Sleep No More: Synthesizing the Need for Immersive Theatre

I recently took a trip to New York City to experience as much theatre as I could in a week. Included in the theatre I saw was Punchdrunk's Sleep No More. Ever since I got to take part in this immersive production of Sleep No More a few nights ago, I have not been able to shake the strong feelings it left with me, nor have I wanted to. The sensation of being totally transported to a completely different world through all five of my senses was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. For the remainder of my time in New York City, I found myself constantly thinking about the show and even missing the freedoms I got from that experience. I thought I would expand a journal entry I made discussing my personal experience with this production.

For those of you who have never heard of Sleep No More, it is an immersive theatre experience retelling the story of Shakespeare's MacBeth through theatrical contemporary dance. The production takes place in the five-story McKitterick Hotel that is filled with detailed props and scenery that spectators are welcome to explore and rummage through as they please. As you can see in the image, spectators are required to wear white masks that separate themselves from the performers in the show. They are also not allowed to talk, recommended to travel alone, and are told to leave their cellphones at coatcheck. At the start of the show, spectators are released into different areas in the hotel and are free to wander about for three hours, coming upon various scenes, and following actors to their next destination. Spectators can follow performers however closely or distantly they want, or they can choose to not follow anyone at all, but rather stay behind and see what they can find where they are. So that guests will get more chances to see all of the scenes, the show repeats three times in those three hours. While you may do your best to see every scene from the show, you are not going to catch all of them; your experience will be different from any other spectator attending. That is what makes it so special and so exhilirating. You may be the adventurous type who likes to explore dusty bookshelves and open hidden drawers to find out about characters' past. Or you may be the innocent type who gets "chosen" or "kidnapped" by one of the performers to have a special, intimate scene between just the two of you in a closed room, apart from the other spectators. The theatre experience is immersive in that you decide what your experience will be upon the moment you step into the hotel.

When I was first released to wander the hotel in Sleep No More it took me a little bit of time to grasp the freedom I had. I was perfectly allowed, and in fact encouraged to roam about as I pleased, and feed my adventurous spirit. It was such a refreshing change, and made me realize how much we as a society are obligated to repress our desires. As I was touring the beautiful Cloisters, the Metropolitan, and the Natural History Museum the day after I attended Sleep No More, I kept finding myself wanting to be a little too adventurous. I wanted to be able to go anywhere I wanted, explore every room without being watched, open every cabinet, and rummage through every book. As I came upon all of this period style clothing, furniture, and other art i the museums, I was very strongly reminded of the previous night's experience with Sleep No More, where I freely got to rummage through the history and remains of very interesting people from a very long time ago. I was missing it.

I found that I had grown so attached to my experience the night before that I wanted to be just as curious the next day. Thus coming back to reality was slightly frustrating and claustrophobic. I almost felt like I had been spoiled during Sleep No More with freedom and possibilities, and then became resentful in the museums and the Cloisters when that was taken away. Suddenly I was limited and there were security guards breathing down my neck. Suddenly the social pressure to squash my curiosity and adventurous spirit, which has been lifted last night, had returned.

This all ties in with the importance of immersive theatre, and how we as humans crave interaction. My friend pointed out that this is why video games, and Cosplay, and DVD special features are growing so much in popularity. I will be the first to admit that I am a DVD special features nerd, and I may have been wandering the Cloisters the other day pretending I was in Professor Kirke's house from The Chronicles of Narnia. We don't just want to hear about or see a story. We want to feel included. We want to feel like we can be a part of something important and meaningful. Sometimes it makes us crazy to sit on the sidelines and just watch action play out from a third person point of view, while we secretly wish it was us doing the action. We aren't always satisfied with just being presented with something that we can watch from a distance. We want to be included. One of the main reasons I loved Sleep No More so much was because I did feel like I was an important part of the action that was playing out inches from my face.

(Bear with me as I use examples from the other theatre I saw this week)

The same can be said for some of the other pieces of theatre I saw last week that successfully broke that fourth wall. For instance, In the Broadway show Cabaret, ushers and vendors were welcoming you to “The Kit Kat Club” from the moment you got through the lobby. The actors addressed the audience as members of their nightclub, and physically interacted with the people in the orchestra. What about when Hedwig, from Hedwig and the Angry Inch came into the orchestra and started dancing with people?

Take Roundabout Theatre Company's Into the Woods. Everyone perked up when the princes handed their horses to the front row, or when the Baker's Wife hid in the aisle of the house. It was neat to see the actors talk to the audience members during intermission as well. Even though I was sitting in the mezzanine and we wasn't the one being spoken to, I still ate up the idea of that very real, very organic audience interaction. Even the performers waving and making eye contact with my row at the bows was a welcomed sign that they needed us just as much as we needed them.

Thus I do feel like that involvement is just what people are craving, especially in today's technology-driven, impersonal, individualized culture. We are created to thrive on human interaction, and I think the theatre is a very beautiful place to spark the realization of that need, and to experiment safely with the expansion of that interaction. Theatre always takes place in a moment of heightened emotional stakes. People, though they initially may be guarded, like the feeling of experiencing extreme emotions. We want to feel like we are making a difference, and I think immersive, intimate theatre is a very workable and unique way to satisfy those secret heroic desires that everyone has. I would personally love to see more of it, and am excited to see what innovative theatrical experiences are going to be produced in this hopefully growing trend.

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