Holy shit, I thought to myself. Nothing else I experience will be able to match that. Deciding to myself that I’d never find the item she’d requested in a space so vast, I returned to the demented bar and soon encountered the same Hecate in red, who took my hands and stared down at my palms as if to say, “Venture forth until you’ve found what I’ve asked for.” So I decided to search in the hopes of finding a reward.
Wandering through several other floors – the McKittrick has five levels – I found a room of lockers full of personal belongings – coats, necklaces, purses – but not what I needed. In adjacent room, however – jackpot! – there it was. With the item in my grasp, I took to the stairs and returned to the strange bar space once again, empty this time. In just a few moments, there she was again. Spotting me, and spotting the item, she whispered in my ear, “Meet me in fifteen, after the cabaret.” Indeed, after another refrain of “Is That All There Is,” the woman in red took my hand and led me to the same door. “Wait here,” she whispered again, “I have something for you.”
A split second later once again, she returned and brought me into her parlor once again. “I didn’t expect you to come back,” she said, sitting me down in a seat adjacent to hers as she began to tell me another bewitching story before expelling me once again from her chamber.
Holy shit, I thought to myself again. Just when I thought my Sleep No More experience had reached its climax, it outdid itself again, proving that the curious theatergoer will be rewarded for following through on an actor’s requests. My heart pounding once again, I decided to explore more of the space. After all, I’d spent most of my first ninety minutes on a quest to appease Hecate’s search for what she’d lost.
Of course, just as I tried to alter my path, another actor crossed my path and led me straight back to the twisted bar, this time for a witchy orgy, led by Paul Singh as the boy witch, who quickly strips naked and dons a satyr’s mask, removing a dead baby from a fount, flaunting it before Macbeth and the witches in a wild, bloody bacchanal as strobe lights flash and techno music pulses.
Afterward, taking to a different floor, I came upon a number of other scenes – Macbeth smothering Malcolm, and, subsequently, Lady Macbeth’s meltdown, which comes after she strips her husband bare and washes away his blood, tussling with him under the covers before being overcome by a wild fit, raging against the dark deeds to which she’s now privy.
My experience is likely atypical. Many theatergoers will move through the space without being singled out as I was, but most will experience at least one or two events that make the experience worthwhile. The intricate detail within the space is unlike anything I’ve seen. With ninety fully-realized rooms, it’s possible to find oneself in an abandoned courtyard one moment, a ballroom the next, and a dusty speakeasy after that, witnessing an intricate dance staged on a pool table.
No doubt, this is a theatrical event unlike any other; however, it should be noted that the unadventurous theatergoer could certainly have a less than satisfactory experience. Those who worry about separating from their parties should think twice before experiencing Sleep No More, an adventure that is best when guided by one’s purest directional instincts.
Similarly, those with difficulty walking may be disappointed by the amount of running encouraged, particularly up and down stairs. The experience of the production will vary. There’s no set text, so those who need a meaty story to justify the price of admission will be sorely disappointed. Most of the encounters with actors throughout the space are wordless, but occasional snippets of dialogue crop up from time to time, particularly if one is lucky enough to stumble upon a one-on-one encounter. The stamp of the visual, visceral memories of the event, however, are likely to linger on long past when the sticker shock of the $75 price of admission fades. Get thee to the McKittrick is my advice, for what’s undone cannot be done.