#sleepnomorenyc

[scorchedthesnake]

March 7, 2011

I moved to New York City in August 2010. My life before New York was something I’d grown completely unsatisfied with: I had moved to Connecticut for graduate school in 2001, had weathered two recessions in the relative security of academe but could see the writing on the wall for the doom of that profession and so had, via my teaching assistants union, begun to work for our international union as a communications staffer. This had given me a way out of Connecticut, though escaping the cultish environment of the union would still take a few more years.

The person I was back then was very unlike the person I am now. I wasn’t very much fun those first nine months in the city because I was just so afraid of everything. Bars scared me; too many strangers. Clubs scared me; too dark and too many unknowns and unpredictable scenarios. I was happy to be in a new place but petrified by what that freedom actually meant, and I had yet to find any place to belong or feel at home in.

I worked on 7th Avenue back then, around 27th Street. I remember sitting in my dreary cubicle that Monday, when I got a message from my best friend Matt, asking me if I wanted to go to a show that evening. No, I said, I really just want to go home and hide from the world. It’s the show John (O’Malley) is working on, he said, and he got us comps. Well what kind of show is it, I asked? “We’re gonna, like, chase sexy dancers around a warehouse.” Oh god that sounds so stupid, do I have to? “Just come with me, if you hate it you can leave.” 

So around 7pm I walked over to 10th Avenue and the block was so dumpy back then – junkyards, warehouses, not much else. I saw a small line of people gathered at the address I’d been given, so I approached and was handed this card:

I don’t remember anything about checking in or what it was like seeing Manderley for the first time, though I do remember Maximilian being there, giving a short speech and then we were taken to the elevator. I remember getting off the elevator on 3, and taking far too long to explore an empty Macbeths bedroom before, I suppose, figuring out I should investigate the other floors.

I’ve told this story often, though: at some point I came across an extremely attractive man moving quickly, so I did what it seemed like many others were doing: I followed him. We were in the 2nd loop by now, and I had realized it was a loop; but my target soon was running down High Streeet and through a darkened door and it slammed in my face and, to my surprise, was locked.

Oh, there are secret things all over here, aren’t there?

So I picked up his trail again as soon as I could, and stuck as close as I could. Including when we stumbled down all the flights of stairs and I wondered, should I call for help? Is the performer injured? But I stuck to him like glue and when he again approached that darkened door I was close enough to get inside.

And so the highlight of my first show was seeing Luke Murphy in interrogation.

After the finale I reconnected with Matt. We had, of course, seen completely different shows. As we exited we saw John. “Did you get any one on ones,” he asked? One on whats? “Well, I had one where the man in the lobby took me into a room and started putting on makeup.”

No we hadn’t seen anything like that. We immediately set about buying tickets for later in the six-week run. And we wandered the streets for a couple hours after that, comparing notes, feverishly reconstructing what we had just experienced. 

Obviously I did not sleep that night.

So much of the time you don’t know when everything has changed. You realize it long after the fact and in retrospect. Not this, this I knew was a fundamental shift. I’d never felt my senses at full alert like that, my mind racing trying to make sense of something so visceral. The music rang in my ears for hours, days later, and I knew when I came back, I’d need a plan.

#sleep no more #sleepnomore #mckittrick hotel #sleepnomorenyc #sleep no more nyc #punchdrunk #mckittrick

[exitmurderer]

“If only there could be an invention,” I said impulsively, “that bottled up a memory, like scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then, when one wanted it, the bottle could be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again.” --Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

#mckittrick #sleep no more #sleepnomore #sleepnomorenyc #sleep-no-more

[fantasticcats]

A Final Recap

A prayer to

the building that held me

with yellowed envelopes

lining the walls of a mystery

fluttering in verdant fans

A collage above a settee

Virgin print and egg tempera

Feathers dancing around a padded cell

The cold silver slab

where you blessed me

Cut pages + memento mori

The maze laid out below a saint. I know

it was you. 

I know your thimble

full of salt.

All the wayward shrines

that once were graves

Stealing candy

Stealing glances from behind a piano

Sharps and flats

Clocks and metronomes

count the loop back

Back to you

Black bird to you

I will not return

back to you

Back to your

coffin draped in gospels

and wrapped in thread

Music boxes and

tiny cathedrals 

singing broken notes

Like the sound of my fingers

flowing over metal waves

following down

the narrow path

into the dark.

#sleep no more #fulton forever #sleepnomore #Sleepnomorenyc

[te-pu-si-ti]

A Trojan Shade visits the McKittrick Hotel: Day One

I saw Sleep No More once, four years ago. I'd say that it changed my life, in the way that anything beautiful and innovative that shows you a new way to experience art is 'life-changing'. But I didn't know how much it truly would change my life: introducing me to Punchdrunk, who would open a show in London a few years later. Which would become the best part of my life, for eighteen months.

Now, on my way to family Christmas, I was able to stop in New York for five shows of Sleep No More before it all goes away.

My first day was a double. Two shows, only three full character loops really, but so much to take in.

I did not do research before this show. I wanted to go in relatively blind, which is to say "not really blind at all" because I have been reading about SNM for the past two years. But I tried to stay fairly un-spoiled, because that sense of exploration and bewilderment was important to me, for this first show. I gave myself permission to look up everything I wanted afterwards.

I did one bit of "homework" - I watched Rebecca on the plane. It is a fantastic film. So I was interested in finding those connections, if I could.

Sunday Matinee

In the rules before the lift, they outright mentioned that today was a sold-out show (as they all are from here on out). I had booked these shows before the closure announcement, hoping that the matinee shows would be fairly empty... but fate had other plans.

First lift, I had no idea where I was going, but luckily everybody else did, so I followed them down to the ballroom. I didn't see this scene on my first visit! Nor the rave. Nor the banquet, until the finale. I struggle to remember much of anything that I saw during my first show - just vague flashes of a forgotten dream.

I just stood there, huge smile on my face, watching the dancers up close, the enchanting music (which stayed in my head all week), the lovely costumes, all of it. A witch winked at me as she spun past. I can't believe I'm really back.

There was one character in the ballroom who piqued my interest - staying on the sidelines, stern-faced, looking rather familiar. It must be Mrs Danvers.

Despite the full show, I had Danvers to myself for the majority of her loop. I couldn't have been more pleased, following her around like a little puppy, just me and her - something I hadn't experienced in the final months of TBC. No character was ever alone at a sold-out TBC show.

Is she the most flashy loop? Well, no. But I found her a perfect introduction to this visit, a fairly easy follow, and a character I definitely wanted to tick off my list.

She's so my type. Like Oracle, like Luba, a utility character, tidying up and setting up. She felt familiar. She felt comfortable, even though I didn't yet know her.

Covering up the clocks, dozens of them all over the walls, their ticking sound deafening. Time is marching on.

A beautiful push-and-pull between her and the Porter, on the sofa of the hotel, Lady MacDuff caught in the middle.

She waves her hand over the milk, as if enchanting it. It could just as easily be a mundane drug or poison, but she gives it something of the arcane.

As she mixes it, I get a jolt of memory - I have been here before. I have watched her mix the milk, and I have followed her down the stairs with the stained-glass window, the colours so vibrant where everything else is so sepia-toned, to the dead man.

He wakes up, she puts him to bed, and she's sticking her hand down her skirt - I blink in surprise, I wait for a more innocent explanation to arise, but no, she is doing what I think she's doing, until the man wakes up and she returns to attention.

A beautiful, beautiful sequence with Lady MacD and the milk again, jumping from table to table, this show makes such beautiful use of the mundane elements of the set as spaces to dance over. A table top, a cabinet, a recess in the wall, it's all fair game, and it's thrilling because I truly don't know where they're going to go next. I don't know where the 'safe' areas of these rooms are, which adds a little bit of stress, but keeps me on my toes.

Speaking of 'safe areas'... I continued following Danvers on the mezzanine, when a BM stopped me without warning, and motioned me to step back, onto a raised platform. I was a little confused, until I saw the door being taken off its hinges.

The DOOR. DANCE. HOLY. CRAP. SLEEP NO MORE IS AMAZING HOLY SHIT

I could not believe my eyes.

My second and third loops were less focused, including:

Following Agnes for a bit, until getting a door shut in my face

Finally seeing the rave, from a great spot right by Hecate, so I could look over at her orchestrating it all menacingly - I kept thinking WHY IS NO ONE ELSE LOOKING AT HER, obviously the answer is "the goat and the baby and the blood and the tits" but she was fabulous and no one was paying attention

It's Agnes again, with Hecate this time! Golden light reflection from the lipstick case into her eye. Catching her tears - just so familiar.

A giant hand made of salt????

The Taxidermist is a wonderful weirdo, brushing a fox's fur and then absentmindedly brushing their own hair with the same brush

Fulton in the graveyard with the umbrella, a scene I somehow ran into in four out of my five shows

Post-mortem photography in the album in the funeral home. I wonder how the deceased & family would feel about this: Does it grant them a little extra bit of the immortality that they wanted?

Eventually I wound up in the speakeasy, watching a card game turn violent. Once again, we're ushered up onto a White Mask Holding Area to keep us out of the way. I have mixed feelings about this - when BMs herd us around like this, it breaks the immersion quite a lot. But it also allows for choreo that might otherwise not be possible.

I stayed with whoever got killed (who I now know to be Banquo, but I hadn't a clue at the time) and followed him out onto the high street.

He looks around, then looks at us - then looks at me in particular, notices the blood on his hands and face, and I watch his dawning realisation of what has happened to him. It's masterful.

Noah's Banquo is the last character of my first show, and he will be the first character of my last show. There are a few portrayals that left a lasting impression on me, and this is one of them. I just can't say enough good things.

Sunday Evening

After the afternoon's Danvers loop, I had my eye on Lady MacDuff this show, to see the rest of her story. We climbed the stairs down to the ballroom, arriving before the dance had even started, and I soon noticed that this evening's Lady MacD was the same performer as this afternoon's Danvers (Matilda)!

I put aside a twinge of embarrassment, hoping that she'll take it as a compliment, and I ended up liking her as Lady MacD even better than as Danvers. I think this is a wonderful casting doublet, seeing the same person do both sides of their dances.

I watch a solo on a small bed, there's only a few of us watching and the room is roomy enough, so I scoot in against the wall. The wall is mirrored, so I look behind to make sure I'm not blocking the view - and I realise that the mirror is false. It reflects a room much like the one we're in, but the toy blocks are toppled on the floor, and a blood stain is spreading across the sheets. It's a fun and chilling bit of stage sorcery that I didn't expect at all, and I love it.

She toddles up onto a tall cabinet, unsure footing as she climbs up to a tiny shrine dug out of the wall. I love the way dancers can portray shakiness, awkwardness, clumsiness, while remaining perfectly in control. I worry for her, this pregnant woman so close to losing her footing.

I watch her scenes with Danvers and I love to see the roles reversed. She is wonderful as both, though with her youth, I find her more believable as LMD, and she has a sweet vulnerability. She seems to me a first-time mother.

She packs away baby clothes, and she holds a white dress up against herself, and dances with it. I'm reminded of a scene that Luba used to do sometimes, a dance in the Danaides room with one of the dresses. It seemed, to me, to represent a longed-for femininity, wishing for glamour in an unglamourous life, and here I think maybe she's longing for the life she had before she fell pregnant, feeling an ambivalence to this huge life change - joyful, but a sacrifice too.

She rocks a swaddling blanket like the child she hopes to bring into the world. I'm sure this won't end happily for her, and I'm even more sure when she starts looking into the mirror, and she sees me - our eyes meet and she has this terror on her face, and it takes my breath away.

(I stayed with her for an entire loop, through reset to the second ballroom, and for whatever reason, there was no 1:1 -- but to have a character look at me through a mirror again, that bit of Punchdrunk magic, was worth so much more to me. I don't know how they do what they do, but it means everything.)

Macbeth comes, and she is killed, and later she resurrects - the world turns a ghostly blue, a shade of blue that I associate with the record stop of TBC, a mystical colour, and a very jarring colour in this show. It's perfect.

We reset, she spends some time with her husband, goes back to her little shrine, and soon we reach another ballroom.

The rest of my loop 2 is full of false starts - I try to follow a character, only to see them start running up several flights of stairs, and decide it isn't worth it. I explore Floor 5, reading case files, including Jack Favell from Rebecca.

I see collections of nails, and collections of feathers, and collections of cut-out pages. I go down the lobby and I see a collection of tear vials. All these signals that we have been here before, and we will be here again and again and again.

Eventually I find the Porter in the hotel, and I have been assured that he stays there, so he's exactly who I need for my aching feet. I'm flagging at this point. A double in TBC was hard enough, and I would always fit in a bar loop on those occasions. This is a show that I don't know - I get lost, I run after characters because I don't know where they're going, I can't take shortcuts and I can't take my time. I've been running around for 6 hours.

So I stay in the hotel lobby. I even try to sit on the chairs, though I don't know which chairs might unexpectedly get danced on, so I don't linger.

The Porter is wonderful. I am so charmed by his dance to the ballroom music, and I get hit with another deja vu - I have seen this before, I have watched him prance along the bar, and I was alone there, just me and him. I remember that from 2019, a beautiful moment.

This time, he spends some time balancing a teacup on his head, and then running around with his jacket held behind him like a cape, like a little boy playing superhero. He wins me over immediately.

I get to see Boy Witch's 'Is That All There Is?' and Porter moping in a corner about it.

He takes someone in for a 1:1, and I wait outside at the Lost Property desk, but I'm not waiting alone. There's... another Porter there.

Oh, I've heard about this! They have a celebrity guest in residence, Milo Manheim. It's an iconic 'Sleep No More' move, if you ask me - I had heard about the guest stars long before I knew much of anything about the show. One of those weird little facts that gets passed around like urban legend - Sometimes, they'll randomly have celebrities playing roles there! They don't advertise it, you'll just go and run into, like, Neil Patrick Harris or Evan Rachel Wood or someone.

I like the mini-porter, though. He gives me something to watch while Porter is away. He's on one side of the Lost Property counter, and the cluster of WMs is watching politely from the other side. He takes a piece of paper, folds it in half, and draws a simple outline of a man - sort of a Gingerbread Man type silhouette, but with a long neck.

He tears out the little paper guy, slowly, deliberately, in that very Punchdrunk way where someone is doing something that sounds very boring when you just write it down, but is actually very compelling with the intensity that he puts into it.

He moves to the back of the Lost Property area, leaning against a locker, glancing around, and as he does he twists the neck of the little paper man, turning him around and around and around and I think to myself that must be painful, even though this is just a little paper doll we're talking about. Then, real Porter comes out, and mini-Porter goes in, taking somebody with him.

I see the rest of the loop through with the real Porter, catching a few scenes that I've seen already, but I don't mind that.

He takes Danvers' arm, and they walk together down to the finale. My first day, finished. I have seen so much! I have so much yet to see! What a show.

First Day Closing Thoughts

It was so, so beautiful to be in a world like this again. To uncover a new story in a familiar format. To be taken by surprise. To welcome this show in like an old friend.

