![]() Similarly, any experience of the totality of the performance remains inaccessible: as Josephine Machon states, each individual’s experience of the show “would be unrepeatable were they to attend every performance across the entirety of said run” (31). Using Sleep No More as a case study, this paper will explore the ways in which audience engagement with performance in a virtual sphere – using such social media platforms as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to respond to the performance – foregrounds the tension between limits and potential in contemporary performance.įeaturing 100,000 square feet of performance space across five floors, Sleep No More’s McKittrick Hotel is physically immense – comprehending the space in its entirety is an improbable feat for the average spectator. From a practical standpoint, the interplay between the boundless and the boundaried shape the experience of Sleep No More, both in person and online. Worthen describes the production as “an experience that combines sensory overload with sensory deprivation” (87). Black-masked guides usher you down a hallway, but later coldly refuse entry. ![]() Doors which are closed are found to be locked, only to become accessible at some later point during the performance. Roaming from floor-to-floor and room-to-room, one can unexpectedly find themselves somewhere they’ve been before – an experience made especially uncanny by the ease and frequency with which it occurs (and recurs). The McKittrick Hotel – the grand-scale setting for Punchdrunk’s performance – possesses a maze-like geography. This darkness has more than a thematic purpose: it exercises control over the audience, limiting their movements and creating a clear division between that which is knowable and that which is not. The work, an immersive adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth (with a number of influences from Hitchcock thrown in for good measure) takes to heart Macbeth’s entreaty, “Let not light see my black and deep desires” (I.iv), as darkness and secrecy pervade the performance space. The initial encounter with Sleep No More is of its entrance: a long, pitch-black, labyrinthine hallway, which slowly draws you ineluctably towards some uncertain destination, invisible until it is directly in front of you. And when you’re done playing on four floors, you can relax watching a jazz band while you sip on cocktails.įor tickets, call 866.811.“Me thought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! Punchdrunk may not deal much with the depths of Macbeth in Sleep No More, but they’ve turned it into an even more visceral, exciting theatrical event than any other production of the Scottish Tragedy you are likely to see. It’s more than challenging to name anyone in particular, but the witches are particularly exciting to watch if you can figure out who they are, they’re especially worth the pursuit. The cast is highly engaging, and nimbly darts in and out of rooms, up and down stairs, all the while maintaining a mysterious air about them so that you simply can’t resist trying to follow. And yet, it’s hard not to get swept into the chase. Even if you are quick enough to pursue a character that intrigues you, it’s pretty difficult to discern exactly who you’re following - that doesn’t really become clear until the very end, if you make it that long (you can stay inside the hotel for up to three hours). So Shakespeare is not really in focus here - in fact, you get only whiffs of plot. The slo-mo dinner party in the gigantic banquet room was simply too cool.Įach of these major scenes is acted in silence, or should I say performed dance-style or even lip-synched (I accidentally came upon a man perfectly voicing Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?” in a nightclub. The hunt goes on all night, interrupted by witches climbing up walls, the nuevo-royalty taking a quick bath to wash blood off their hands, and (if you’re in the right room) an occasional murder. ![]() The painstakingly detailed set - which is the entire hotel - will have you digging through suitcases, desk drawers, and bookshelves in a desperate, darkly gleeful search of any dirt you can find on your favorite social climbers, the Macbeths. ![]() Audience members don Venetian masks and explore the depths of the 1930s-style McKittrick Hotel in pursuit of the dubious characters of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, who run amuck throughout. In a rare clash of film noir, performance art, an awesome murder mystery party, and Shakespeare, Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More is the ultimate voyeuristic thrill.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |