To all fans of Sleep No More, Punchdrunk, and immersive theater in general, I’d like to recommend a fun little thing I’ve tried.

The Mysterious Package Company tells stories, in the form of letters, news clippings, artifacts, and other simulated bits, via several mailings. The stories are often supernatural in nature, and involve a mystery to be uncovered.

I tried The Weeping Book. Not to ruin anything if you try it, but the mailing consists of a letter of warning, and a sealed journal of a haunted young boy. It was riveting, terrifying, and lots of fun. The production quality was also fantastic.

Even better, you can send them to a friend instead, if you have someone you want to creep out.

I did this mailing as well and it’s really cool. I’d love to do more with them but the price tag is a little high. I don’t see how they could make it cost less, I’m not criticizing, the larger, more complex mailings are just a bit out of reach for me.

Very cool experience though. Highly recommended.

-C

Sleep No More, Video Games, and the Potential of Interactive Storytelling.

August 29 2011

On Thursday the 12th of August, I attended a performance of Sleep No More. Billed as ‘indoor promenade performance’, it entails being immersed in the world of the McKitterick Hotel (an impressively redecorated warehouse or three on west 27th, across the street from the back entrance of Scores) and treated to an adaptation, of a kind, of Shakespeare’s famous play that shows us the nature of evil, Macbeth. It was astounding.

Though it is not a word that can be found anywhere on the website (sleepnomorenyc.com), Sleep No More is a highly interactive experience- though one might suppose that physical interaction is a part of any immersive experience. Still, this is important to note for the upcoming discussion: The specific difference between immersive and interactive when one or the other is the goal of an experience. In the McKitterick Hotel, almost every door, drawer and closet is unlocked. You can read anything, pick up anyway, dig through people’s luggage and letters. The entire environment is touchable, if not tractable- even the performers. Though it is against the rules of the game to touch the performers, the performers may very well decide to touch you. You may be pushed gently aside, or taken by the hand and led, or- as I experienced- have a madwoman cup your face and lament at the cruelty in your eyes. The world you enter is filled with eerily familiar but ultimately alien landscapes and enough details to drown in. You can watch or play, observe or participate, that much is (largely) your choice.

The performance is interactive, but it is not changeable. Those choices I just mentioned do not effect the characters’ overall arcs, their intentions or their stories. Scenes play in a loop throughout the roughly three hour performance.  Short of doing something dangerously disruptive, the audience cannot effect the outcome of the story.

The goal of Sleep No More is an immersive theatrical experience. It is not a game. It sets no goals or objectives for the audience, other than to experience. It’s brilliant and freeing.

And potentially frustrating, if you’re of a gamer’s mindset. Over at Wired, you can read an article by @jasonschreier about his experience of the theatrical piece, which he describes in the headline as “Like a game, but more confusing.” Schreier primarily decries the fact that it is impossible for an audience member to see the entire show, and that this fact makes most of what one experiences difficult to decipher or put into context: The experience is difficult to understand.

He argues that video game experiences are more rewarding because you achieve things. The game tells you so. I think this is an ineffective comparison, but the opening of an interesting discussion.

Compare Sleep No More to an open-world game like Fallout: New Vegas. While Sleep No More drops you into the middle of a performance and expects you to figure out what’s happening, New Vegas sets up the story first, then lets you loose. More importantly, New Vegas makes you feel like the things you do matter. Whether you’re shooting down raiders or discovering a pile of bones in a child’s crib, you’re always an active participant, integral to the story. Not just an observer.

So holding up video games to an immersive experience like Sleep No More doesn’t work as a 1:1, but even if you are, the argument is flawed in a few ways:

You can, in fact, prepare for the sort-of-plot of Sleep No More by brushing up on your Shakespeare, but the story is present in an abstract, exploratory way. The scenes, when you do find them, are not exactly straightforward. Think lyrical and interpretive dance. The story, as such, is not the most important part of the show. More important is the audience’s story: What they see and experience and what it does to them. Now, if what they see and experience frustrates and bores them, more the pity, but I have to say, I’d imagine it would take a respectable amount of willful disinterest to walk away from Sleep No More wholly unmoved.

