Hell House

Guiding audiences through a sinister labyrinth full up with scenes of domestic abuse, teen suicide, gay marriage, drink driving, pre-marital sex and abortion, Hell house are a kind of promenade theatre where the traditional Halloween haunted house is transformed into as a scare-them-back-to-Jesus evangelical morality play – and it's coming to Arts House.

Performed by 40 community actors from Geelong and south-western Victoria, Back to Back Theatre will be staging a version of the Hell house popularised in the United States by Pastor Keenan Roberts, who markets his a popular A-to-Z kit on how to stage a really "sizzling evangelism event".

The performance will be followed by a panel-based discussion on the topics of Provocation (Friday, 3 August 2012), Belief (Saturday, 4 August 2012) and Morality (Sunday, 5 August 2012).

Panel guests include:

Provocation

Scott Stephens (Facilitator): Religion & Ethics editor for the ABC
Claire Bowditch: Musician
Benjamin Myers: Lecturer in Systematic Theology
Waleed Aly: Broadcaster

Belief

Dr Rachael Kohn (Facilitator): Host of 'The Spirit of Things' on Radio National
Andrew Singleton: Lecturer in Sociology at Monash University
Danielle Kirby: Lecturer in Communication at RMIT
Des Cahill: Professor of Intercultural Studies at RMIT

Morality

Peter Mares (Facilitator): Former ABC reporter and presenter
Dr Leslie Cannold: Award-wining author and columnist
Fr. John Depuche: Parish Priest of Beaumaris and Black Rock in the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne
Peter Sherlock: Historian

Bruce Gladwin on Hell House