Bortolussi returned to Sleep No More, this time as both resident director and actor. "When we opened back up in February, it really felt like the very beginning again when we first opened, because everything was truly as it was originally intended."Ĭhanges to the creative team were made as well. "Having such a rare opportunity to go back and think about exactly how you do things differently, and then actually be able to achieve that and do it was sort of the cherry on top for the whole experience for some of us," Boyd said. The ghostly white plastic headpiece now accommodates an N-95 mask all participants are required to wear. Small changes were made to choreography, lighting, and even its signature mask. Sharing lists and spreadsheets, Boyd and her colleagues began the process of updating the production. When the McKittrick shut its doors in 2020 during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sleep No More's creators seized the opportunity to revisit the show. After being "blown away" by the experience, she auditioned for the New York opening and was cast as Lady Macbeth. It was wonderfully surprising when it when it had that same sort of reception."Īs the co-artistic director of NU Dance, Sophie Bortolussi already had experience with site-specific, immersive productions when her partner called her in tears, saying, "They're doing our dream." She had seen Sleep No More at the ART, and Bortolussi quickly followed suit.
"I had sort of seen it in microcosm how I could take off in a community," Boyd, who had worked on the ART production, said. Carrie Boyd, director of performance and production, described it as a "roll of the dice" and was surprised by the show's fast and passionate reception. Sleep No More first opened its doors in London, followed by a run at Massachusetts's American Repertory Theater, but moving to New York was a risk, due to the size of both the cast and the set. One turn of a corner could lead into a bedchamber where a sensual dance of passion and violence is taking place, while another turn might lead to a hedonistic rave, complete with pulsing music, flashing lights, and flowing blood. Moving through suggestively dark rooms and hallways, people can explore independently or follow a cast member for minutes or hours at a time. Ten years later, following multiple extensions and a pandemic and an industry shutdown, it still is.Ī fever dream of Shakespeare's Macbeth à la Alfred Hitchcock, Sleep No More could be described as a shadowy, cinematic "choose your own adventure." Participants are invited to enter the McKittrick Hotel, a vast warehouse space transformed into the production's eerie environment by Punchdrunk, the British theater company known for its site-specific, immersive productions. The sweeping avant-garde production, an immersion of Shakespeare, film noir, and dance, introduced a uniquely new experience to adventurous theatergoers. When Sleep No More premiered in New York in 2011, it was planned for a six-week run.
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