Solving a Murder in the Stacks with ‘Dead Quiet’ (Review)

by Edward Mylechreest
Edward Mylechreest
•
September 10, 2018
•
5 min read

ImmerCity’s interactive experience comes to life in Kensington Central Library

The last few times I’ve been back home to visit England, there have been a few consistent items to greet me: family, tea, friends, real Cadbury chocolate, and … murder.

Previously, at Christmas, it was The Silhouette in the Smoke by ImmerCity, taking place in the London Museum of Water and Steam. This fantastic building, filled with real historical steam engines, was the host to a seancé hosted by the mysterious ghost hunter Jack Daw (Ben Hale). Paranormal sightings had been spotted around the 100” Cornish Engine with people spotting a ghostly boy calling out for help. We were called to the museum that winter evening to explore the museum to find out what had happened that fateful day in 1871.

This time, I make my way to the Kensington Central Library, where the kind, bespectacled librarian Gwendolyn Radcliffe (Gilly Daniels), welcomes me in hushed tones. She has worked here in the library for over fifty years, and it was here in 1962 that she met her future husband, in the most unusual of circumstances: a man had died following a talk on Cuban music by acclaimed writer Esteban Moreno (the silky smooth Ben Scheck). Just as she is about to explain more, Jack Daw makes his way out from behind the stack of non-fiction books, and hands me a file, a flashlight, and tells me to follow him.

We make our way by flashlight into the depths of the library basement, where Jack and Gwen welcome the last few stragglers in our group of forty or so. I introduce myself to the other members of my six-person team, all of us excited to explore the library and the mystery surrounding it. While filing away a book on the Cold War, Gwen had stumbled across a strange fact. A CIA agent by the name of “Anillo Rojo” had been killed in June of 1962 in a library in London. Could it be that this death is connected to the man who died all those years ago? Now it is time to find out.

The seancé begins, and with the right amount of concentration, we are able to access the memories of the past. A curtain opens, and suddenly we find ourselves in the bright light of the stage in the library’s auditorium. The audience seated in the auditorium seem not to be disturbed by our presence; in fact, it seems they can’t see us at all. Cuban music is playing as we make our way into the seats and I recognize some faces from Jack Daw’s files: The Model, The Academic, and The Victim. Next, we are split into groups and each assigned a specific character to follow around the real-world set.

The characters weave in and out of the surprisingly large number of rooms in the library’s lower levels, in such a way that you must be following them closely to have a chance of keeping up. As they move around, you catch brief snippets of conversations happening elsewhere as you peak through the stacks to catch a glimpse of who is talking to who. Leaving the auditorium, we are forced to use our flashlights again as we move into the restricted section of the library, then an even deeper level of the basement, and then into the record room.

I try my very hardest to observe everything I can on my given character’s journey, as they meet with their counterparts. I follow The Model as closely as I can, discovering her real name is Lesley Garnet (the strong-willed Monica Nash). Every interaction matters, and it is up to you to spot every detail. Was that a slight twinge of a Russian accent? What was in that suitcase The Academic left behind? Why is there so much interest in Swiss watches?

Following this initial exploration, I have a chance to meet again with my team, as we debrief and theorize with our colleagues. This leads to all sorts of fascinating conversations and realizations, as opinions boil over into the facts. Who saw what and when? Did they know each other already? What does it all mean?

Get Edward Mylechreest’s stories in your inbox

Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.

SubscribeSubscribe

With our new theories in hand, we are granted the opportunity to meet with the ghosts once more; this time, however, we will move as a team. We go on the hunt to find each of the ghosts who are positioned around the library. A time-turner filled with ominous-looking black sand allows us to access the other side once more, and we can interact with the characters, for a brief time at least. This interrogation (which feels far too short) gives your team a chance to divulge your theories, and look for confirmation through each character’s responses to your questions.

Before we know it, Jack Daw swoops in one last time, to bring us together with the other teams. Perhaps with enough concentration and teamwork, we might find the answer to the mystery. (But for you, reader, you’ll just have to make a trip down to the Library to find out more.

As shown through productions like Silhouette and Dead Quiet, ImmerCity have created a wonderful series of site-specific immersive mysteries using the same ingenious mechanic and format. Separating the “mystery” and the evening into the distinct stages of individual tracking, group investigation, and then group interrogation helps to keep every single member of the team involved and actively participating throughout the evening. This atmosphere of teamwork and exploring what the collective believe “happened” brings a real sense of excitement and bonding between the group’s members, even when working with strangers. Taking this cumulative knowledge into the interrogation of each character brings about all sorts of fun interactions, both with the ghosts and with your fellow teammates.

The site-specific nature of the work really helps to transport the participant into the mystery, as the ImmerCity team has created a tightly woven narrative which uses every aspect of the location you are in. Exploring the historic buildings as you delve further into the mystery makes the whole evening feels like you are placed right in the middle of a movie set. Every location has its own unique quirks, which all play into how the evening has been designed and set. Whether it is peering through the bookshelves, or squeezing behind a gigantic steam engine, the natural set design is interwoven with the game mechanics, as the only way to find out more is to get yourself firmly placed into the locale, to feel yourself immersed in the world.

While the murder in Dead Quiet was quite gruesome, but the investigation was tremendously fun. And I can only hope that Jack Daw will unearth some more mysteries for us to solve again in the future.