![]() Our group split apart almost instantly, and I dove in, ready to be bold. The purpose of the masks, beyond differentiating cast from audience, is to free us, to allow us to feel anonymous and uninhibited. So how did my experience go? My friend Caitlin, who attended the performance for the third time that night, gave me two pieces of advice beforehand: be bold, and if someone makes eye contact with you, hold that eye contact. ![]() You can also leave the experience any time you'd like and go chill in the bar on the first floor, where no one has to wear a mask, you're free to speak and nothing particularly weird is happening, other than its decided '20s atmosphere and some singular musical acts. I spent a lot of time in the devil orgy room and never found the candy room, which feels like a metaphor for something, probably, but definitely not for my life. For instance, there is a room full of candy. You can meander aimlessly or duck out of a room if it gets too intense. It's as scary or not scary as you want it to be. No one's jumping out and grabbing you no chainless chainsaws will be pressed against that vulnerable spot behind your knees. We're encouraged to explore, and visitors may follow one actor as he flees a silently emotive scene and flies up several flights of stairs, or stay and watch the performer who remains we can peer into empty rooms and start opening drawers or moving books. Visitors, masked and asked to remain silent, are free to wander the hotel at their own pace. ![]() There are seeds of Hitchcock and Argento and Poe scattered among the Shakespeare. It's been running for three years and it's ultimately an interpretation of Macbeth, performed wordlessly amid a portentous noir score. The basics: Sleep No More is an interactive, immersive theatre and dance performance installed over six floors at New York's The McKittrick Hotel (a venue established in three adjoining Chelsea warehouses for the express purpose of the performance). The key is that I don't want to spoil anyone, and yet the very idea of spoilers feels impossible when talking about Sleep No More, as it provides a different experience for everyone who visits it. I've been trying to write about my visit to The McKittrick Hotel for Punchdrunk's Sleep No More for a couple of weeks now.
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