However: I cannot overstate how physically taxing I found this show. Like, it's not accessible to certain people. I don't consider myself disabled or anything - I'm just in my thirties, have back and joint pain, and am not athletic. But I still felt that this show was not made for me. TBC was spread over only two levels and people joked that this was a concession for an aging fanbase, but now I think it's not such a joke actually! Those stairs are killer.

There are some characters who only stay on a single floor, and there are some characters who do a few flights of stairs but not many, or not quickly. And if I had that extra familiarity with this show, or had been willing to do more research beforehand, I could have found that out. Instead, I fucked up my back and my feet over the course of my double, so this is my caution to you: Pace yourself!

But, I mean, my discomfort was temporary and my trip was a one-time opportunity. My sore feet will heal, and fitting 5 shows into 3 days was a necessary evil since I was travelling from far away.

This show is dark. I get that dim lights are part of the format - but I found the lights much darker than TBC. The dim glow of dusty old bulbs reigns throughout, while TBC has areas of neon and more theatrical lighting which can be brighter without upsetting the mood. I struggled to appreciate the set and even the performers' faces, because of the lack of light.

These are just nitpicks and minor gripes though - overall, it was breathtaking. Overall, there is nothing like coming back into a Punchdrunk world. Overall, my main takeaway is there is so much more here. I can't wait to take in more.

Next up: Day Two (featuring a 1:1, and a Weirdo who I instantly fell in love with) and Day Three (One More Double, and my absolute favourite loop)

#sleep no more #punchdrunk #sleep no more nyc #sleepnomorenyc #the mckittrick hotel #snm oc #immersive theatre

[bargarraninc]

the child of a traitorous thane; musings on sleep no more's porter

SON He has killed me, mother. Run away, I pray you! [Dies.]

— Macbeth, Act IV. 2

There is a certain beauty to the Porter's character in Sleep No More — for he exists only in the transitional space of the Lobby, a minion of Hecate meant to set up the important scenes through which the looping tragedy of Macbeth will continue to flow. Without him, Banquo is not given the letter holding his prophecy, Malcolm never learns of the falcon shot down, the prophecy cannot take place.

The Porter is loop-aware — there is a consistent deterioration in the character as the show goes on, everything becoming harder and harder for him to deal with. Throughout setting up the scene for the next magical cycle, he is well aware what his actions lead to. It is why he tries to stall Agnes from going upstairs, to where he knows she will be put through the harrowing ordeal of tear collection by Hecate. He tries to keep her safe, failing each time.

Another party that he desperately (moreso than with Agnes) tries to keep safe is Lady Macduff, the innocent murdered for sins not hers in any manner. This is the most intrusive we see the Porter — as he tries to bat off Danvers and her poisonous milk, milk he knows will render Lady Macduff incredibly vulnerable and thus easier to kill.

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the chief character who attempts a similar, desperate protection of the Lady and who too fails is the Lady's young son. Stabbed to death by the Murderers, her son cries to his mother — begging for her to run away, abandoning him in his last minutes as to save herself from a similar fate. Reversing the traditional parent-to-child protection, the kind we see with Banquo and Fleance when they are attacked, here, the child must be the protector.

Every loop, our Porter fights off Danvers and loses, watching Lady Macduff grow weaker in the aftermath of drinking the accursed milk. He then hears her death, tortured by its violent sounds as he hides in the lost luggage space, desperately trying to distract himself. Then, everything resets again, actions supplemented by his own hands and he continues to live this harrowing loop again and again and again. Why?

In my eyes, our Porter is not only Hecate's lost child in the forest but also the lost son of the Macduff's. The child doomed to protect his mother. After all, Fife is a wooded area.

The Porter is actively putting himself through the loops, losing himself to the inertia of Hecate's endless time magic, out of a deep, child-like hope that this time, he will be able to set things aright. Maybe, it will be this loop, just one more each time, that he will be able to protect his mother from the brutal fate she suffers. Just one more try. Hope keeps him centred as he hands away the note for Lady Macbeth to Danvers, moping in the phonebooth, knowing it will restart his suffering.

There is more substance in the performance to support the Macduff Child theory —

When Lady Macduff is murdered, something he is intimately aware of and scared by, the Porter hides himself into the Lost Luggage. He leans into childish methods of comfort, making paper boats and busying themselves playing with it, even if the boat is made of a tearful letter to his tormentor that he knows will be ignored. Some Porters even tear up at the noises, cowering closer to the counter.

The Porter only emerges from Lost Luggage when not only the murderer Macbeth but Macduff too is gone. In Macbeth, the only conversation we see between Lady Macduff and her son concerns her worriation that her husband is a traitor — abandoning her and her children in a place which he himself finds too dangerous to stay in. There is little affection lost for Macduff on the end of the Porter. He waits for him to be gone, only willing to put himself through the torment if it is to comfort his mother, to give her her coat. His traitorous father, gone again to protect the son of another.

Lady Macduff's messes are cleaned up with a gentleness the Porter shows little of to the other residents (bar Boy who he is in love with) who pass like storms through the Lobby. As he collects her strewn clothes, the Porter dons them with a childish glee, resembling more than ever a child rifling through their mother's cupboard, finding something that makes them feel beautiful. The clothes are collected carefully and packed away, her coat is kept safely hooked. Her presence in the lobby, even through just her abandoned possessions, is looked after gently.

You can never know the true story behind the residents of The McKittrick — for those are secrets they keep close to their hearts, lost in their chosen silence. But, this personal retelling of the Porter's story as I understood it is one I can share easily and so I do. My poor Porter, my poor poor Porter.

#immersive theatre #sleep no more #sleep no more nyc #punchdrunk #sleepnomorenyc #the mckittrick hotel #musings about the mckittrick #the porter

[theladyinredisnotyourfriend]

Well Im about leave the country for several months so I guess I’ve taken my last trip to the McKittrick.

Very sad about that.

#sleep no more #sleepnomorenyc #mckittrick #sleepnomore #the mckittrick hotel #mckittrick hotel #sleep no more nyc #punchdrunk

[if-i-had-a-voice-i-would-sing]

TBC 30 day challenge

Day 1: What led you to the city?

In 2018 I took part in a series of workshops with Punchdrunk as part of my theatre A-levels course, culminating in us visiting Sleep No More in NY. The workshops at Fallow Cross were amazing, but that first trip into an actual PD show changed my life forever!

As soon as I got back to England I changed my university applications - having previously applied to study English Lit and/or Classics, I now knew that I needed to pursue theatre. For the 3 hours that I was in that space, I felt like I was home. For the first time in my life, I felt like I actually belonged somewhere.

I won’t go into it here, but that show came at a very painful and difficult time in my life, and it showed me that it was not only possible to be happy, but that I deserved to be happy! It gave me the confidence to begin my transition, to pursue my lifelong dream of making theatre, and although I couldn’t afford to visit NY to see it again, I became obsessed with Punchdrunk and started following their work religiously.

Flash forward to 2022, and I got an email about The Burnt City opening! I booked myself a ticket for early June, and fell in love all over again…

#sorry that this is so long & personal #it’s a very emotional topic to me #the burnt city #punchdrunk #immersive theatre #sleep no more #mckittrick #sleepnomorenyc #tbc 30 day challenge

[mobyfitzwilliam]

"Back to Manderley? Why, I've never left." - A Story of the Ghostwriter

My Dear Reader,

Please forgive my long delay in correspondence. In writing my novel Ghostwriter, I have certainly lapsed in delivering unto you a timely update. However, please do not mistake this delay for a lack of fondness. Indeed, there is nothing I desire so much as to share my love of the McKittrick Hotel with you.

