting and strange piece of immersive theatre”
– Sydney Morning Herald
“Australia’s answer to Sleep No More”
– ABC Arts
“This piece of immersive theatre is unlike almost anything else at the moment”
– XPress Magazine
“A delight to all the senses”
– Theatre People
"Re-defining the immersive experience by creating a truly all encompassing world"
– Australian Arts Review
“Like Alice down the rabbit hole, you drift into an impeccably constructed dreamscape/adventure land…the level of detail is second to none”
– Fringe Feed
“Directed with panache by Danielle Harvey, it engages all five senses (scents are cannily deployed in different playing spaces), allows audiences space to explore and make the night their own… A remarkable achievement”
– Time Out Sydney
“This is what theatre should be doing all the time, challenging, exploring, developing and expanding the form of theatre”
– On the Town
Response to Maho Magic Bar
"It's an intimate experience that feels personalised and exclusive; just you, your friends, the magician, and maybe a couple of random people next to you. The magic tricks that unfold before your unbelieving eyes are so close, you can touch the props, which include cards, balloons, fruit, lighters, soft toys, and more.”
- Brisbane Stage
“The tricks themselves are varied and clever, with something to impress everyone, whether you’re a first-time magic attendee or a grizzled cynic whose joy comes from trying to dissect how everything works.”
- The Age
“With a dash of Japanese culture, an abundance of magic, and a lot of heart, this wonderful little establishment is a must-visit place before it disappears just as mysteriously as it came. Maho Magic Bar is pure joy, exquisitely charming, genuinely enchanting, and is made for those that relish in dreams and the odd little secret miracles.”
- Lilithia Reviews
“Maho Magic Bar is a whirlwind of magic with a perfectly themed soundtrack to match. Brilliantly astounding from start to finish and truly makes you feel like you’ve been whisked away to an underground Toyko club for the night.”
- Upside Adelaide
“For magic lovers, this is certainly a must see, but also for those of you who are skeptical… I urge you to pay a visit to Maho Magic Bar and be challenged by what you see.”
- Glam Adelaide
"The entire performance is a masterfully crafted experience and one that will leave you grinning from ear to ear.”
- Absolute Theatre
"Booze, card tricks and craziness … a great start to a night out”
– The Advertiser
“An enthralling performance, never failing to leave us speechless”
– Hi-Fi Way
“Remarkable and enchanting … don’t miss it”
– Theatre Travels
Response to A Journey Most Unusual
"Broad Encounters once again honed in on what the core experience should be and masterfully chose the elements that bring that idea to life, with the details making the individual intuitive experiences really shine.”
- Scene Point Blank
"it’s somewhere between Greek mythology and High Adventure tales of daring, with plenty else thrown in – and perfectly realised into life.”
- Chuck Moore Reviews