The end result(s) of both Sleep No More and any video game are predetermined. Nothing you do as an audience member or player can actually change what happens outside of a couple permutations. Schreier is absolutely correct in that video games make you feel as though your choices have weight- and they do, but a very limited amount. I will defend the unique special snowflake status of my Commander Shepard TO THE DEATH but ultimately, I am not the only FemShep Paragon with Renegade Tendencies when Faced with Ultimatums who is Bedding Garrus Vakarian aka Dinosaur Batman: The Hero Omega Deserves. No, I am but one of many; because though the Mass Effect series provides the player with thousands of choices to make over the course of the franchise, they are still choices you are being offered and have to choose from. You can’t just make up your own. The ending to any work of art or entertainment created by someone other than the participant/user has a finite amount of leeway.  Sleep No More is a single event comprised of smaller, looping events. It’s meant to be an immersive experience that theater-goers can explore to whatever depth they choose. It is, in fact, quite possible to see all the primary, story-centric scenes of Shakespeare’s Macbeth in one evening at Sleep No More. It’s not really necessary, though, nor would it be easy.  

Sleep No More is not a game, it is not a puzzle. It’s more like a haunting. It’s like watching spectres enact their wicked follies again and again, helpless to stop themselves or break free. Sometimes the ghosts reach out for you, and you can rifle through the relics and detritus they’ve left behind, but the story cannot be changed.

Now let’s pull a bit of a conversational one eighty. The Minnesota Fringe Festival is a breeding ground for fun, funny, original and rather ingenious theatrical experiences. One participating company, Walking Shadow, has mounted two interactive theatrical puzzle experiences. The first was entitled 1926 Pleasant, and ran in 2006. You can read a detailed account of the play/game here: it is, in fact, a walkthru, something all gamers are familiar with. Both a theatrical experience and actual game the audience had to play in order to advance the story, 1926 Pleasant (and their latest puzzle production, Saboteur,) seems to accomplish what Schreier says Sleep No More failed to do, but the intent behind the two pieces are completely and utterly different, and so the comparison isn’t helpful.

Now, if the two pieces could be combined, you would have something that appeals to theater goers and gamers alike. Let’s take a look at a video game property like Bioshock and think of how these two formats of theatrical experience could be applied to making Bioshock a live action interactive event. Why? Because I am goddamn obsessed with this whole freaking idea, that’s why. If you’re still reading this, I don’t even know what to tell you. You’re as sick a puppy as I am.

As a self contained environment, it could be constructed the same way as the fictional McKitterick Hotel: Six stories of immersive environments fashioned after Bioshock’s more iconic levels, like Neptune’s Bounty, Arcadia, Fort Frolic, the Farmer’s Market, Hephaestus and Olympus Heights.

Rapture is largely comprised of sweeping atriums and surprisingly open spaces for being an underwater city. However, as Sleep No More demonstrates nicely, constructing outdoor spaces indoors is entirely achievable on multiple floors. Also the ballroom on the lowest level sports two stories of balcony seats and vaulted ceilings. It is a huge room that could easily be transformed into any number of centerpieces from the game.

Of course site-specific theater is just that. One could find a space more uniquely suited to Rapture’s grand halls, but the space Punchdrunk created in the form of the McKitterick Hotel is smartly and very successfully constructed. With relatively few changes, Sleep No More as it stands could be turned into the site of a Rapture live action interactive gaming experience.

The next question, of course, is who would go? Who would shell out, say, $100 to be let loose in that kind of environment for three hours, not knowing before hand how it would go? You’ll have adventurous types, you’ll have gamers, you’ll have theater goers, but the added responsibility that’s placed on the audience member when they’re expected to participate and actively move the game forwards as opposed to merely observing events as they unfold could potentially scare away much needed ticket sales, and come to that- how many tickets a round would have to be sold to make the endeavor even remotely feasible?  Those are the questions I don’t want to think about because the other stuff is more fun, but it does make me think that the ideal place to try out an experience like this would be San Diego Comic-Con.

Your audience isn’t just built in, it’s swarming the grounds around where your theatrical gaming experience is held. San Diego boasts a throng of beautiful hotels, plenty of which are historic, as well as some industrial and warehouse sites that could be appropriated and converted. Passes could be given away at panels as well as purchased ahead of time to guarantee your spot.  It would be, for the logistics of running such an experience, the perfect litmus test. Branching out to other audiences, of course, would be a different ballgame, but if this sort of thing was going to be made a reality, I think SDCC is a prime opportunity to give it a test run. Not to mention, I’m sure it would be the talk of the con.