I have come to the conclusion that in the writing of my first days in staying at the McKittrick hotel I have been missing out on many things indeed I had thought that I would conclude the writing once I had checked out of the hotel and was safely on the train back to London and back to my normal world. Once I had boarded my train car, I would compile the madness of notes that I had created from my suite, and I would work them into something a bit more logical for a more extended release. For you see it was quite complicated staying up to date with all of the goings on within the hotel and indeed in the village of Gallow Green, while also staying on task and writing this novel.

Please, dear reader, do not fear. Ghostwriter is developing into something far more complicated and far grander than I ever could have imagined. I thank the guidance of my lady in red who during my initial stay at the McKittrick Hotel provided me with such enlightenment on my purpose here. So, what comes now? Well, it is a bit confusing how I went to leave the Mckitrick and boarded the train and yet as soon as I boarded the train and settled into my car, I was immediately getting out of it and re arriving at the McKittrick Hotel as if for the first time. More than once I have heard the phrase, "we can never go back to Manderley again," yet I continued going back to Manderley again and again and again as if it were the first time all over again.

And to this day I have never left.

Secrets lay further on at your own peril, dear reader.

When last I stood in the ballroom, it was just as the music was climbing and lights rising, and I found myself in the corner of the room, in the arms of The Boy.

He called out to me, and he spun me about, my cape swirling behind me. I felt his joy in that moment, but what's more, I felt complicit in what was to come.

Later that evening, I followed another witch through a secret passage that led out to the mortuary, and before the witches, I heeded the call of our Mistress. Hecate stood alone in her bar when I found it, when it revealed itself to me. You see, while the entrance is always in the same place, it is often concealed. She must call to you herself, as she called to me that first night, and nightly since.

She always stands in the same place, her arms outstretched toward the door, calling the ghosts to her. I arrive first, and I pay homage to her. Then, the witches follow. They writhe to the music she creates, Dionysian ecstasy taking over them.

They do not see me, shrouded in black, but she does. She smiles as we see the Boy turned on by his coven. They strip him as he calls out for help, struggling and attempting to refuse. He never remembers this part, though I have seen it many times. He vanishes behind the bar as the ill-fated man arrives.

It takes Macbeth the longest to find us, but he is instantly overcome by the power that lives within her bar. The two that appear as women to him quickly seduce him into the orgiastic rites. Hecate looks to me, winking as she summons the last one.

The Boy emerges in a new form, more creature than before. He is Black Phillip, his strong body covered in blood. She calls me to sit with her as Macbeth is brought in by him, just in time for the Bald witch to birth a monstrous baby, always stillborn. The final witch, she who is the most seductive of the three, she nurses the poor dead thing, for this is part of the ritual.

Finally, as Macbeth is brought into the fold by all three of the coven, and he rises above the heads of the ghosts, she creates the final prophecy. As he looks down to the three, the Boy is beast no more, and he holds up a tiny tree.

Burnam Wood will come.

To create this prophecy takes incredible strength, and it nearly drains her, but she is triumphant.

Macbeth leaves, and the witches scatter to the winds, blessed by Hecate.

Then arrives the girl Agnes, who searches for Hecate. She thinks that she is coming of her own volition to confront my mistress, but she has played into our hands. Soon she drinks Hecate's potion, and is quickly shedding a tear she tries so hard to resist. My Mistress is swift, and harvests her tear needed to begin the spell again.

Outside the bar, her familiar waits. He is the extension of her power, and, ironically enough, is how I first came to the service of my Mistress. He took me into a secret room, and told me that he knew what I was.

"You are like me," he said.

Alas, that is a tale for another day.

She feeds the tear to him, and he is off to fulfill his duty. Then, she turns to me, and it is my turn to aid her. She brings me into her inner sanctum, a warmly plush room of velvet drapes and cushioned seats.

She has a note for me to deliver.

"Can I trust you?" she asks. She always asks, for it is in the affirmation of her question that I pledge my service to her.

I leave through the underpass, beneath the very station that I first arrived at oh so long ago. How long, however, is a fact I cannot yet remember.

I enter the hotel alongside the ill-fated Lady Macduff. The poor woman, she is always so panicked. Would that I could reach out and comfort her, but she cannot see me. Or, she chooses not to.

The Porter and I have become quite well acquainted since that first day he checked me into the suite reserved for the Artist in Residence. Sometimes he remembers me, sometimes he does not, but I always remember where to find him.

He is in the luggage room, writing his letter. When I arrive, there is fear in his eyes. He does not fear me, but what I represent to him. We are both in her service, though he is far less willing than I am.

The words she wrote to him are always the same, but he is always terrified. I am his last chance at a reprieve, but that is not why I am here. I am here to take the boat he has made, and in the moment our eyes lock and he sails the boat into my hand, it is done.

And it all begins again.

It always begins again, just as she intends.

Yours,

Fitzwilliam, the Ghostwriter

#mckittrick hotel #sleepnomorenyc #sleep no more #sleep no more nyc #the woman in black #thewomaninblack #mckittrick #sleepnomore #edward gorey #the vampire's wife #lemony snicket #vfd

[dunwannawakeup]

Excuse me who is Norman Dunlop Jr. ?

#sleep no more #sleep no more nyc #sleepnomore #the mckittrick hotel #sleepnomorenyc

[readwithjoy]

My Heart is Full

Many people asked me last night after the show how I was feeling, and all I could say was, "My heart is full."

Walking back into the building was all I could have imagined. The space, the sounds, the people, the characters -- they were all there. I'm so incredibly grateful that the McKittrick Hotel has survived so far and that we have the chance to return to Manderley. It turns out...we can go back.

I don't want to say too much about specifics and spoil the surprise for those who will be returning soon, but there are some things that are different. Much of this is probably the result of a focus on safety in regards to Covid, but some changes have probably come from longer term planning. We will have to see which changes will be made permanent and which won't.

There currently are no 1:1s other than the 6th floor, and many of interactions that involve touch or food/drink are not happening. I do hope that this is a temporary change. Although I really loved some of the material that has been put in place of the 1:1s (it's really fantastic!) I will be sad if that part of the show doesn't return. There is something so special and so much a part of Punchdrunk in the hand that reaches out to you. Perhaps there will be a blend of the new material and audience interactions/1:1s in the future. One can hope! But in the meantime, the new moments and scenes and spaces are really lovely. I only saw a few of them, and I love that are mysteries to be found in the space!

Last night, in addition to wandering the space and just soaking everything in, I spent my evening following a new-to-me performer (Michael Bryan Wang as Boy Witch) and a long-time favorite (Ernesto Breton as the Speakeasy Barman.) Both of these loops were so satisfying. Michael is new to the role of Boy Witch (as far as I know he barely started the role before the shutdown,) but I love some of the choices he made last night. I think he is going to be a favorite after he settles into the role and becomes comfortable enough with the choreography to play with the character's motivations. Boy Witch is an incredibility difficult character for several reasons, and I enjoy watching new performers grow over the first few weeks they perform it. And then there's Ernesto. What to say? He's just delightful. And his Speakeasy is a ton of fun! Over the years, Ernesto has been a consistently good choice to spend an hour or so with in the Hotel. I'm hoping I can catch his Macduff soon, and perhaps we may even get a glimpse of his Fulton. (I haven't seen him play Fulton in ages, and I always loved how very scared his Fulton was.)

However, I think my favorite moment of the night might have been a quiet one. "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me." I wandered up to the 5th floor and stood in front of the gate. The forest seemed to be completely empty, and I couldn't hear anyone behind me in the hallway. It was just me, and the gate, and the woods, and the blue light filtering through the trees. And the soundscape. It was beautiful.

#sleep no more #sleepnomore #sleepnomorenyc #mckittrick #art in the time of covid #punchdrunk #recap #mckittrick recap

[maskedmohawk]

Back on my bullshit. Was lovely to see so many familiar faces last night. Both masked and unmasked.

