After a road trip in March to see the newest reincarnation of Punchdrunk's Macbeth/Hitchcock nightmare mashup, I sort of figured I was done with it. At that point, I'd seen it four times - three times in Brookline, MA, and once in NYC. I'm not foolish enough to think I'd seen everything - the way that show is put together, you could go every night for a month, and still find something new. But I'd seen a lot, had an amazing experience every time, and even gotten some spectacular solo interactions with the cast - an amazing bonus reserved for just a handful of lucky people every show. I could continue to go back and see more, explore more, but I didn't need to anymore. Plus, especially with the move to New York, it's an expensive habit to form - $80 a ticket minimum, and all the expenses that go with a weekend trip to Manhattan. I love the show, but it seemed like the end.
Then it kept getting extended. Never too far - a couple weeks further every time. I kept an eye on it, because I do love it so much, and I'm thrilled to see it doing well enough to warrant an extended run. When available tickets hit mid-to-late October, my wife and I started discussing how insane Sleep No More would be around Halloween. The show is such a creepy, surreal trip anyway, we could only imagine how over the top they would go if given the excuse.
Then the show got extended past Halloween and into November. Only odd thing was that tickets were blocked off from Wednesday 10/26 to Halloween night this coming Monday. Clearly they had something special planned, and wouldn't it be cool if we could go? But the message on the website was that those tickets were being held for VIP guests on an invitation-only basis, so we figured we were out of luck.
When the email came with our invite and promo code that would allow us to purchase tickets for that week, we barely thought about it. Our wedding anniversary had just passed, so we had a bit of extra money, and before we really discussed it too much, the tickets were bought for Thursday the 27th. We had both already gotten that week off from work - completely unrelated to Sleep No More's schedule; that was just the last week it seemed that we'd be able to get together. Everything sort of fell into place.
Two days later, I still love that show. I will admit to being... disappointed is the wrong word. The show is still incredible. I had an incredible time. I still saw things I've never seen before. The New York show seems to have grown and expanded in the last six months, and really developed past what it was in its early weeks and months. My only regret is that there were so many people.
I feel bad even saying it, because a huge part of me wants as many people to experience this as they possibly can, and also wants Punchdrunk to become a household name - if you look at some of the events they've been doing in Europe, they're moving in the direction of becoming the next Cirque du Soleil, the go-to group for truly fantastic, off-the-wall experiences. But all four previous trips into Sleep No More, across two cities, I always found moments of quiet. Moments where I was alone in the set, able to carefully examine a document, or watch the minutiae of a character's business. There were times when I would be the only person to witness a small scene between characters, because the rest of the audience were having their own adventure elsewhere. There's something truly special about that. And that was much harder this time around. It seemed like there was always a crowd to fight through to see a pivotal scene, or too many people to dodge when the character you're following suddenly breaks into a sprint. It just seemed crowded. Oftentimes, when I came across anything involving a major character, there would already be such a crowd gathered that I would just head off in another direction - there's no way I could get close enough to see anything anyway. I don't know if this was the standard amount of people that attend every night, or if they boosted their capacity for the Halloween week, but it certainly seemed like more people in the space than there had been before. Maybe in March, we just got in before New York figured out what a gem they had in their city.
Again, there's almost shame attached to this. I feel like an idiot who complains when their favorite indie band hits it big - like it's no longer fun when everyone else likes them. I still want everyone who is even remotely interested in this sort of thing to go check out the show, because it's absolutely worth it. My only hedge now is that I might recommend checking them out on a weekday night. It's a bit cheaper (not that the show isn't worth the more expensive weekend tickets), and there may be less of a crowd with you.
I will say this about their Halloween extravaganza - Sleep No More and Punchdrunk can throw one hell of a party. If you happen to have tickets to any of the Halloween week shows (only three left at the time of this post), you're in for a treat, though a pricey one if you're looking for some liquid motivation. The party in the ballroom was a lot of fun, though not quite my scene. I do wish they had made it clear that other parts of the set would be open for less raucous celebration - my group might have stayed a bit longer had that been the case. But if you're looking for an amazing night out in one of the cooler places you'll ever get to party, it's worth it.
Once again, I feel like I'm good with Sleep No More. I've been scouring the internet for months for more news on "Punchdrunk Travel," their next project that was rumored to kick off in September, but I've never found more news. I'm ready for the next thing, and I think I'm cool with not seeing Sleep No More again. Yesterday, I saw a note on Twitter that they had extended to December 30th, with the 31st listed, but not available. I bet they'll throw one hell of a New Year's Eve party.
And if I were to get an invite, I might just change my mind...
