Mysterion at the Hellenic Museum - by Medusa RPG

 

Medusa RPG are relatively new players in the immersive experience game, having launched their first event at the end of 2022. I’ve been following their journey and development for a little while now and was really excited when they launched Mysterion, an ambitious immersive event created in collaboration with Melbourne’s Hellenic Museum. On Friday night I attended the first of just two performances, and, hidden behind a black mask, solved puzzles, collected items, and took the steps of initiation into a secret, ancient organisation. 

 

Mechanically, you can tell the Medusa team has a lot of combined experience with the world of immersive gaming. The story and objectives were clear, the audience/players had agency and were well instructed, the timing aligned well and nothing was too easy to be boring or too hard to be unsolvable. 

 

With just 1 hour to bump themselves fully into the venue between the closing time of the museum and the starting time of the event, the team of NPCs (non-playing characters, identified through white masks instead of the players’ black or gold) did a good job of transforming the stark exhibition space into one where you could almost believe gods and heroes roamed. The costuming looked good and historical enough to fool at least myself as a layperson, the flowery set dressings tied the theme to the space, and the most wonderful touch was having museum staff in a room explaining real ancient artefacts that patrons could handle (with the proper gloves). 

There is no doubt that the events were thoroughly researched, a very important factor when collaborating with a museum, but perhaps this was given a bit too much attention where other elements were neglected. 

 

Where Mysterion fell short, and where I was really hoping it wouldn’t, was in the lack of confidence executing the story lines. The opening ceremony, a ritual intended to open a portal to the underworld, felt overly casual, with just a couple of performers in mantels on an unlit stage struggling to be heard in the back. We were engaged with a simple call and response poem, and responded with a fair amount of awkward shuffling. The night didn’t feel like it had begun until Hades and Persephone were summoned and the games were initiated. 

In general, as the night got colder, the actors and audience alike warmed up to their roles. Standout performances were from Hades, with a big red beard and big stage presence; Patroclus and Achilles, the brothers maybe cousins maybe lovers separated by a curse (and a wall); Hermes (and their play partners of Dionysus and Heracles), who was a champion in getting our bodies moving and warm in a series of outdoor physical challenges; and Hecate, whose warmth and serenity was unexpected but so welcome amidst the chaos of 100 people racing to solve riddles and puzzles. Honourable mentions to of course Persephone, whose charm could bring down empires; Charon, who doubled as costume designer and very, very creepy keeper of the river Styx; Orpheus, who looked more like he belonged in a Christian ritual than a Greek one, but mourned and sang beautifully; and all the volunteers who kept the players in their places and the museum exhibits safe. 

 

I did enjoy myself, for the price I think at least one drink could have been free, but I hope that the Medusa team can identify where tonight fell short and push themselves next time to elevate the performance to a place where it feels as much like theatre as they claimed it to be. I will be keeping an eye on their events and look forward to when they can invest a little more time and money into rehearsing and hiring a marketing specialist. 

 

Medusa can be found on instagram @medusa.larp and at medusarpg.com