![]() ![]() All I can say is that you should go, and if you do: be bold. There's so much more to say about Sleep No More, but I don't know how to say it without clumsily stumbling over the experience for someone else. You were wonderful." We were in the bar, and I'd just been escorted out after the finale. He removed my mask, kissed me and said, "I hope you enjoyed your stay at The McKittrick Hotel. In the final moments - although I did not know they were the final moments, not wearing a watch or holding my phone - a handsome man held my hand and ran me down five flights of stairs, then whisked me into a room where music was playing. My heart raced the entire time I felt nervous and exhilarated. I was silent through all of this, peering out from behind my mask until it was removed by the performers, and each of these scenes felt strange and intimate and intense. ![]() It was milk, and I don't like milk, but I drank it anyway. I was given a glass of something and told to drink it, so I did. I was kissed a few different times by two different, very attractive people. Caitlin's advice about holding eye contact served me well twice during the event, a performer took my hand and pulled me into a locked room for one of the rare "one-on-one experiences." I don't want to describe those here, because I'd hate to ruin a revelation for someone looking forward to attending in the future, but here are a few things that happened during these moments: I examined every inch I could, and I know I must have absorbed only a fraction of what Sleep No More has to offer.īut I'm still confident I did it right. I was there for the maximum time - three hours - and never left to return to the bar or use the restroom. Caitlin told me she saw something new, had a new experience, every time she visited Sleep No More, and I don't doubt it. It would have to run for years in order to make the elaborate intricacies of its venue worth it. Which brings me to my next point: from a purely stage managerial standpoint, Sleep No More is an outright marvel. I was your basic set designer's nightmare. I flipped through every book I moved props around. I opened every drawer and rummaged through the myriad piles of dusty, creepy old junk. What I loved best about Sleep No More is the same thing that made Gone Home the first video game I've played through since I was kid: the freedom to explore anything, to look anywhere. ![]() I tried on clothes I poured a drink of something unknown from a decanter and threw it back (it turned out to be dyed water I was hoping for whiskey). Our group split apart almost instantly, and I dove in, ready to be bold. The purpose of the masks, beyond differentiating cast from audience, is to free us, to allow us to feel anonymous and uninhibited. So how did my experience go? My friend Caitlin, who attended the performance for the third time that night, gave me two pieces of advice beforehand: be bold, and if someone makes eye contact with you, hold that eye contact. You can also leave the experience any time you'd like and go chill in the bar on the first floor, where no one has to wear a mask, you're free to speak and nothing particularly weird is happening, other than its decided '20s atmosphere and some singular musical acts. ![]() I spent a lot of time in the devil orgy room and never found the candy room, which feels like a metaphor for something, probably, but definitely not for my life. For instance, there is a room full of candy. You can meander aimlessly or duck out of a room if it gets too intense. It's as scary or not scary as you want it to be. No one's jumping out and grabbing you no chainless chainsaws will be pressed against that vulnerable spot behind your knees. We're encouraged to explore, and visitors may follow one actor as he flees a silently emotive scene and flies up several flights of stairs, or stay and watch the performer who remains we can peer into empty rooms and start opening drawers or moving books. Visitors, masked and asked to remain silent, are free to wander the hotel at their own pace. There are seeds of Hitchcock and Argento and Poe scattered among the Shakespeare. It's been running for three years and it's ultimately an interpretation of Macbeth, performed wordlessly amid a portentous noir score. The basics: Sleep No More is an interactive, immersive theatre and dance performance installed over six floors at New York's The McKittrick Hotel (a venue established in three adjoining Chelsea warehouses for the express purpose of the performance). The key is that I don't want to spoil anyone, and yet the very idea of spoilers feels impossible when talking about Sleep No More, as it provides a different experience for everyone who visits it. I've been trying to write about my visit to The McKittrick Hotel for Punchdrunk's Sleep No More for a couple of weeks now. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |