Stepping off the elevator made me gasp at the detailing and how real it all felt. Each of the five stories has been transformed completely. We spent the entire three hours inside, too mesmerized to break the illusion for even a moment. We smiled, thinking, “Well, of course, we’ll be back!” As we grabbed pre-show cocktails, we were told we could leave the performance space at any time to have another drink or chat. After checking our coats and bags, we found ourselves in a dim, 1930s-style bar, complete with a jazz band and actors in vintage full costumes. The first time I attended Sleep No More I was with two friends. What to expect: Courtesy of The McKittrick Hotel It’s absolutely worth arriving to the area early - maybe in the late afternoon - and taking a stroll. It’s right near The High Line - a beautiful park built on old elevated subway tracks. You’ll find the McKittrick hotel at 530 W 27th St, New York, NY 10001. The production is mostly movement-based - unless you’re one of the people who gets pulled into a tree house by a witch and kept there, being whispered to for 20 minutes. Whatever happens, it’s always captivating. You might end up digging through a drawer in an office or walking through a dark graveyard when a character will rush into the room - to fight, to kiss, to kill, to dance. As the characters move through the rooms performing their arcs, you can follow certain actors or you can let yourself happen upon the action. After arriving, you explore at your leisure. Sleep No More is located at McKittrick Hotel, which isn’t a real hotel at all but a converted warehouse. The Details: Courtesy of The McKittrick Hotel If you’re going to New York City and only going to see one show, this just might be the trip to skip Broadway and check out Sleep No More. After all, how many cities can manage such a spectacle at this scale? It’s a departure from the typical Broadway show, but it’s also uniquely New York. It’s full-on immersive theater - the action moves around you, actors push past you to get to their marks, and you wander the space with no earthly idea of where you should be headed. Sleep No More is a reimagining of Macbeth inside of a truly enormous five-story building. This is the experience of seeing Punchdrunk’s play, Sleep No More, housed in a repurposed warehouse in Chelsea, New York. I hesitate, realize that I won’t catch them, and wander off to another part of the hotel, sure that wherever I go something interesting awaits. Several people in masks sprint after them, so quickly that a gust of air rushes past me as they go. The orgy ends and a few of the participants rush off. Nothing is weird when e verything is weird. So the blood stuff doesn’t strike me as weird. As if I watch a blood orgy every day.Įarlier in the night, I stood nearby while a couple danced with frenzied passion then climbed up the walls in a wild, effortless yet completely inhuman display. Suddenly there’s blood, but it doesn’t faze me. I watch, impassively, with a few dozen other voyeurs. I’m wearing a long, white mask watching a simulated orgy in a rave atmosphere - music thumps, lights strobe, topless women and a naked man gyrate feet away from me. Whether they all add up seems beside the point Sleep No More didn’t make its mark on compelling characters but an all-encompassing design and a full-throttle commitment to enthralling audiences.Switching Scenes is brought to you by Boost, a brand that knows the best experiences come when you change things up. The plots are elusive but heightened and engaging: follow a vengeful murder, a lusty ball, an intoxicating rave. The play moves in tidal currents: scenes breathe and fade, and audiences chase figures they find compelling, leading to a thrush of anxious attendees clutching one another as they chase durable characters and flimsy plots. That ease of losing yourself and others may feel welcome. Dress as you see fit it doesn’t quite matter what you wear before stepping into the space - audiences don masks (both the N95 and the masquerade kind) for increased anonymity - and the lights are so subdued that, even if you wish to tag along with your theatergoing plus one, you may quickly lose them in the incentive and labyrinthine set. The concept is 1920s hunted hotel: speakeasy bar, vested men, and glorious taxidermy. Keeping to this tragic play’s narrative seems secondary experience is key here, and the production packs it in. The cast of a dozen strong invites multiple trajectories: a murderer hungry for power (Macbeth), his wife who licks and cleans his bloody wounds (Lady M), and some carnal figures who initiate a strobe light-infused rave (the three witches, I assume).
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