Number Twenty-Five: Sleep No More (Enhanced)
Well if this isn’t my most overhyped blog post ever. Now I know how REMIXED feels!
Now that you’ve had the chance to read about Punchdrunk’s collaboration with MIT Media Lab in this rather disappointing New York Times article, I am excited to share with you the reason that I didn’t immediately post a recap of my twenty-fifth visit to Sleep No More: I had the honor and privilege to be a live participant in the project’s blending of a Sleep No More performance with an online, interactive component.
The test run I was present for last Tuesday was among the first during a week-long set of experiments with the technology and new show content that have been developed in the collaboration. I feel incredibly fortunate to have been invited to participate and provide feedback in extensive conversations with the Punchdrunk and Media Lab staff who are bringing this project to life.
The NYT article covers much of what I saw. The written teasers I posted earlier actually all happened - the latter two are tidbits from interactions with a new character. But I won’t go into particular detail about plot, locations, elements, because while what I participated in was just an experiment, there’s always the possibility that the project may return in some form in the future, for more testing, or maybe some of what I got to do may be integrated into the show and I’d hate to have ruined the surprises. Instead I’d just like to describe in broad strokes what I experienced in the test run and provide some commentary on why I think these are fascinating developments at what is already a cutting-edge theatrical production.
Any of you who were at the show last week probably noticed some changes on the set: the 5th floor autopsy room was closed; stewards were posted in new places; something was going on in the padded cell; there were “missing” posters and ads for a photo exhibition scattered around the set. You may have even seen some audience members roaming around with masks that had wiring and apparatus attached. These were all part of a story that participants in the Media Lab project explore with each “live participant,” as I was, adventuring in tandem with an online remote participant who accesses the performance space via a media-rich website.
The plot of the project builds on a piece of the Sleep No More story already playing out in Gallow Green, delving further into the mystery of why Agnes Naismith has come to the town, and the nature of her relationship to Hecate. Accordingly, there are:
new rooms to explore within the McKittrick Hotel - the NYT talks about a law office, which I saw; I also found one other very small new room.
new characters: particularly, “George” in the padded cell, played by Benjamin Thys
new interactions and 1:1s with existing characters, including the Hecate scene
new pieces of information embedded in props in the set
“portals” where the enhanced mask enables a degree of connection to the online participant
Unfortunately, on the night I was there, much of the technology suffered from malfunctions and the interaction with the online participants was limited. Also, from what I was told, the enhanced mask can also enable responses (ie. mechanical, environmental) from new set elements that have been added to the hotel, though I didn’t get to experience this either. The two moments where the technology worked were both mindblowing (one was the ouija board scene mentioned in the NYT article, the other, a moment of hearing voices in my head). The new content in the storyline is also very neatly done, for which thanks are also due to creative performances by Benjamin Thys, Careena Melia, Alba Albanese and William Popp.
It’s a bold and provocative experiment. As Punchdrunk’s Colin Nightingale wrote in a blog post for Media Lab, part of the enormous challenge is fitting this material in alongside a show that is already up and running 8 times a week; the new scenes and spaces are very carefully planned to disrupt the current show as little as necessary.
In the feedback session, we discussed a topic that has come up frequently in blogs and reviews of Sleep No More over the past 15 months - is it a game? Can it be gamified, or should it? Surely, the Media Lab project adds a whole new dimension to this debate. I had a sense that I was on a particular mission, attempting to accomplish something specific, and so in that regard, it felt more like a game than a normal night at Sleep No More ever had before. And yet, in truth, I was still just seeking answers, seeking some knowledge about the suffering man I met in the padded cell, and what had happened to the woman on the “missing” posters. And neither of these are out of line with the kinds of questions that can normally occupy me at the show.
What perplexes me most - and what I think is ultimately the crux of the project, and its single greatest potential as a communications tool and a dramatic, artistic enterprise - is the extent to which it is possible for the pairing of live and online participants to build the same kind of empathetic, meaningful but ephemeral bond between two audience members - one in the McKittrick Hotel and one not - that we as audience frequently feel we form with the Sleep No More characters we already know. Why are we helping each other? What is the disembodied, online participant struggling with, and how can I help her? Can she tell what my struggles are, and why should she help me? I think figuring out how to best nurture that relationship is an enormous challenge, but could be a remarkable breakthrough in both theatrical and online experiences. Indeed, in a moment when there appears to be much critical attention to the idea that our online interactions are vacuous and void, and when we come to a production like Sleep No More perhaps precisely because it collapses both the passivity of our mode of consumption and the sensory monotony of our contemporary experience, there is a great opportunity here to dismantle the idea that experiences mediated online are inherently base and banal.
Despite the technical challenges, it was a fascinating and thrilling experience. At times I was terrified, at times I was so frustrated with the difficulty of advancing the story (and here, my extensive previous Sleep No More experience was both a help and a curse) that I wanted to tear the mask off. But I immediately wanted to do it again. For me, the disorientation and wonder of my first night at Sleep No More were almost entirely restored, just because of the different perspective and the different frame through which I saw the performance. The 1:1 with Hecate that ended the night had me desperate to have more time to find answers.
I’m very excited for the future of Sleep No More, should any of this ever factor in; and I hope I get to try this experience out again. Soon. I want to know what was in that locked briefcase.
germansingergirl
prguitarman
tangentwithtanner
snowghoul
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