For those of us yearning for a truly immersive theatrical experience, the world premiere of Love Lust Lost from Broad Encounters will transport you into another world.

The independent local company has transformed a building in Fortitude Valley with two kilometres of plumbing and complete renovations to the layout and size of 38 rooms to construct a world of subterranean wonder.

In a small preview of what is to come, I was given a tour of the site while still under construction. When I stepped onto one level, I felt wobbly on my feet, not knowing what was happening, until I realised I was on the deck of a ship.

It’s all part of the ploy to transport people into this vision of interactive theatre, melding performance, music, soundscapes, song, and spoken word with dance and circus, as Broad Encounters co-founder and Love Lust Lost director Kirsten Siddle explains.

“You pretty much have to transform a whole building from scratch with new walls,” Siddle said.

“Finding the right venue partner is always really tricky as well, someone who will buy into the vision of what we’re doing because it is so strange and bizarre to people.”

“Love Lust Lost is a world premiere and it’s scary and big and ambitious and audacious, but it’s absolutely brilliant.”

Patrons are asked to embark on an adventure by plunging into the shimmering depths of a world unknown.

“I liken this to imagining that you are actually within a film and you are moving through the film with the characters and unraveling the story within a film,” she said.

“You can touch things. There is scent, there are things to taste along the way.

“So every space that we create in our film set, so to speak, is a completely 360 degree designed space. Everything is adding to the plot of our story.

“And this Love Lust Lost is different in that regard because we actually do have a plot line and a storyline for people to really follow through their journey. They move through the spaces, exploring the world and unraveling the story as they go.”

The last production by this independent local company was the record-breaking immersive experience A Midnight Visit, which performed for six months on the same site last year.

Siddle said while this production is also immersive, in every other respect it is totally different to A Midnight Visit.

“When Brisbane embraced A Midnight Visit the way it did, I went, well – this just reinforces the fact that this is where we should be premiering this work and Brisbane should get it first,” she said.

There are seven people in the cast, with Sandro Collarelli starring as Captain Andersen at the helm of the ship.

She said you don’t get to see all of the rooms in one visit.

“You don’t go through all of them in one journey. You go through a lot of them, but it’s impossible to go through all of the spaces,” Siddle said.

“But it doesn’t matter which way you go, you will be able to follow the story and have an incredible experience. And one of you might discover a secret giant slide in there and somebody else might discover some little rave cave fun going on. So you can have different experiences, but it all contributes to this great story that we’re telling.

“So you can unravel that story in lots of different ways and discover new secrets every time you come.”

She said while Love Lust Lost is built to such a scale that makes it almost impossible to tour, it is part of a small but growing immersive theatre scene in Brisbane.

“I actually think Brisbane has got a really great immersive theatre scene going on much smaller scale work than this, but there is a huge cohort of artists who are interested in this kind of work and are doing work that is re-imagining the relationship between the theatrical world and the audience and bringing the audience into that world,” Siddle said.

“I think there is a really great developing scene here and a real thirst for it here.

“There’s also a great openness in Brisbane to actually innovate and break the conventions. And I don’t think you necessarily have that same level of openness and daring, really, elsewhere in Australia.

“It’s really hard because every single moment of the audience’s experience has to be carefully curated so that we are really making sure that they are part of the world at every touchpoint.

“In our world for Love Lust Lost, our audience can either take on a role of crew or researchers in the world that will influence some of the lens that they’re seeing the story through. They can be passive and be voyeurs of the theatre, or they can actually get involved and be part of it.”