Interactive theater, like its name implies, is a performance wherein the audience is involved. By “involved,” I don't mean that the audience claps or an audience member is called to the stage once in a while to be part of a comedy skit or to be a volunteer for a magician's trick. Often, in interactive theater, it's the audience and not the cast that's the star of the show.
I've been to a few interactive theater productions, and I've always had a blast. “Sleep No More” by U.K. theater troupe Punchdrunk is one of my favorites.
“Sleep No More” is possibly the most famous and the most successful interactive theater production in the world. “Sleep No More” combines elements of Shakespeare's “Macbeth,” Daphne du Maurier's “Rebecca,” and film noir to create a truly one-of-a-kind theater experience.
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| Image source: travelchannel.com |
The setting is a spooky jazz age hotel, the McKittrick, which in actuality is an empty five-floor New York City warehouse furnished and fitted out to look like a hotel. Audience members are required to wear a white, Venetian beak mask, the kind worn by plague doctors in olden times, to help differentiate them from the actors. They are also requested to remain silent for the duration of the entire experience.
There is no set program to follow. Audience members can explore McKittrick at their own pace, discovering plot points by peeking through doorways, opening drawers, shaking stuffed animals, or by stumbling upon “situations” or scenes played by the cast of “Sleep No More.” All in all, there are approximately 100 scenes, taking place in lunatic asylums, graveyards, dark hallways, bedrooms, and ballrooms. I'd rather not give too much away, but trust me when I say that these scenes aren't just for watching. Many of them require audience interaction of a very unsettling sort.
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| Image source: tumblr.com |
“Sleep No More” is equivalent to a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book for grown-ups, one that you can not only read but walk into again and again. Unlike the doomed Manderley estate on which “Sleep No More's” bar is based, if you missed an important plot point or simply want to go through the experience again, you can always come back. There's always something new and exciting (or terrifying) to discover.
Joshua B. Eaves here, Blue Man Group fan and theater technician. For more articles like this, please subscribe to my blog.
