They’ll tell you a tale of B.C.

One of the newest attractions in Vancouver, B.C., is an invitation for visitors to go up north and head down under.

Storyeum is an underground theater of sorts, a place where the story of British Columbia’s past comes alive during an unexpected journey of sights, smells and sounds.

Storyeum 142 Water St. Vancouver, B.C. www.storyeum.com 604-687-8142 Shows run Wednesdays through Sundays at various times. The Storyeum experience is 70-plus minutes long. There is seating in each area, but it is limited in a few rooms. Reservations are recommended. Tickets range in price from about $13.50 to $18.50 U.S. Children under 5 are free, however this program may be too long and involved for small children. Storyeum is wheelchair accessible.

The word storyeum (pronounced “story-um”) means “a place of stories.” The experience means being part of a 70-minute long, live theatrical journey that takes visitors from the cobblestone streets of Gastown, Vancouver’s historic district, down 30 feet and back in time, into the depths of British Columbia’s history.

The story of British Columbia’s past begins when we step into the first of two giant elevators called Spiralifts. Standing on the huge circular platform as it slowly transports people below the streets of Vancouver feels somewhat like being in a gargantuan French coffee press. The centuries glide by on the walls of the elevator as we descend to the cavern below.

It’s during that short trip in this time machine that we hear about the ice age and the beginnings of the Northwest coast. Voices tell us about the historical importance of salmon in the area as we go down to the depths below.

Several rooms, covering 104,000 square feet, an area the size of six hockey rinks, are set out in theater style and serve as a backdrop for this fantastic story. Each stage setting leads into the next and to another chapter in the history of British Columbia and how it came to be what it is today.

The first couple of theater rooms as the Storyeum begins are lacking. The salmon stream is simplistic and takes too much imagination. Scarves floating in the breeze give the impression of a stream and recorded water sounds burble in the background.

But press on: The corny part is short-lived and the rest of the display is impressive.

The first stage is an ancient forest with rocks, trees and a live actor in a First Nations Indian role telling the story of his people. The actor and the surroundings are effective. We could have done without the green exit sign distracting us from his presentation.

Up next is the longhouse with a fire in the middle of the room and baskets draped with drying hide. There’s more presentation about the importance of salmon, Indian naming ceremonies and what the people of British Columbia were doing before anyone else arrived on its shores.

Just as people are getting washed away with salmon stories and spirit sounds, enter Capt. James Cook in the year 1776. Cook was the first person to chart the region. It’s here that the experience really begins with the very real feeling of walking through time.

Storyeum picks up at this point: Cook leads us into a majestic red carpeted hallway adorned with burgundy and gold velvet drapery. As he stands on a balcony fit for a king, Cook talks to an invisible but mad King George III who is just a bumbling voice in the background.

As the story progresses, we walk through doors to the next area and we’re on a sailing ship. It’s dark and foggy with lightning and rain, and we’re tossing about in heavy seas. Actors again appear and tell the stories of fur trading in British Columbia and the devastation of smallpox. The disease forced natives to head north. In 1862 the Indian population of 200,000 in the area was reduced to just 25,000.

Just then we hear splash, splish sounds and more rain and, amazingly, an actor is rowing a small boat on the water right next to us. It’s hard to believe all this is taking place under the streets of Vancouver.

The next few rooms are equally impressive. Women from England arrive in Esquimalt, Victoria, in the early 1860s on bride ships. They’ve come to help civilize the area. One of them leads the audience into the main street in Barkerville, a city where visitors meet gold digger Willy Barker, a Chinese man named Lee, and a reverend who offers Lee “the glories of salvation” to the tune of angels singing and the swirling sounds of a whirlpool of wickedness.

Barkerville has a water wheel, a church, a bakery and later a saloon where there is no spitting, no swearing and no credit given. We sit on benches in the street and the show goes on around us.

The next-to-last room in Storyeum holds a wooden rail bridge and is decorated with Chinese lanterns. It’s here the audience learns about the construction of Canada’s railroad and the many Chinese people who came to the area to work at that time. We meet Canada’s first Prime Minister, John A. Macdonald, in bed, his blankets hanging down over the railroad track, and a Chinese worker from Guangdong province in southern China.

Finally, as the end of the more than 70-minute experience rolls around, so does a real steam engine that smokes and steams in the final Storyeum area. Don’t worry, it only travels from 0 to 25 mph in 15 minutes.

We sit on the platform surrounded by bails and sacks of merchandise, and watch the train pull into the station. We are encouraged to clap along during a song and dance number about the benefits of the railroad and what it means to Canadians. Buddy and Millie proclaim that British Columbia is open for business.

The raucous finale is not really the end of the line. The audience must ascend to street level in the Spiralift.

On the way up the mood changes to a somber pall. The lights dim and the Spiralift walls serve as a 360-degree movie screen showing striking footage of British Columbia through the years.

The short film wings audience members out on British Columbia’s water, through its forests and finally, in phantom fashion, face to face with its beautiful people.

Reporter Christina Harper: 425-339-3491 or harper@heraldnet.com.