#sleepnomore #sleep no more #sleepnomorenyc #mckittrick #mckittrick hotel

[scorchedthesnake]

Hi everyone, we’re back for one last round.

As someone who for the past year or so has not so silently expressed a wish for Sleep No More to conclude its incredible run… I confess now that it’s happening I am in shock and grief. And I know it’s going to be okay, but for now there is a lot to work through, a lot to remember and celebrate and cherish as we say goodbye.

This was a special place and time, and we have to ensure the world remembers. That was, ultimately, the original point of this blog, to document and record the life of the hotel for posterity and for those in absentia, which will soon be all of us.

I’m a mess of emotions, thinking on the good times we had, the friends we made, the love we grew and shared. So I’ll be posting through it as we come to the final end. There’s going to be lots to share and say – both here and privately.

I just want everyone to know how grateful I am – for all of it. For every kiss, every hug, every tear shed, this place made my decade and beyond.

#sleepnomorenyc #sleep no more #sleepnomore #mckittrick hotel

[exitmurderer]

The first last weekend

We are in the final weeks or months, it seems. The rest is bullets…

It was a time to visit known favorite loops: Sienna Blaw's DGAF Bald Witch.

It was a time to see new favorite loops: Taylor Massa's DGAF Fate Witch.

Another known favorite, in their last turn as Lady Macbeth, Marija Obradovic. Leaving it all on the field, on the dance floor, as did…

Jenna Saccurato as Nurse and then Bald Witch, absolutely feral, all out, turned up to eleven, all the adjectives and adjectival phrases. I made a point of being in the ballroom 3rd loop and indeed Jenna got lifted and deserved every clap and cheer and whoop in the place, and there were many.

Also leaving and duly noted, Jeff Docimo as Macbeth and Porter, Andrew Pastides as Porter.

I totally missed Nate Carter as Taxidermist (and earlier, EAM). It wasn't for lack of looking, but I tried the shop and the Macduffs' and the cemetery, right place / wrong time I guess. This is partly a symptom of me taking the stairs in now, to try and get to the ballroom more quickly, so I don't even know who is working the elevator.

Wasn't trying for the PIB 1:1, just wanted water, but hey, if someone hands me a note that says "Follow Me" then that's what I'll do. At least, in the McKittrick.

Kind of a bummer to see a group of fans stage-dooring for autographs and photos, when all the exits are right there on 27th and most folks probably just want to get dinner on their break between shows. Eh.

Fun to watch Will Boyajian's show a couple times. Like watching a magician and trying to figure out how the trick works. Oh, here's where he's dissembling and stalling for time, pretending not to know something, etc.

How long has Porchlight been open late just around the corner, with food, at least on Fridays and Saturdays?

Related Extracurricular #1: Derrick Belcham videos at Williamsburg Biannual. Many familiar faces: Lily Ockwell, Emily Terndrup, Bobbi Jene Smith, and so on. I stayed for close to two hours, could've stayed all day.

Related Extracurricular #2: Kelly Todd's Endangered Species at 280 Gibney. Intense, strange, darkly funny, and by the end, moving. Lots of good folks onstage and in the audience.

The city that never sleeps sure does sleep a lot these days. I guess COVID-19 takes a lot of the blame. Anyway, walking out on a Sunday night into the cold drizzle looking for food, getting turned away at the aforementioned Porchlight, and not finding anything open for several crosstown blocks until a perfectly fine, perfectly generic IrishPubCo (which was almost empty and almost closed). Of course what mattered was the company (which was stellar), not the venue.

I shall return, maybe not for the last last but at least for some in-between.

#mckittrick #sleep no more #sleepnomore #sleepnomorenyc #sleep-no-more

[snmcastlist]

Update: January 16, 2022

Hello Everyone!!  I just wanted to let you know that @atoddswithmorning and I plan to continue the cast list project when the show reopens. Please give us a bit of time to figure out who has returned and which roles they are playing. (There will be some fun surprises for long-time fans!) We will update as we learn roles and performers, so for the first week or two it will be a bit chaotic, I'm sure.  As always, please remember that this is a fan project and not official. We only know as much information as we see with our own eyes or other fans tell us. If you notice an error on the cast list, please let us know!  All my best, and I hope to see you in the Hotel! Dee Anne (readwithjoy)

#sleepnomore #sleep no more #sleepnomorenyc #mckittrick #punchdrunk

[rottenwoodandwiltedsunflowers]

2/2-2/5 Recaps (Kae)

A recap post?! From moi?! 

I stopped writing recaps somewhere before I hit triple digits, pre-global pandemic. At our very last pre-pandemic show, in October 2019, I was at that place where I was not quite as into the show. Or rather, wasn’t appreciating it in the same way. It was like a nice trip home, but I was increasingly interested in exploring other shiny, new immersive shows and didn’t find myself as connected with the actors or characters as I once had been. Coupled with parenthood and a job change that meant fewer trips to NYC generally, my relationship with SNM became very casual.

As the pandemic stretched time into a red thread of meaningless nothingness, I was so frustrated with myself that I didn’t take stock of my last show in Oct 2019. I can’t remember who I saw or what I did. As months became years, corners of the building faded from my mind’s eye. I wasn’t sure if the doors would ever reopen or if this world would be disassembled and disposed of before I could experience it again. I wished I had taken the time to pay attention to that last show. Or at least to jot down some notes. So here I am, jotting down some notes. I’ll keep it quick, but these little lockets of memories are for me as much as for anyone who wants to read along. (If you’re wondering about show logistics, Waffle covered that really well in his 2/2 recap.)

Putting my mini-recaps below in case you don’t want any so-called “spoilers.” Everything happens in full view so it’s not really a spoiler, IMO, but I know there are a lot of people planning to go back over the next few weeks who may want to explore on their own.

2/2

It was a goddamn family reunion in line. Including many corners of the SNM fandom from original tumblr bloggers to Discord and Reddit folks, our Tumblr crew, and several fellow out of towners who made a trip just for this night. Ironically, I became closer to many of these SNM super fans during the pandemic either because of Lost Immersive or Eschaton or both. All in all, I couldn’t and still can’t believe this place is back.

To be greeted by Dewey Danger Flynn (JWW) with a microphone in hand. My heart. Just. Fuck. Then, when Waffle and most of my pals disappeared with Stella Sinclair (Karen Marie) for the first entry, I was a little disappointed because of course I had dreams of getting to that first ballroom. June (Robi’s WIB) popped through the curtains and took a small group of about six of us to, lo and behold, the ELEVATOR. THE ELEVATOR. Any FOMO I had disappeared. To be back with James (Jamal) on that first elevator again…whew.

First loop with Layne’s bald witch, who immediately pullled me in with her ballroom solo (and surprisingly did all the typical bald witch interactions). Second loop was all about SJL’s Hecate, which was full of surprise content and trips around various spots on 4. There’s a lot of new Hecate out-of-boudoir out-in-the-open scenes to make up for the time she usually spent in 1-1’s, as well as a way to get the porter note circulating without the 1-1. The modified interaction version of the post-dinner cabaret works brilliantly, IMO, and SJL is a treasure and has there always been a mandrake root there?! Has it been there this whole time or is it new?! The not-knowing is part of the fun.

Stood back for the final banquet to take it in with fresh eyes. How many times did I intentionally skip the banquet? 100+? And yet it was one of the things that deeply moved me at my first show. Was surprised that an audience that was 90% super fans had very few people “waiting in the wings” off of the sides of the banquet table. (Yes, walkouts are happening.) The overall vibe all night was that we were all just happy to be home and appreciate the people and the place.

