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Sleep No More
Patty and I saw Sleep No More last night, which was fantastic, and has been extended through May 7, so you should go see it if you're in the area.
We were strongly cautioned to know as little as possible about it going into it and were ultimately fine with that, although we feel that the fear of spoilers was perhaps excessive.
I will write a real review on LfT, about how all interactive/imersive theater like this ultimately become a narrative about celebrity, even if that isn't the main narrative, but I wanted to post some "shit you should know" under the spoilers area -- this is like triggers and environmental concerns and stuff.
- If you have any degree of night blindness go with a friend and DO NOT SEPARATE even if you are encouraged to do so.
- Patty encountered a moment with a strobe light that really bothered her and strobes don't normally bother her. I note it because most performances warn about this and this didn't. I didn't encounter the strobe.
- Actors will touch you if you get too close or are in their way. Sometimes they will seek you out. The odds of this happening to you are low, but if you don't deal well with strangers touching you, hang back.
- I found the show erotic, and it's certainly very adult. There's a lot of nudity.
- I have a particular, hard to explain horror of medical stuff. Forced medical stuff, medicine used as punishment being particular things for me. THERE'S AN ENTIRE FLOOR OF THE EXPERIENCE THAT IS LIKE THAT. It was a bit challenging. It's not gory, but it totally messed my stuff up.
- There's a lot of blood. You may stumble on a murder scene OUT OF SYNC WITH THE ACTORS. Which meant I found the crime scene before actors did and accidentally STUCK MY HAND IN A BOWL OF "BLOOD". This may be less traumatizing to someone who hasn't played the Lady in this play, but it FREAKED MY SHIT OUT.
- I imagine someone somewhere is freaked out by people expressing non-verbal anguish or talking in made-up languages. There's not a lot of this, but I found it unsettling enough when I encountered it that I thought you should know.
- Other audience members will start doing shit that fucks with you -- like hiding in coffins and bathtubs and shit. So just, you've been warned.
- It is, hwoever, easy to tell audience from actor because of masks everyone in the audience has to wear. They do fit comfortably over glasses, but Patty said she felt hers was hard to breath in and I felt mine gave me a headache.
- Much of the set is made of old books/photographs/paper and there's a TON of artificial smoke and scent used to convey various locations. Probably not a viable show for the chemically sensitive or some asthmatics.
Now you know.
BUt the show was HOT and I will write about it when I get the chance.
We were strongly cautioned to know as little as possible about it going into it and were ultimately fine with that, although we feel that the fear of spoilers was perhaps excessive.
I will write a real review on LfT, about how all interactive/imersive theater like this ultimately become a narrative about celebrity, even if that isn't the main narrative, but I wanted to post some "shit you should know" under the spoilers area -- this is like triggers and environmental concerns and stuff.
- If you have any degree of night blindness go with a friend and DO NOT SEPARATE even if you are encouraged to do so.
- Patty encountered a moment with a strobe light that really bothered her and strobes don't normally bother her. I note it because most performances warn about this and this didn't. I didn't encounter the strobe.
- Actors will touch you if you get too close or are in their way. Sometimes they will seek you out. The odds of this happening to you are low, but if you don't deal well with strangers touching you, hang back.
- I found the show erotic, and it's certainly very adult. There's a lot of nudity.
- I have a particular, hard to explain horror of medical stuff. Forced medical stuff, medicine used as punishment being particular things for me. THERE'S AN ENTIRE FLOOR OF THE EXPERIENCE THAT IS LIKE THAT. It was a bit challenging. It's not gory, but it totally messed my stuff up.
- There's a lot of blood. You may stumble on a murder scene OUT OF SYNC WITH THE ACTORS. Which meant I found the crime scene before actors did and accidentally STUCK MY HAND IN A BOWL OF "BLOOD". This may be less traumatizing to someone who hasn't played the Lady in this play, but it FREAKED MY SHIT OUT.
- I imagine someone somewhere is freaked out by people expressing non-verbal anguish or talking in made-up languages. There's not a lot of this, but I found it unsettling enough when I encountered it that I thought you should know.
- Other audience members will start doing shit that fucks with you -- like hiding in coffins and bathtubs and shit. So just, you've been warned.
- It is, hwoever, easy to tell audience from actor because of masks everyone in the audience has to wear. They do fit comfortably over glasses, but Patty said she felt hers was hard to breath in and I felt mine gave me a headache.
- Much of the set is made of old books/photographs/paper and there's a TON of artificial smoke and scent used to convey various locations. Probably not a viable show for the chemically sensitive or some asthmatics.
Now you know.
BUt the show was HOT and I will write about it when I get the chance.
no subject
Did they have the indoor pine forest somewhere? I was finding needles from that in my coat pocket for most of a year afterwards.
I wound up getting a very high level of audience interaction, mostly because I was absolutely in thrall to Hecate. She dragged me backstage as part of a stealing an audience member, removed my mask, and told me a story --disconcerting to hear words when everything else had been in silence. It happened again, I was standing in just the right spot the next time through, and when she removed my mask she recognized me, and stole some of my hair which at the time was entirely appropriate and I was fine with because _holy shit_ was I hers1, but thinking about it after, that's the kind of thing I really don't like people doing.
And yeah. Super super jealous. Wish like hell I could afford tickets down to NYC and to this, both re: money and time. _super_ jealous.
(I will probably write more on this later, but I have to accomplish things today)
~Sor
1: I'm not entirely sure I've had anything come close to the level of pure blind devotion I was feeling towards her. It was...singularly frightening, but at the same time, a little appealing. I'm sure I could've forced myself to break the spell had I really wanted/needed, but there was a neatness there.
no subject
The whole floor with the insane asylum punched all my medical horror buttons BADLY and it was the first thing I saw. Also that padded room with the Star of David made out of feathers on the wall -- that felt truly haunted (and I know that feeling) and not only could I not get out of there fast enough, I found myself trying to stop another person from going in. It felt so wrong.
CONTAINS SPOILERS
I saw a few customers being dragged off by actors; one was pulled into a sort of shack that was then locked, but there were (very likely intentional) small gaps between boards here and there if you felt like trying to spy.
A lot of the medical set-up seemed similar to Boston, actually, but the insane asylum's bathtubs lacked the live eel this time. (This comment is only going to solidify
Bonus: We got to keep our masks! A nice perk since the show charged than double the Boston price (including on the cocktails).