Bible Belting

As Halloween approaches and most Americans stock up on candy to fatten their neighbour's kids, thousands of church goers throughout the bible belt will be led through 'hell houses'. These are haunted house-like attractions, staged by fundamentalist Christian churches; each room depicts a different sin such as, homosexuality, abortion, drink driving or the worship of the occult. Typically, these events culminate in being led into a room representing hell where you are met by a sermonising satan. Yet, before all is lost, Christ appears and gives you a choice: follow his word and be welcomed into the kingdom of heaven or be tempted by the devil and find yourself damned in hell for all eternity.

Bruce Gladwin, Artistic Director of Geelong's acclaimed Back To Back Theatre, explains that it's the reality of these events that sparked his interest in staging a hell house here in Melbourne. “It comes from my experience of a hell house as an audience member,” Gladwin says. “I was taken to a show in New York which was a production of a hell house, not knowing anything about it. The thing that shocked me about it, even though I was watching a production by a theatre company, was that for a large amount of people this is still a reality, and a large proportion of people experiencing hell houses in all these churches throughout the bible belt in America are experiencing it as a real event and being performed at by church goers with a real commitment to recruiting and evangelising.”

The most well known of these hell houses is staged by Pastor Keenan Roberts, Senior Pastor of the New Destiny Christian Centre in Colorado. He has created a highly prescriptive kit which Gladwin says, “is like a commodified object he sells online.” The kit doesn't just include the text for the actors. Pastor Keenan Roberts' website advertises that, “Piece by piece, prop by prop, costume by costume – the master plan is organised in a comprehensive manual.” It even includes a CD with audio and special-effects. Gladwin emphasises, “We are trying to create this work as prescribed by the author and we are attempting to stick to that as closely as possible.”

Gladwin explains that together with the 40 community actors from Geelong and Southwest Victoria, Back to Back are aiming to present the work as a “museum would present a cultural or religious artefact from another culture without placing some sort of cultural or moral judgement on it.” Gladwin points out that to present this work free of judgement is a difficult thing to do. “It's not an easy piece, it's very violent: psychologically violent, physically violent.”

Hell House is meant as a provocation. That is why each night Hell House will conclude with a forum led by a panel of community leaders including the likes of Clare Bowditch and Waleed Aly (Friday 3 August). Gladwin says that Hell House “allows everyone partaking in that forum a similar footing to start from.” “It's a discussion that uses the show to have a broader discussion about belief, provocation and morality.”

Hell House runs from Friday 3 until Sunday 5 August, Arts House, Meat Market.