2/3

Stair entry with Stella and she’s a HOOT. Rumors flying from last night that the elevator entry isn’t happening post-covid. It is, obviously, but the staggered entry is sneaky. Love that we already have disputed facts and FOMO feelings less than 24 hour into the doors opening. Welcome back, super fans, with all my love. :)

Joy Marie Thompson is already iconic. I… Her bald… I don’t really have a good comparison point. She fully owns the role and it’s so, so good. I love that she flirtatiously mocks Banquo when he does his little show off move in the ballroom. She smirks and does a hand motion like, “Ehhh…it’s so-so,” that made me laugh out loud.

I planned to intentionally loop other characters so I forced myself to peel off from Joy immediately after the first rave. Something about being back made me want to loop again, especially loop the residents I hadn’t watched in a long time pre-pandemic.

Cut to a full loop with Michael Bryan Wang’s Fulton. The graveyard set is updated and refreshed and it’s gorgeous as well as more covid safe for the performers. I enjoyed this loop and saw some small stuff that I either forgot about or is new…unclear. Has that thing behind the door behind the curtain always been there? My Fulton loving friends would know, but I truly have no idea. MBW and Elias Rosa’s taxi danced beautifully together.

Wandered 5 because Waffle was freaking out about the new content on 5 the night before. Didn’t see it, but caught some of the new Orderly/Nurse (Brandon Coleman) and Matron (Aliza Russell) stuff that happens in the room with beds. Really fun if you have had the 1-1 and get the references and also works great as is with the other new content on 5, especially (which I saw on a later night). No regrets. Also, the whole floor is replenished and freshened up. It even feels like the maze is more thick with pokey branches to get stuck by and on.

2/4

Waffle was about to burst from not telling me about 5, so he cajoled me into agreeing to start the show on 5 instead of going down to the first ballroom. We did. And I did a really lovely whole loop+ with Joy’s nurse as a result, who now has “filling the bathtub in the Macbeth’s room” as part of her job description. #1: I didn’t realize that was a working bathtub with plumbing. #2: I was very concerned about timing. Like, did we really have time to fill the whole tub?! We did. #3: Macbeth had a nice fresh warm bath, unlike Lady M’s room temperature prefilled bath, which is blatant sexism if you ask me.

The thing on 5 is FUCKING PHENOMENAL. Best “new thing” I’ve seen in a long time. Maybe since Caroline/Rev content was added? I hope they keep it in even if 1-1’s come back. Choreography: A+ Dramatic tension: A+ Slightly terrifying: A+ Build on the narrative on 5: A+ It was worth spending half of my show and more than a full loop on 5, for sure. I highly recommend. It’s one of those things that is either complete luck to stumble upon or a wonderful reward for following for a whole loop, which is exactly what I want in 1-1 replacement content and just like...new SNM content in general.

Hadn’t spent any time with my old pal, the Porter, so I spent the rest of the night with Andrew Pastide’s Porter. He’s a lovely, tender Porter that hits the emotional high and low notes in a way that works and he leaves salty tears on the boat note, which is the type of Porter vibe I like most. “Moonlight” still gets me every time. Andrew literally hangs from the rafters during the reset dance. Fantastic. The 1-1 alternative content is somewhat unexpected and works well at relating to the 1-1 if you’ve had it while being interesting if you haven’t.

By this point, I’d figured out that many characters who had 1-1’s now have new content, so I doubled down on my commitment to full looping. Both to possibly catch new scenes and revisit ones I hadn’t watched in a long time. There are also many little covid-related changes that are fun and reassuring to see (like Danvers keeping her drink supplies under lock and key and Speakeasy knocking on Hecate’s door to get the food for her dinner scene).

Met the great and powerful Oz (Miguel Anaya) in the hotel lobby bar. (They’re calling it “Porter’s Corner” which I think is hilarious.) I’ll always miss Max, and I’m so happy for Miguel in this role! The band has been renamed the Oswald McKittrick Trio!

2/5 Early

Holy empty show. It seemed like there were less than 100 people. It was like Sunday matinees of old on a very light day. Mostly people who looked confused about where to go and everyone gave the performers lots of space. Covid anxiety has its silver linings, I suppose.

Robi’s Lady MacDuff first loop and Kelly’s Danvers second loop, followed by the final partial loop with Jeffrey Docimo’s Porter (OMG).

Had no idea who Porter was as I apparently don’t recognize Jeff without bushy facial hair. When I found out who it was, his literal backstroke and breaststroke across the hotel lobby desk during his INSPIRED reset dance, during which he also held himself up horizontally parkour-style off of the pipe by the pillar near the phone booths, made sense.

Kelly’s Danvers has a vindictive moment while she’s making the milk at the top of the loop. She added all the spells and potions to the milk, including a drop from her vial of pocket poison. Then, the Duncan bell tolls and she looks up, pained and steeling herself. Her mood visibly shifts and she takes out the vial and adds two more drops of poison, emphatically. If she loses Duncan, she sure as hell is going to make sure the MacDuffs suffer, too.

Robi and Ernesto Breton make the most earnest MacDuff couple and I forgot how wonderful the pre-ballroom duets in their apartment are, in general. What a joy to see these dances performed by these people. These two had great chemistry and really nailed the, “We’ve been married a long time and we know each other too well” couple energy. Seeing performers who have been in the show for a long time or were in the show a long time ago, together in this amalgamated 2022 cast of older and newer residents, is DELIGHTFUL.

It was at this show that I declared that golden age of SNM and second golden age of SNM be damned. The show is good right now, objectively fantastic. This is, officially, the third and current so-called Golden Age and I’m confident that’s not just deprivation bias.

2/5 Late

Final show in our run and the last for some time—we won’t be back for the Feb 14th Grand Reopening. I’m glad we did a whole run of shows. There’s more I wanted to see and do and even some new content I didn’t catch yet, but I feel content. My cup is full. And I’m so excited to hear what else changes over the next few weeks and months. I’m so happy we can finally go back.

The full first elevator spiel was back for this show! With more people inside the elevator and letting the first person off, distributing guests across floors, the whole usual elevator script. De-fucking-lightful! Evan Fisk as James also cracked a joke and asked me a question about my t-shirt and I responded with verbal words without thinking, which felt like a possible trap as soon as I spoke, but he just laughed. I don’t know if they kept using the elevator or broke the crowd into two entry groups again, but wow it was good to experience the first elevator just like I remember it!

Ernesto’s Speaks is just as good as I remember, with a couple small surprises. The new card game has major WOW factor. I have no idea how it was done and Ernesto showboated the hell out of it. I heard from someone else who played the card game and had a totally different ending, which makes me wonder even more how it all works. Are there multiple possible outcomes?! Must investigate in the future.

Evan Fisk’s Taxi was having the best time being a weirdo with little taxidermy friends and dreams of hammer murder. He played a little game with an audience member and just slightly threatened them with the hammer. (Don’t worry. They were rewarded in the end.) The 5th floor stag dance is one I haven’t seen in...I don’t know, a long time, and it was wonderful to see Evan performing the hell out of it. Especially having watched Camara’s Matron watch Taxi perform this piece just a day before. I was reminded how fun it is to unlock deeper understanding as you unwrap and piece together the show over your first visits.

This is one of only two shows during which I went out to the bar. That said, there are 3-5 bar characters milling about every night, for this week at least, so having a “dance or a drink” is very possible if you’re game. One night, I had an extended convo with Alec Funiciello’s Jimmy about his backstory, during which Robi’s June sidled up and asked me to pass a note written on a bar napkin to Jimmy for her. (Apparently, she stole his fortune and is willing to give no more than half of it back. I feel like I missed some Folies backstory or something here, so if someone knows the extended context for this interaction, do let me know!)

