The Nightline review – listening to messages from anonymous callers is an odd, affecting experience

Malthouse, MelbourneImmersive, self-directed theatre work by Roslyn Oades and Bob Scott is only 40 minutes long, but the way it allows us to connect with strangers is as necessary as ever Last time it came to Melbourne, in a tiny utilitarian space tucked into a dead-end laneway in the CBD, it ran for one night, shut down early after its opening by one of the many lockdowns the city endured during Covid. Bleak times suit this odd, affecting piece, which gains much of its hushed power from the sense of the huddle, the gathering together – but not too close – of a community. The Nightline is a deceptively simple audiovisual art installation cum verbatim theatre piece, less than 40 minutes long, that is both immersive and self-directed. Audience members sit at individual tables, each lit by a single desk lamp, facing an old plastic rotary phone and a small switchboard that allows you to plug into and out of messages left by the general public between the hours of midnight and 6am. Communalism is an underlying theme of the piece, which it ironically emphasises through a technology designed for interaction between individuals. That these messages were recorded by people alone in the