bredrenisedp
12-28-2007, 09:09 PM
For anyone in London over the next couple of months, I thought I'd share with you a rad recommendation for possibly one of the most fun nights I've had. I strongly recommend going to see a play called "Masque of the Red Death" by the Punchdrunk Theatre Company in Battersea.
Despite living in a city where plays are happening pretty much every day, I'm not a huge theatre goer. I think price, time and not really being into classic plays might have a factor in this. But a few weeks ago I was fortunate to get some tickets to see this play... holy crap its awesome. As an experience, for me, it felt so much like Bioshock the play.
The play follows the story of the Masque of the Red Death, by Edgar Allen Poe. But unlike your classic theatre experience, this was interactive and spread out across a massive building. As you step into the building you are handed a mask to put on which is a cross between those from eyes wide shut, bioshock and some creapy halloween costume. From then on in, you are or your own to "discover" the story.
The building is set up into a series of small rooms, which are decorated to give a fantastic victorian and very dark feel. Actors themselves move from room to room seeimingly spontaneously and interact with each other. On occasion the actors completely ignore you, on other occasions they acknowledge your presence in the room. For example the first room I walked into had a woman in the corner minding her own business making some sort of potion. After about 30 seconds she looked up, stared directly at me and walked over. As she approached, her gaze was fixed firmly on mine, my heart racing as I was thinking "what the hell is this?". She then grabbed me by the throat and dragged me towards where she was working before whispering gently into my ear "He is coming for you, by the end of the evening you will be no more! This will protect you." as she handed me some spices. After she let me go, she continued with what she was doing, ignoring everyone else in the room. Already, the play had grabbed me by the metaphoric balls and did not let go for the next 3 hours.
Without giving anything away, the following few hours proceeded with myself exploring this amazing building getting brief glimpses of the story by watching the actors seeimingly live out the play. You were free to follow actors as they moved from room to room, equally you were free to just chill out in the dark, eerie surroundings and just experience them. Some rooms were opened at random intervals during the night, for other rooms you had to find secret pathways to them, one involving walking through a wardrobe and crawling through a fireplace.
To call it a play would be somewhat of an understatement. Much like bioshock where you felt transported to the world of rapture, The Masque of the Red Death for one night transports you to a very dark, scary, eerie and fantastic place. In a word: wow.
Despite living in a city where plays are happening pretty much every day, I'm not a huge theatre goer. I think price, time and not really being into classic plays might have a factor in this. But a few weeks ago I was fortunate to get some tickets to see this play... holy crap its awesome. As an experience, for me, it felt so much like Bioshock the play.
The play follows the story of the Masque of the Red Death, by Edgar Allen Poe. But unlike your classic theatre experience, this was interactive and spread out across a massive building. As you step into the building you are handed a mask to put on which is a cross between those from eyes wide shut, bioshock and some creapy halloween costume. From then on in, you are or your own to "discover" the story.
The building is set up into a series of small rooms, which are decorated to give a fantastic victorian and very dark feel. Actors themselves move from room to room seeimingly spontaneously and interact with each other. On occasion the actors completely ignore you, on other occasions they acknowledge your presence in the room. For example the first room I walked into had a woman in the corner minding her own business making some sort of potion. After about 30 seconds she looked up, stared directly at me and walked over. As she approached, her gaze was fixed firmly on mine, my heart racing as I was thinking "what the hell is this?". She then grabbed me by the throat and dragged me towards where she was working before whispering gently into my ear "He is coming for you, by the end of the evening you will be no more! This will protect you." as she handed me some spices. After she let me go, she continued with what she was doing, ignoring everyone else in the room. Already, the play had grabbed me by the metaphoric balls and did not let go for the next 3 hours.
Without giving anything away, the following few hours proceeded with myself exploring this amazing building getting brief glimpses of the story by watching the actors seeimingly live out the play. You were free to follow actors as they moved from room to room, equally you were free to just chill out in the dark, eerie surroundings and just experience them. Some rooms were opened at random intervals during the night, for other rooms you had to find secret pathways to them, one involving walking through a wardrobe and crawling through a fireplace.
To call it a play would be somewhat of an understatement. Much like bioshock where you felt transported to the world of rapture, The Masque of the Red Death for one night transports you to a very dark, scary, eerie and fantastic place. In a word: wow.