Visiting Hours

The Kings Cross Hotel, one of the most iconic buildings in The Cross, is home to bAKEHOUSE theatre company, and their latest instalment is the ambitious, immersive and exciting experimental event, Visiting Hours. Visiting Hours has been updated and extended since it’s sold out season in Vivid 2016, opening up areas of the hotel never seen before.

“People are always looking for new experiences and this breaks the pattern of going to the theatre and sitting down to watch a performance. It’s a huge project set across five levels of the hotel, with a creative team of 30, a cast of 22 performers, actors, singers, dancers and musicians,” explained John Harrison, Co-Artistic Director of bAKEHOUSE.

This event reimagines the Kings Cross Hotel as a surreal, off the grid medical sanatorium, which is run by a mysterious figure known as ‘The Doctor’.

“This is a piece about the history of Kings Cross but the Cross is more than just drug lords, burlesque, hookers and nightclubs. We looked at some old records and found a great character, a larger than life figure, the gun toting Doctor. That was the seed of the idea and it transformed into something surreal and mind bending which fits nicely in the vibe of the Kings Cross Hotel, while giving a little nod to the history,” said Harrison who co-wrote Visiting Hours with Constantine and Michael Costi.

“You will have a fun, trippy sort of experience with a lot of the joy depending on the element of surprise, whenever you go to a new part of the hotel, there’s something completely unexpected. You get involved and collect clues to a puzzle, you put the pieces together differently depending on your past experiences and that’s half the fun,” said Harrison.

Feb 7-17. Kings Cross Hotel, Level 2 Kings Cross Hotel, 244-248 William St, Kings Cross. $30-$40+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.kingsxtheatre.com

By Mel Somerville.