Sleep No More

[oakenguy]

Wow.

Any Shakespeare play I walk out of with my ears aching a little from the techno music, a little dent on my forehead from the mask they make all the audience members wear, and my feet a little sore from all the running up and down stairs I did, is a good show.

The short version: 'Sleep No More' is a bizarre mash-up of a 'Macbeth' play, a LARP, and a haunted house designed by Stanley Kubrick, where the actors are in constant motion and the audience (in masks and silent, so it's like a busload of ghosts are following a few real people around) can either trail one, investigate the rooms, or have a nervous breakdown and go drink in the bar. Everyone in the Boston area who hasn't seen it should, and you should take me with you so I can see all the bits I didn't have TIME to see tonight.

The long version will have to wait until tomorrow, for I'm SO totally worn out. Watching Scottish witches drink half a bottle of bourbon and then take piggyback rides on the Devil is just exhausting.

Comments

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

To clarify, it wasn't just that the physical conditions were uncomfortable; I also found the show/performance itself almost as pretentious as it was stunning and ambitious, and ultimately, incredibly frustrating in the aesthetic sense. The combination was what turned the experience from just "intriguing but frustrating" to "downright awful" for both of us.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this, ayelle. Right from the first reviews of this, the descriptions alone made me trigger hard with regard to the control one must surrender to be an audience member. I feel intimidated in a very bad way, and that says something since I was weaned on avant guarde performance styles.

oakenguy, not trying to rain on your parade, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Something strong tells me I should sit this one out, though.