Last night I tried to explain the production of Sleep No More to someone at Harvard who had yet to hear anything about it. “Well you see, it’s an adaptation of Macbeth… but there are no words….and there isn’t a stage… and it’s actually in this big old school building… and you wear this weird mask… and you have to follow characters around to figure out what is going on…but you never actually know what is going on.” I realized about halfway through my explanation that not only was I not doing the production the justice it deserved, but also I myself was not entirely sure how to explain the experience that was Sleep No More.  The production, created by a London based group called Punchdrunk Theatricals known for their installation immersive theater in Europe, was brought to Boston this year by the A.R.T.. in an attempt to bring this new experience of theater to America. It certainly was an experience, and by far the most interesting one I have had in a while.

On Saturday night, I ventured out of Harvard Square with three friends to a place Harvard students would not journey to if it weren’t for the prospect of free theater required by one of our classes. Two subway lines and one hour later we arrived in what felt like the middle of nowhere, Massachusetts, otherwise known as Brookline. I’m sure in the light of day Brookline is just another respectable and well-to-do suburb of Boston. However, on a cold night when you are holding a small slip of directions that more or less ends with, “Follow the small hard-to-find path up to the looming school building on your right. ” you are more than willing to huddle closer to those with whom you came. Once you finally find the Old Lincoln School Building (which is the name of the venue on your ticket), Cambridge already feels very far away. But incase you are not entirely out of your comfort zone yet, you are ushered through a black corridor and are forced to navigate your way to the Manderlay Bar, a night club signaling the other influence of the production, Alfred Hitchcocks 1940 film Rebecca. There are servants to greet you, music, and other patrons waiting with drinks in hand for their turn to enter the “show” portion of the night. About twenty minutes later my group was called and we finally entered into the world we had come to see. Read the rest of this entry »