Bioshock, Dead Space, Walking Dead, Arkham Asylum, even Game of Thrones- all are properties that could utilize the concepts of mystery, clue finding, puzzle solving and even, eventually, combat to engage an audience and motivate a player, as well as blend seamlessly with theatrical style presentations and fully fleshed out but self contained environments. We’re certainly seeing plenty of transmedia projects happening, and various properties bleeding into other mediums, so who knows- maybe this kind of thing isn’t that far off. I hope it’s not, because the only thing I want to do more badly than go back to Sleep No More is return to Rapture.

That last sentence hits home so hard. Love this post. I’d buy three times as many tickets to a six-story immersive Bioshock as I have to Sleep No More, and that is a damn large number of tickets. I’d sell your soul for the money if I had to. I say yours because mine’s already...indisposed. -C

Oh look the tag is almost readable again. Almost.

HOW

SHE MAGIC. Also she just taught me this: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-xkit/inobiceghmpkaklcknpniboilbjmlald?hl=en-US - Plus you need the Blacklist extension to add the keywords ad whitelist anything you don’t want blocked

-C

Inferno 2015 was great - possibly the best SNM party yet, but certainly the best since Carnival des Corbeaux. I feel like basically every complaint I’ve ever had about the special events was handled and then some. Dinner was abundant and delicious and the Paisley Players were perfection as always. There were tons of surprises and unexpected treats, including at least five different 1:1s (one of which was one of the best Punchdrunk moments I’ve ever had). The bars were busy but not impossible to get to, and anyway there were tons of places to get shots. There were snacks. Aaron Paul was boy witch during the opening piece and it was a delight to party with him afterward. The costumes and performances were all top-notch, and it was actually possible to find most of them because - wonder of wonders - we got a printed schedule.

Most of all, I had a blast dancing and drinking and sweating with some of my very best friends, and somehow my giant crow hat did not disintegrate mid-party as I’d sort of assumed it would.

I had been planning to skip the New Year’s Eve event, but this party was so great that I’m going to have to reconsider that, I think. In fact, the party has actually reignited my interest in seeing the show - I haven’t seen it in months and had not been planning to again anytime soon, but now I’m dying to go back. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that this year’s Inferno actually reminded me why I fell in love with Sleep No More to begin with.

AHEM.

This.

What she said.

-C

The pricing manipulations at the McKittrick Hotel have gotten out of hand.  

It started getting ridiculous a few years ago, when they roped off the tables at the Manderley Bar. New fans may not even realize - you used to be able to sit anywhere in Manderley. Now, often all the seats are “reserved” for those who pay a 50-60% premium for “Maximilian’s List.”

These people are literally just paying for a table that used to be included with a regular ticket, and that they won’t sit at if they actually go in to watch the show that they are ostensibly attending.

One of my best friends lives a 5 minute walk from Sleep No More. Twice, I tried to take her to Manderley Bar after the show, to watch the band. I knew she’d love the aesthetic of the bar. But she has mobility issues, and can’t stand for extended periods of time. Both times, we stood in front of a velvet rope, looking at empty seats that she was not allowed to sit in, and we left because my friend was in pain. I don’t try to take her to Manderley anymore.

The latest indignity is the “Champagne table.” This comes at a 200% markup - a show where tickets are $85 has champagne tables for $255.  A single guest who buys this is paying $170 for a bottle of champage. If three people attend together, they still only get one bottle - a $510 bottle of champage.

On one level, fine, let people pay an idiot tax if they want to. Presumably anyone who chooses this is rich enough to afford it. I hope (but somehow doubt) that it goes to increase the salaries of the cast and staff. Maybe they can even start paying their interns.  

The real problem is that they are reducing the availability of regular priced tickets in favor of these price gouging options. Regular priced tickets now automatically convert to inflated prices once a certain theshold is reached. It seems to vary per timeslot - for example, you can usually only buy a same day ticket to a weekday show at Max’s List prices now. Saturday after 5pm all the tickets to the Saturday late show switched to Max’s List prices, even though there were plenty of regular priced tickets available at 4:45pm.  If you try to buy tickets at the door, even to a show that isn’t sold out, they may offer only Max’s List prices. Right now (Sunday afternoon) if I wanted to go to the Monday show, I could only buy a $255 “champagne table.”

Other shows offer discounts for last minute tickets. Sleep No More charges a 50-200% markup.

