Tomorrow, we have a lecture on what happened to be a cherished memory of mine. A few years back, a few of my peers and I visited an event entitled Sleep no more. What is Sleep no More?
Essentially, if Macbeth and a 20s murder mystery had a baby, it would be sleep no more. All participants wear masquerade masks and wander around a murder mystery set where different rooms show off different parts of the Macbeth narrative. Participants can't interact with the actors, creating a distinction between the performers and the participants. The beauty of this set up is creating a sense of detachment with the macabre elements of the show. The bystander effect not only racks up the scares, it prompts the participants to think about their own machinations "Why aren't I acting upon this?" "Does this make me a bad person?" etc
A step below this set up would probably be dinner theater. Eating a meal and having performers interact with the crowd is a lot more genial. Especially when most dinner theater is inherently campy. Sleep no More is played straight, which helps with the aesthetic of the production.
Overall, I'm ecstatic for the lecture tomorrow.
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