All in all, I am so glad to have spent this time during the first week of previews getting reaquainted with the old building and old friends. It’s clear the cast and crew are glad to be back, too, and there is more care between fans and staff/cast than I’ve felt in a long time. I think it feels a bit more reciprocal, not just transactional, or at least it feels that way to me. Here’s to many happy returns, yours and mine. - KaeLyn

#Sleep No More #sleep no more nyc #Sleepnomore #sleepnomorenyc #mckittrick #mckittrick hotel

[bargarraninc]

a lengthy recap; visit 14, october 18th.

A Few Short Notes: - This is ridiculously long, chalking up to 3000 words. I am by habit a rambler and with so much going on during this show, I let myself just really put pen to infinite paper. All of it is under the 'Keep Reading' - The 1-1s discussed are Malcolm, Boy Witch and then Porter (in that order) in case you would like to avoid spoilers. - I am a very emotional person and this show really gets my feelings going so.... beware. This is not a guide to these 1-1s or a more detached overlook on this visit, it is me telling a story.

TLDR; Will Malcolm, Noah Boy Witch and Evik Porter all make me feel slightly insane in a three hour space. I also burst into tears at one point like a silly goose.

Visit 14 — A Recap of the 18th November, 2023 Matinee show. On the 18th, I was clearly beyond excited to be at the show and turned up incredibly early to the McKittrick (a whole hour and forty before) after severely overestimating the time my commute would take.

Probably in line with this ridiculous arrival time, I bumped very randomly (and unfortunately quite headfirst) into Evik while getting an egg and cheese at the deli nearby (my usual in-line lunch), so quite randomly, I had a head start on possible cast in the building. At the time, this was my last show booked, and I was beyond thrilled that Evik would be in the show as they are one of my favourite residents at the show. When we reached a more socially acceptable time to be in line, I got there and met some lovely people from the server outside, which is always a highlight!

Despite Oz being entirely sold out, I was lucky enough to snag an Ace as first in line, so the visit started smoothly. Tim J in the Manderley and Bret as Taxi solidified in my head that this would be an Evik Malcolm show — which, as the self-proclaimed #1 Malcolm fan, is always a treat. I got let out on the 3rd, saw the very last moments of Brandon in the cemetery (a scene I have never actually adequately watched), and then followed down to the ballroom.

The first ballroom is one of my favourite scenes in the show. It is so inherently joyous — nothing has gone wrong, yet we have just fallen into this beautiful room with happy dancing couples. Took my regular post by Malcolm's trench and was immediately left confused by the lack of Evik's presence as Malcolm or Duncan. Assuming then that they were probably going to be Sixth (like the night before), I quickly and relatively easily became distracted by the Malcolm actually present — Will!

Will Malcolm and Noah Boy form one of my favourite ballroom couples because they are so ridiculously tall — the graceful movement of their long long limbs is always so enchanting. They are also just two of my other favourite residents (though... this list is constantly expanding) so a loop with them is always fun.

On my usual Malcolm 1st loop bullshit, I followed Will straight out of the ballroom and up the familiar insane rumble up the stairs. They really killed this trip upstairs, throwing themselves against the walls and violently retching all the way. We got into the office, and the usual Agnes scene took place. Mio was on as Agnes, and the height difference between them throughout made me chuckle despite the sheer tension in the room. Will is an incredibly intense Malcolm — they portray his deep anxiety in a much sharper manner than other actors I have seen in the role. Unlike than the rather breathlessly anxious Malcolm of Tim Creavin, Will’s Malcolm is like a taut string, holding everything including their sanity together only through maximum effort. It consistently felt like even the smallest of wayward action would lead to a complete, angry collapse.

The audience watching Malcolm seemed very aware of when the 1-1 pull happens, but I was planning a loop with Will at this point, so I didn't necessarily perch myself in the ideal spot. This did NOT deter Will from going straight for me, and I was not going to say no.

MALCOLM 1-1 START

The walk to the room was relatively slow (as compared to the sheer panic of a Tim C pull), but as soon as we were in there, the tension dialled up from 100 to 10000. There was eerily intense eye contact throughout the walk-in and picking of the egg. When it was in my hand, Will rolled it down to the grivet of my arm and then back up (vaguely ticklish) and violently cracked it into my hand. They blew the ash off, there was a silent second with my hand under the light, and then I was rather firmly pinned to the wall with Will's arm right above my chest. The pain was intense enough to hurt a little when I exhaled, but Will's Malcolm is deliriously hard to take your eyes off. The line delivery felt like that taut string from before had snapped entirely; their eyes were wild and wide.

I have always admired how expressive Will's eyes are, but this was another level. The questioning and the retching were both, for lack of another word, violent — it was actually rather scary. The feather came out, and I instinctively murmured "" It will be okay", as Malcolm talked of Duncan and then collapsed into a proper hug as the lights dimmed. There was a moment of Will shaking during this hug, as if Malcolm was overwhelmed by anger and led into tears, and then, like a flash, with the bells, Will was gone.

MALCOLM 1-1 END

It took a minute for me to recuperate and collect myself as I left the interrogation room, and Malcolm was far away. The plan was to catch up to Will and complete their loop, but Noah Boy Witch made for an incredible rave, and I couldn't keep myself from getting distracted as always. Stood by the pillar and, just as always, found myself entranced by the rave. There is something about Brandon Macbeth amid this coven — Noah, Junyla, Sienna — that makes the whole thing feel like a hallucinatory experience. It is well and genuinely out-of-body. As the rave ended, I followed Noah into the shower scene and was soon put to work with the trousers and shirt. There was a brief moment where Noah's Boy Witch looked straight down at me, whispered a very quiet Thank You and then patted the top of my head before shooting downstairs, stumbling and 'breathless' down the stairs. My heart was set on a Noah loop, as I could never escape them while they were in the hotel. I followed them down to the ballroom for the banquet. On the way there, Boy, unsurprisingly, amassed quite a crowd on the stairs, and I decided to take a 'shortcut' to the banquet through the lobby instead.

Rather momentously, this led me into the lobby just as the deranged Macbeths stumbled downstairs, their masses following right behind them. Overtaken by a curiosity about who Porter was tonight and expecting Jeff to emerge from the booth, I stuck around. As Evik emerged instead, my mouth fell straight open. Quite literally think I gasped in their face as they quietly came out.

Just days prior (the 16th, I think!), I had had a whole conversation on the server about Evik Porter being one of the top roles on my wishlist. Ariel had advised quite severely that when one comes across Evik's Porter, you "do not get distracted, do not pass go, do not collect $200". I followed that immediately — mentally apologising to Noah Boy because clearly my allegiances had changed.

Entrenching myself in that lobby for the next hour and a half (in an attempt to catch every scene in the loop) was a beyond stellar if incredibly emotionally disastrous, choice. Evik's Porter is an undeniable sweetheart — silly, endearing and crushingly innocent, a porter you watch lose their light and hope through the loops.

A testament to 'Macduff's Lost Child is the Porter' theory; this Porter, named Sheldon, I am told, represented (to me) a struggling adult looking to escape from the trauma of their current situation in images and activities of a softer past. There is an undeniable, undying hope of receiving acceptance (of somehow this loop of horror breaking this time) in every interaction with the Boy Witch and even with the White Mask pulled into the 1-1. The character's innocence is reflected in moments of joy and deep despair. Sheldon makes shadow puppets during the happy reset and floats their little boats (of which there are many!) along shadow waves. They play around with the chairs during the clean-up, with one becoming a toy horse and constantly fixing their hair with a little comb in their jacket. It is impossible to be on the side of Boy, no matter how deep your affection for him runs, when Sheldon is around, people.