Ironically, it’s often the most devoted fans who want to buy tickets last minute. We go to accompany friends, or because we had a bad day at work, or because we hope to catch interesting casting. (Which, because of the massive secrecy, we only find out about last minute from other fans who went to recent shows.)

There has never been any kind of program to welcome frequent visitors. Instead, we are facing a massive price increase.

Sleep No More has also never offered discount tickets. Student discounts are common at many other NYC shows, and The Drowned Man offered low priced concession tickets for students, young people, and the unemployed. If Punchdrunk really is the future of theater, shouldn’t students at least be able to attend affordably?

Even Punchdrunk’s supporters, the “Keyholders” who donate directly to Punchdrunk and were welcomed with unique experiences and events at Drowned Man, are not recognized at all at Sleep No More.

If the show is really full, I understand there is no more space for anyone to enter. But when there are tickets left, it’s awful to offer them only at inflated prices. In their pursuit of rich tourists with money to burn, the people who run Sleep No More are insulting their core audience.

I get that art has to make money to survive in a capitalist society. Still, there is something obscene about ripping off your most devoted audience, the ones who care most about the art itself, the ones who pay attention to the performances, who are polite and engaged, who create art and write thoughtful analyses, who regard the show as theater, not as a nightclub.

Moreover, it’s bad capitalism. I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on Sleep No More tickets, special events, and food/drinks at the bars and restaurants. I’ve brought dozens of friends. I’ve brought corporate clients and expensed meals. I spent thousands more on The Drowned Man and on direct donations to Punchdrunk via the Keyholder program.

I’m not rich. All of this has been a huge amount of money to me. I spent it because I think that Punchdrunk creates great works of art. I’ve had some of the most powerful experiences of my life inside of that building.

But I’m not going to spend an extra 60% on top of a ticket for a table I won’t sit at, or an extra 200% for champage, when I know they could sell me a regular priced ticket if they wanted to. It’s insulting to be blatantly taken advantage of.

The result will be that people like me spend less money on Sleep No More, stop visiting, stop bringing friends, and give up on the art.  A lot of the early fans have already left in disgust. Perhaps the rich douchebag crowd will make up for our exodus financially. But it will hasten the decline of the show, lower the reputation of the company, and alienate the audience that is most likely to appreciate it as a work of art. It’s ugly and sad that this is happening.

Glamis and I…no. No. Forget the cutesy role-playing monikers. I don’t want there to be any chance of misunderstanding. Jim & Donna Stark wholly and completely support every word in this post. I wish I’d written it. The price increases are ridiculous. They hurt the real fans of the show by pushing away those of us who are repeat visitors and try to buy last minute tickets. The pricing of special events has gotten so out of hand that it's nearly impossible to justify spending those kind of sums for one night of entertainment. You could attend five shows for the price of dinner, show and party on Halloween - how is this logical? How could this do anything but price out the kind of dedicated, loyal fans to whom the lore of these parties is directed? It’s clearly designed to cater to a specific kind of crowd, and devotees of Punchdrunk art are not on the list.

The bottom line is this. The three men who run that building, Emursive, they don’t care about the die-hard lover of Punchdrunk works. They actively dislike these fans and want to court the private table bottle-service crowd. Their policies can only lead to driving the core of dedicated fans of the show away (which has already started to happen). The three men that run Emursive are treating the building like a private club, a playground upon which to play big shots, and not the theater experience we repeat fans have grown to love. It doesn't matter that we dedicated few cannot afford the art. They only care about their scene and gouging as much money out of the Sleep No More juggernaut as they can possibly get.

From the perspective of the art, I love that building. I love the people. I love how it looks and how it smells and how it makes me feel.

Please let me stress this again: I love the performers in that building and I adore they work they do. I am incredibly appreciative of the support staff that keeps the show running, and aware of how many of them are talented artists in their own right. I try to support as many as I can, especially in projects outside of that place. I will continue to do that as often as I can afford to.

It hurts my heart to know that I have no choice but to severely reduce my visits, because they are ruining the atmosphere and gouging every dollar they can get. I can’t afford to be a superfan - or even a regular fan - anymore. In addition, the toll of being treated like shit on the bottom of a Bruno Magli shoe, all for the sins of loving the show with all my heart, not being rich and yet coming back over and over again anyway, has worn me down.

Sadly yours,

Jim “Cawdor” Stark

Made today for a customer. You can get your own: http://tiny.cc/crowfoot (at Stark Curiosa)