Chris Lange, an award-winning creative executive and the owner of Creative Studio Berlin, has provided details of his latest work with Merlin Entertainments’ midway portfolio in Germany.
The firm has designed and produced “Curse of the Witches”, a new show at Berlin Dungeon which opened in time for Walpurgis Night on 30 April 2022. In European culture, the residents of several countries light bonfires on this day to ward off evil witches and spirits.
The show concept was originally conceived by The Dungeons’ global artistic director Kieron Smith and debuted last year at York Dungeon in the UK.
Back to roots
Chris Lange has a long history working with the brand, with one of his first LBE projects being the Hamburg Dungeon in 2003, the first Dungeon-branded location in the German market. Chris Lange has since been the creative director for the concept, design and implementation of Berlin Dungeon, which opened in 2013, and the San Francisco Dungeon, which opened to guests the following year.
Creative Studio Berlin art director and designer Jan Wünsche, who also worked as a designer on the original Berlin Dungeon, as well as a number of attraction expansions over the past nine years, was responsible for this new project.
Wünsche says: “The brand-new show is based on the real Meermann witch-burning trails held in Berlin in the 17th century. The combination of live actor performances with hidden technology makes this show really intense and very scary!”
Bringing history to life
The new attraction is a remodel of an existing space, requiring the work of local theming supplier Jan Niesler to construct authentic sets including sculpted rock walls, custom props, and special effects such as vibrating bench seats.
Head of cluster operation Berlin for Merlin Entertainments, Jörn Kotzur adds: “Bringing back the old crew was the best decision. All parties knew the unique Dungeon brand and worked on the attraction before. We had such a great collaboration between our local site team, the brand team based in the UK and Chris’s team who brought another dark chapter of Berlin’s history alive.”
Creative Studio Berlin has also been working with Merlin on another attraction in the city, creating a new Roaring Twenties experience for Madame Tussauds Berlin, complete with glamorous interiors and art deco design.
Photos: Berlin Dungeon