The Noah Boy-Evik Porter combination is absolutely fatal. Noah's Boy is beyond graceful but deeply cruel within the lobby's walls. Every time he made an entrance on the floor, the mood with Evik's Porter became immediately more tense and, god, sad. Sheldon is irreparably in love, and it is very obvious to the Boy and the audience. When Boy stalked over first, and the Vicks were applied, there was a tender moment — this locking of eyes between the two characters was quickly broken by Boy dragging someone away for ITATI. It was the pacing of it, I think, which made it so devastating — there was a silent lull in the tension, a second of peace, before Noah harshly pulled away, this quick recession from sweetness back into the witchy demeanour.

Noah's ITATI is my absolute favourite. When I think of the show, the first image is this cinematic shot of standing by Porter, watching as Noah just twinkles magically. But. In this show, there was no escaping watching Sheldon instead. Vik's Porter, during ITATI, transforms the room into a breathless vacuum, their emotions feeling like we are all looking into an inescapable black hole of despair. The alcohol bottle and the little paper boats (one of which they made of a playing card), these symbols of innocence and glee just moments prior, become props of distraction. Their hands shake and fidget, tears quietly falling down their face as they mouth along to the song in the lover verse and do their utmost to hold it together by trying to distract themselves with shadow-floating little boats in the reflection of the water from the bottle on the desk. To say with no shame, I could feel myself tearing up, my throat closing up as I saw reflections of my own moments in this obviously queer and yearning individual.

Noah's ITATI (like usual) ends with them in tears, and due to their copious commitment to eyeliner in this role, these tears permanently stain their cheeks with dark black — a choice that always moves me. That day, though, I could not stop looking at Vik Porter, who was desperately drying their own tears in the moments before, trying to somehow seem strong. Noah had picked their ITATI pull from the other side, and I nestled into the corner where Porter sat, was confident I was out of their eyeliner entirely. This was NOT the case. Turning straight to me, they picked me to wipe their tears, and I followed their lead out of instinct, even as I kept looking at Vik Porter. My lord, the LOOK in Vik Porter's eyes during this scene is beyond haunting — the sheer betrayal and distress floating within. I could not stop looking at them as Noah took my hand in theirs and thus, rather brattily, got tutted at, a clicking sound from Boy, demanding my attention shift immediately.

BOY WITCH 1-1 START

The tut worked; I looked at Boy, and quickly, they tightened their grip on my hand, and we were off to the phonebooths. Usually, this 1-1 is one of my favourites with Noah — there is this inherent physical comedy to me being stuck in there with them because they are so tall. But I was still stuck in this grey headspace and looked at them quietly as we began the interaction. Noah KILLS this 1-1 as Boy — for they are tall, and I am not; the entire thing feels as if you are enveloped into another world with the Boy Witch, and the line delivery is goosebump-raising. When they pull back after we make eye contact post-delivery, it is always with a startle, their hand on their chest before they are gone, again like a bullet.

BOY WITCH 1-1 END

Stumbling back to Evik's Porter (now amid the Agnes scene), I quietly watched their fun interaction with Mio's Agnes. They raised the money high enough that Mio had to jump up and drag their arm down to get it off them — which did make me smile. The scenes progressed, and I got back in rhythm following the Porter as they slipped back into a pattern of finishing their mundane tasks. BBoy's return again takes that quiet peace and flips it on his head. This second of them both looked into their respective mirrors, spotting the other in the reflections that felt weighty. Then, it was time for the ultimatum of the phonebooths. This dance was beyond gorgeous — Noah's Boy is lithe, clever and knows exactly what he wants, while Vik's Porter is desperate, leaning in close to kiss even as there is a consistent pull away. The throw-down is mean as fuck, and Vik cowers on the floor — Noah Boy looks up at the audience; there is a moment of hustle, and then almost no one who was in the lobby before his arrival leaves with him, a testament to again the emotional hold of Vik Porter.

Vik didn't ask for help, mainly because there were many people Waiting for it, and ran off towards their office. I shot off right behind them, and we made eye contact as we reached our lost luggage. The hand went out, and quickly, we were in the room for the 1-1 I have embarrassingly cried the most during.

PORTER 1-1 START

The Vik Porter 1-1 (which I will not spoil entirely, for it is a genuinely unique experience I hope everyone gets to have) is devastating. I had already shed tears outside in the lobby, but as soon as I sat and the scene began earnestly, the waterworks returned. VVik's Porter is so scared, so wary of any brief notion of acceptance and as a primarily closeted, non-binary, queer person, the reflection of my own story in this just absolutely hit me like a truck. Their hands shook as they put on the wig, and with the lipstick, they looked to be on the verge of tears throughout. And as we made eye contact in the mirror, I quite obviously cried, their face crumpled into a sob. The putting on of the ring, during which I was doing my very best to stifle a loud sob, was so gentle and quickly followed by a kiss on top. They held my hands tightly, and as we hugged, I was reminded of hugging my younger sibling (which is insane because that is NOT the age gap here) by the tightness and the softening of their sniffling along with mine.

There are a special few lines with Vik exchanged at this point of the 1-1, and mine leaned entirely into this kind sibling-like exchange of understanding, this unbelievably absolute desperation on my end to make the Porter understand it was okay to be who they are. There is always distance in immersive theatre for me, but at that moment, I was genuinely left clutching my heart and their hand, entirely emotionally involved. There was another short hug before the mask went on, and I was out again, still crying. In the minute it took me to try and quieten my crying (to not interrupt the scene outside in the lobby), Vik was out as well. In another incredibly kind act, they took my hand and walked me slowly through the hallway, both sniffling.

PORTER 1-1 END

As a professional, they were very good at controlling their sniffles. Still, I was moments away from another sob, so I squeezed their hand in thanks and shot out of the lobby upstairs where I could calm down in peace in the apothecary or something. I stayed majorly on 4th for the rest of the show (which was just the third loop now), watching Ja'Moon Fulton do their thing and skirt around Bret's as-always incredibly frightening Taxi. The loop was much less emotional (which is what I was hoping for), and after watching Gabe Speaks play a card game with a White Mask, I made it to High Street to be pulled in for the Interrogation Room scene with two sweet old ladies.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Will's interrogation room scene and paired with DLP Macduff, it was a powerful showing. I watched it in sheer amazement, as always enchanted by the fluidity of movement, and followed the two straight into the plotting scene. There was no one in the office and no one following them, which was first for me, but it granted me a special moment with Malcolm and Macduff that I don't think I will forget. With the three of us alone, I stood in the middle, staring at the castle, waiting for the trees to be put in. Sensing eyes on me, I looked up to Will, offering me a tree to put in myself, and I nodded, taking up the role of plotter with a hidden glee. Plotting done, Will and DLP shook hands with each other (as usual) and then turned to me, shaking hands with me as well. Macduff saluted Malcolm, so I followed his lead, which led to a pat on the back of both of us. Will Malcolm was out first, then it was me, then DLP Macduff and again, the two of them garnered nearly no attention as we moved downstairs for the final banquet.

A large, undetaching group escaping 3rd soon swarmed around Malcolm and Macduff, so I took the cut into 2nd again, where I finally caught the scene of Danvers/ Porter cleaning up for the first time. Vik Porter made themselves a piece of jam toast as Marija Danvers drank tea, and then we were all instructed to follow down to the banquet. I stood mainly at the back between them during the hanging, beyond amused by Vik Porter quietly nomming down on jam toast as a man hangs. There were no walkouts this visit, which, with all the blessings I had had, showed I was entirely okay with it, and soon enough, I was back in the Manderley. I got to say hello to Will afterwards, and Noah said hello. This beautiful, wondrous show ended with a lovely set from Karen.

Unbelievable magic is in the very veins of this show, man. Every visit leaves me gasping in wonder. Can't wait for the next visit already.

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