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