To celebrate my dad's birthday, we went to see
Sleep No More. I had gotten a postcard about the show, and thought it sounded interesting. The rooms in an old school are outfitted into different set pieces, into which the actors and the audience is free to wander. I understand that the plot of the play is supposed to be representative of Macbeth. I feel like conceptually, this is very good, but the execution left me underwhelmed.
We were given masks before entering, and combined with the stifling hot air and very strong scents in various parts of the building, I quickly found it difficult to breathe, which limited my enjoyment of much of the evening. Our family group was split up as we entered the space, which is part of their design, but honestly was a little disappointing. J and I wandered through a couple of the incredibly detailed sets, examining all of the props and feeling a little creeped out, due to the very dark lighting and ominous music. So it started out pretty good. After a while of wandering aimlessly and not seeing any action, though, this process started to get a little old. A few times, we stumbled into the end of a scene, but the actors quickly left before we had a chance to figure out what they were portraying, and often we would start to follow someone and some slowpoke in front of us would stop abruptly, or just be too leisurely, and we would lose the actor. At least twice, we could see a scene going on in a room, but one of the "ushers" prevented us from entering, which was annoying. After more than an hour of this, quite frankly, I was tired, hot, and bored. Finally, a scene stumbled into us, and as the actors moved through the building, we were able to follow them for a little while and see a little bit of the action. By this time, I was wondering how much longer I would have to stay before everyone was ready to go home, and not really feeling interested in the play anymore. The players portrayed their scenes skillfully, but since I had no clue as to what characters they were portraying, it was difficult to get a sense of scene. Finally, the bar was open, and we went to get some water (did I mention that it was oppressively hot?) and stepped outside for some air. At which point, we learned that we would have to return the masks at the end of the evening, which made me not want to put it back on.
I get the impression that you are supposed to want to go back to see this show again and have a different experience, see different things, and although having been once, I think I could probably make a second experience far more interesting, I just don't care enough to do so. Although at least we did get to see a little bit of the drama. I overheard a couple of people talking and it seemed like they hadn't seen anything, which I imagine would be very disappointing. I think that more could have been done to help the audience find the scenes, as I felt like we hadn't really seen anything, but discussing it with the rest of the family later, it seems that we saw a lot more than they did.
On the plus side, there was quite a bit of gratuitous nudity.
My advice? If you go to see this show, it is probably a good idea to wait in one room until one or more actors come in and then follow them around for a while. Push everyone out of your way to avoid losing the actor. Wear light clothing and running shoes. Check your coat. Bring lysol to spray on your mask...because, really...ewwwww. Don't wear glasses - now would be a good time to invest in contacts, unless you like having your glasses smooshed into your face, and fog up as you breathe.
