![]() Often, the lounge-like rooms were accompanied by a jazz-age soundtrack, crackling like an old, scratched record.īefore arriving at “Sleep No More,” I had been advised by a friend who had attended years ago that to get the most out of the experience, you should follow the actors. The level of detail that goes into dressing each room is impressive, and each room feels lived in. I also wandered through a maze of blue Christmas trees and found a series of small rooms with couches, desks and books. There, I found a room with several empty bathtubs where a nurse was laying out wet shirts as if they were being worn by men sitting in the tubs. ![]() I began by wandering the floor I’d been deposited on. The rules are laid out by a flirtatious guide: you’re free to explore, but you are not to utter a sound while you do it. ![]() From there, you’re handed a white mask and ushered into an elevator to be taken up to the top floor of the complex - that is, of course, assuming you aren’t the last one into the elevator, for that person is first deposited, alone, on a lower floor. Upon arriving at the McKittrick, and after checking all coats and bags, you’re sent down a twisting, barely lit hallway, until you reach the lounge where drinks are served and several bands will eventually play. Spanning six stories of the complex called the McKittrick Hotel in Chelsea, you spend about three hours - or less, if you’re as unlucky as I was to be pulled out of it too soon - exploring an extremely elaborate set and following actors, racing from one room to the next, as they act out a story very loosely based on Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.” Part immersive theater, part installation art, this Off-Broadway production produced by the British company, Punchdrunk, began its run in New York in 2011, and it’s still running, often to sold-out shows. ![]() Chances are, you’ll leave “Sleep No More” at least a little dissatisfied and frustrated - it’s designed that way, to get you to come back - but it would be hard to deny that it’s anything but intoxicating. ![]()
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