SLEEP NO MORE GUIDE FULL

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. You can follow one character through the entirety of the production, or stray and seek a point of reentry.“Me thought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! Taking place, simultaneously throughout, the characters of Macbeth interact. It is an entry point, with the option to follow. Unexpectedly, guests catch sight of a sole unmasked figure.

All the while, a loose adaptation of Macbeth, circa the 1930s, breezes around you. You can indulge in a candy shop, or admire the taxidermy. One moment guests are in a grand ballroom, the next at the remains of a castle foundation. Dull, throbbing mood music fills every room and floor, and each turn casts a unique sense of awe or mystery. The McKittrick Hotel dictates your course, much the same way the Overlook Hotel lead to the unraveling of Jack Torrance in The Shining. A bellhop lays out the rules and from then on, nothing can be taken at surface value. Masked and regrouped, everyone’s experience diverges from here.

SLEEP NO MORE GUIDE FULL

Once inside, the performance begins immediately as guests meander through a dark maze, finding their way into a gaudy cabaret, complete with a full bar and jazz band. From its exterior, McKittrick wouldn’t warrant a second glance. Sleep No More takes place in The McKittrick Hotel-three Chelsea warehouses, gutted and linked together in a labyrinthine manner. Defying category, this immersive experience blends ambiance, dance, and elements of a carnival fun house for three hours of interactive theater. In fact, you might just find yourself running through a forest chasing after a blood-soaked witch. This choose-your-own-adventure sets audiences in a dark and stormy, detail-obsessed mash-up of film noir and Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Wandering, disoriented and alone, no two people will ever experience Sleep No More in the same fashion. Check out our video for an in-depth look at what it takes to create such an enigmatic ambiance and read on to learn more about the immersive theater’s experience. An intensely detailed set, we took a minute to find out more about the challenges and excitement of Punchdrunk Theatre Company’s Sleep No More‘s decor from the Associate Designer Livi Vaughan.

Sleep no more guide