Balmain Watch House

Twice I’ve been to Balmain Watch House and twice I’ve been overwhelmed with the desire to stage a play/​host a murder mystery party in its quarters.
An old police lockup built in 1854, this original building is made up of several small sandstone rooms, each one perfect for staging a different scene/​hiding certain clues. As the lovely old lady led me through the watch house, I imagined leading an audience/​dinner party through its halls, the cold sandstone and metal bars easily setting the scene. At any point I expected to discover that the lady guiding me through was in fact a ghost, leading me into a deathly trap in order to avenge her own unfortunate death.
Despite the lockup’s grim history (was it grim? Or have I just painted it with my own grim tales?) the building is beautiful and its sparse walls make the perfect backdrop for the exhibitions that take place here. On sunny days light comes through the windows and open ceilings to light the rooms, and for those brief seconds you can imagine what these rays of hope/​taunts of freedom could have been to the prisoners.
The watch house is a nice stop-​over on a walk down to the East Balmain wharf. Opening hours depend on the exhibit, but the building is free to check out on Saturdays for a small donation. Whilst their website says they hire the space out for art, sculpture, pottery and craft exhibitions, I’m yet to hear their opinions on using the space for theatre productions and/​or murder mystery parties. Or fright nights. Or Halloween sleepovers. I’ll keep you posted.