Friday, May 20, 2011

Theater Review: Sleep No More

Careena Melia and Ching-I Chang with audience members © Alick Crossley


I really don't like participatory theater, and for me Sleep No More was no exception. I just didn't find creeping around in too darkly lighted rooms, getting lost amongst thousands of props that I couldn't see, with actors pantomiming scenes that I didn't get what I would call a "fun" experience, even though I'm a big fan of Macbeth and Hitchcock's "Rebecca" on which it is supposed to be based. My experience consisted primarily of counting the seconds until I could leave the claustrophobic, unsettling atmosphere where I kept getting run over by white-masked audience members running from room to room.
 
Overcome by fog I choked for some time, watched by passersby who apparently assumed I was Duncan, or Mrs. Danvers taking some last dying gasps. When I recovered, I realized that, as a directionally challenged person under the best of circumstances (like when the sun is out and street signs are in front of me, I still can't figure out which way to go), I had no hope of ever finding my way out of a never-ending graveyard with its twisting labyrinths and black-clad ghost who was dancing around. Her acting was lost on me as my mind was on more important things like the fact that I hadn't packed any food or water in my bag and that I hadn't seen an exit sign in a long time. And also by the fact that if I really couldn't find my way out and perished down here, my dead corpse would appear, after all, just as a prop.
 
Finally I emerged around 8 pm, an hour into the experience, via a room full of baby carcases. A black-masked helper told me I couldn't leave until 8:30 when the lounge would open. At about 8:10 I gave up trying to force myself to like the experience and backtracked to a tree near an exit door. I clung to it so I wouldn't get lost again and miss a second of getting back to the second-floor lounge where my coat and umbrella were being held held hostage.
 
I think I set a new record for leaving the otherwise widely acclaimed theatrical experience. There was another couple on my heels as I ran from the place. The woman was even more shaken than I, telling her husband ominously that she had "something sticky on her hands."  I left friend Misti Wills, from whom I was separated at the top of the experience (rather gleefully by the guy operating the dark elevator) on her own in the hotel of gloom and doom and burst out the door. I was never so happy to see rats on the streets of New York in my life. I greeted them like old friends. Misti had a rather different experience, however, which she shares below.
--Lauren Yarger
 
 
Sleep No More
By Misti B. Wills

Mix one part performance art with one part theatrical dance and add a dash of haunted house and you’ll have unlocked the combination that creates the wildly eccentric and innovatively site specific production of Sleep No More presented by Punchdrunk, a renowned company from the UK.


Set in the 1930’s McKittrick Hotel, Punchdrunk has created a mashup of Shakespeare’s Macbeth with Hitchcock’s "Rebecca." With over 100 rooms spanning 5 floors, audience members follow their own story through a maze of decorative rooms, choreographed scenes, and mysterious characters. Upon arrival and check in at the hotel entrance, audience members are self-guided through a long, dark and winding corridor with only velvet walls as a map. At the end of the corridor awaits a beautiful 1930’s jazz club where costumed actors hand out white masks and place groups on elevators. The audience is instructed that they must wear the provided white mask at all times and may not speak. They are invited to go anywhere they choose in the hotel and are reminded that they can always come back to the lounge to relax or enjoy the live music.

Once taken on the elevator, a spooky operator chooses who will get off on which floors. Partners are usually broken up as the experience is meant to be self led. After the floor is chosen, the audience is set free to explore the detailed rooms which are created with the meticulousness of a museum. The beauty is that in these rooms, however, everything may be touched, opened and investigated. The rooms cover a wide range from the Macbeth’s bedroom and the Macduff’s children’s rooms to a hospital wing, dining hall, ballroom, cemetery, herb room, candy room, etc. Follow where your instincts lead or until a scene is found. Once a scene is discovered, it is recommended that you pick a character to follow so that you are able to uncover most of their story. The story will not be cohesive, however, as each scene is primarily told through dance or stage combat with little to no dialogue. Following a character can also be quite challenging as some take off up the flights of stairs which lead from floor to floor.

I followed Lady Macbeth for the first half of my experience and had an amazing time. From running behind her in the cemetery (complete with fog and music) to watching her dance, to interacting with Macbeth in their bedroom following the murder, to seeking help from a nurse in the hospital, and even desperately trying to wash the blood off her body, I was able to get a full reenactment of her arc in the play Macbeth. For imaginative theater makers like me, the experience of walking through her journey was breathtaking. I felt like a story book had opened and I had magically been placed inside it.

This experience will not be for everyone. It requires an instinctual, experiential sojourner who thirsts for adventure and knows the plot of Macbeth well. Bring sneakers and an open mind to let yourself explore. Even opening the drawers and books in Macduff’s study was thrilling so if the characters don’t excite, the sensory museum might.

The creative team features Felix Barrett (Direction and Design), Maxine Doyle (Direction and Choreography), Stephen Dobbie (Sound Design), Beatrice Minns (Design Associate), and Livi Vaughan (Design Associate).  

Sleep No More is an indoor promenade performance lasting up to three hours. There are five arrival times at 7:00PM, 7:15PM, 7:30PM, 7:45PM and 8:00PM, Mondays to Saturdays, plus Friday and Saturday late nights at 11:00PM, 11:15PM, 11:30PM, 11:45PM and 11:59PM.

Tickets are $75 and are available via http://www.sleepnomorenyc.com/ or by calling 866-811-4111.
 
Christians should know: Full Male and Female Nudity

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Gracewell Prodiuctions

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Our reviews are professional reviews written without a religious bias. At the end of them, you can find a listing of language, content or theological issues that Christians might want to know about when deciding which shows to see.

** Mature indicates that the show has posted an advisory because of content. Usually this means I would recommend no one under the age of 16 attend.

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

My Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists. Her play concept, "From Reel to Real: The Jennifer O'Neill Story" was presented as part of the League of professional Theatre Women's Julia's reading Room Series in New York. Shifting from reviewing to producing, Yarger owns Gracewell Productions, which produced the Table Reading Series at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. She trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Intensive and other training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run. She was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She wrote reviews of Broadway and Off-Broadway theater (the only ones you can find in the US with an added Christian perspective) at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/.

She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She was a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com. She previously served as theater reviewer for the Manchester Journal-Inquirer, Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp.com and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

She is a Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a former vice president and voting member of The Drama Desk.

She is a freelance writer and playwright (member Dramatists Guild of America). She is a member if the The Outer Critics Circle (producer of the annual awards ceremony) and a member of The League of Professional Theatre Women, serving as Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter. Yarger was a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and served for nine years as the Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

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All material is copyright 2008- 2024 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.

Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.

Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.

Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.

Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.

Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.

Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.

Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.

Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.

Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.

Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Derogatory (category added Fall 2012) Language or circumstances where women or people of a certain race are referred to or treated in a negative and demeaning manner.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide, or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Reviewing Policy

I receive free seats to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle. Journalistically, I provide an unbiased review and am under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows my readers want to know about I will purchase a ticket. If a personal friend is involved in a production, I'll let you know, but it won't influence a review. If I feel there is a conflict, I won't review their portion of the production.

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