Weekly Margin 2025, W29: Viola's Room

7/16/25: Viola's Room

What: Punchdrunk, the UK company behind the long-running hit Sleep No More, presents a new immersive experience hosted by The Shed. Using a labyrinthine immersive installation and surround-sound piped in over headphones, as well as Helena Bonham-Carter's narration of a dark story of the moon, mazes, and dancing shoes, Viola's Room takes the audience on a hypnotic and magical journey.

And? In case my description didn't make it clear, I LOVED IT. It brought back so many things I love about Punchdrunk: total engagement with the senses, a haunting and bittersweet narrative, a sense of magic and mystery, an unknowableness, and installations and environments with such a precise and piercing attention to detail that takes the breath away. It's an intimate experience--none of the chaos of Sleep No More or Life and Trust, but perhaps more akin to Third Rail's Then She Fell--with only six people in each group, staggered at 15-minute intervals on their journey through the space and story. And at only one hour, it leaves plenty of the evening left for a meal with friends to digest and discuss (I went alone, but I plan to return with friends).

Weekly Margin 2024, W19: Staff Meal, Sleep No More

5/07/24: Staff Meal

What: Playwrights Horizons presents Abe Koogler's new play about a mysterious restaurant, that is somehow a mix of meetcute, restaurant culture, vagrant culture, a demolished fourth wall, and the end of the world.

And? This play is so fucking weird and I absolutely loved it. I don't properly know how to talk about it without spoiling it, and it's so much better to go in with as little information as possible. Fantastic work from everyone involved, including the eerie scenic design of Jian Jung lit gloomily by Masha Tsimring, with uncanny valley sound design by Tei Blow, and a pitch perfect ensemble cast, both heartbreaking and hilarious, directed by Morgan Green.

Jess Barbagallo, Carmen M. Herlihy, Erin Markey, and Hampton Fluker as
Server, Server, Christina, and Waiter. Photo by Chelcie Parry.

5/11/24: Sleep No More

What: Punchdrunk's immersive adaptation of Macbeth and the Paisley Witch Trials: an installation across five floors of a warehouse with dance and promenade audience, flavored by the music and style of the 1920s, and the scores of film composer Bernard Herrmann.

And? Technically a repeat visit, but after over a decade of not attending: I came to say goodbye, as the show will be closing next month. I didn't go in with a set plan, but let myself wander the space and explore the quieter parts of the space. I got to see the ballroom dance twice, once from the lower level, and once from the mezzanine, as well as a number of solo moments I didn't remember from before. I saw the card game but never managed to catch the interrogation. I followed Catherine for a good spell. I had given up the idea of getting a farewell 1:1 and was fine with that, when -- I got the sixth floor 1:1! After all this time! I'd assumed it wasn't happening anymore, once they opened up the Club Car upstairs. I've learned my lesson a bit since the year when I posted every spoiler and secret I could uncover here, so I won't detail it here (but will privately upon request). But oh, I'm so grateful I finally got to experience it. A beautiful farewell. And my friend Sophia left with a kiss from Hecate on her mask.

The card game. Photo source.

A Good Night for Ghosts: a review of Then She Fell

Alice and Alice

"I wonder, when you look in the mirror, who stares you down at night?"

A Nurse greets you at the door you almost didn't find, past the ruined garden, down the stairs, around the corner. She checks your name off a clipboard and tells you to find your place, labeled, at one of the three tables. Waiting for you is a ring of keys, and another Nurse is at hand with your elixir. This is Then She Fell, Third Rail Project's immersive adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice books, and it is both strange and familiar.

The lobby where we waited was appropriately dark and curious. Our bags left in an open trunk, our coats piled on a single coatrack, and locked boxes scattered throughout the room, begging to be unlocked - one box contains letters from Lewis Carroll to Alice Liddell (the real-life inspiration and intended audience for the Alice books), another photographs of the two, another a tiny parlor of dollhouse furniture, complete with minuscule playing cards scattered on the floor and a toppled chess set. Each table has a folder full of hospital admittance forms, already filled out.

Eventually the Doctor stepped up to a microphone to welcome us and tell us the rules of the space - no talking, no opening closed doors, relock anything you happen to unlock with the keys you've been given. He then spoke on liminality while nurses guided audience through various doors, one or two at a time. So the audience was separated and sent on its various journeys, and so the show began.

The Spoiler-Free User-Friendly Guide to Enjoying Sleep No More

friendJudy, who attended Sleep No More last night with me, suggested I try my hand at a post on this show that's not dripping with spoilers, and that could actually be a useful tool for any first-timers attending, so ...

Tips and Tools to Having the Best Time Ever at Sleep No More!

Get thee to the McKittrick Hotel!

Warning! Here there be spoilers for Sleep No More. Read no further if you want to stay in ignorance. Seriously. I'm not censoring what I reveal here. Okay fine. Keep reading. I warned you.

How do I even attempt to describe Sleep No More?

I could start with the nearly pitch-black maze right after coat check that almost gave me a panic attack (thank goodness the man in front of me had a white shirt to reflect what little light there was).

I could mention the white masks every audience member is asked to wear  - masks that put us all in anonymity and isolation, shadowing our eyes and distinguishing us from the unmasked performers.