Sleep No More is AMAZING- Page 11

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 10:37pm

Does anyone think some people in white masks are actually with the show?

[Luscious]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 10:45pm

Yes. Some stewards where white masks. I encountered one. Yet one more twist to throw you off balance. I'm going back for the second time this Friday and can't wait to re-experience it all!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 10:48pm

I went into the "nightclub" area at one point and there was slow music playing and two people in the white masks were slow dancing. When I walked in they stopped and just stared at me. Really freaked me out and made me wonder if they weren't part of the show.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 5/10/11 at 11:08pm

Maybe that's how they make new "white masks" and u caught them!

[billyboyA]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 12:14am

This is why I hate the Internet and message boards sometimes - because you can't always tell the spirit in which things have been written. I personally LOVE Namo's posts and know what an advocate of this show Namo has been. And my SOLE purpose and hope with writing my post was to put a positive spin on the experience that was clearly uncomfortable for Namo, and potentially others who might have the same shyness. All I was trying to do is to say "hey, ok you had that negative experience, BUT let me see if I can help you see something cool in HAVING that experience. I never meant to say it was the only way to experience it, nor was I judging other ways of experiencing it. I'm just a firm believer in trying to find the positive in the negative if at all possible. And I think Namo's experience had cool aspects and if you had heard me SPEAKING what I wrote, it would have been in a supportive and excited way.

Sadly, you, completely missed the G.D. point and turned very judgmental on me. Christ!! I can't change what happened to Namo, but I DO know how excited Namo has been on the show and the caring part of me thought maybe I could put a spin on Namo's experience that would make it sort of cool when Namo looked back on it.

Now I'm sure you drama queens who THRIVE on ripping well meaning people to shreds on this board will revel in telling me all the ways my written words came off as being critical of Namo. So to nip it in the bud, my response is: go eff yourself. I meant it to help, not to hurt.

And a further comment to the drama queens: i was at a party this weekend and there were a number of Broadway stars there and the subject of the Broadwayworld message boards came up, and ACROSS THE BOARD, the consensus of the stars was "we won't go there because there are some really mean, bitter and angry people on those boards who's cruel comments about the stars of Bway can be very hurtful". So, a place that I would BET Robert Diamond had HOPED would be a community forum for the fans and performers alike, has alienated many of the stars because of the negative drama queens. Very sad, I think.

So get off my effing case! I adore Namo's posts and look forward to reading them and WANTED to help. Jesus Christ!

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 12:49am

Jordan I had similar experience in that room, but the two were sitting and one was fanning the other with the giant peacock fan. Very strange.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 12:54am

Did they stop and stare at you?

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 12:56am

Yes they did were you there on Monday? I mean it could just be a weird coincidence.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 12:56am

Yeah I was there last night.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 12:58am

I bet we saw the same people. Crazy.

[two ladies tickets]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 4:08am

without giving too much away....there are crew members who wear white masks who are quietly placed among the audience to re-set rooms and get props and clothing left behind that need to be re-set for the second and third cycle. Sometimes they do it so quickly you won't notice them but sometimes especially on multiple visits you will notice them. It also facilitates the crew being able to get around the venue to check on actors etc. I have been several times and have seen the couple in the white masks dancing and fanning eachother with the peacock fan in the "orgy" speakeasy, it's part of their blocking, while they do that they are re-setting the contents of Hecate's purse. If you stay in the cemetery long enough you'll see someone in a white mask wheel a pram into the path. I have also been told but have no proof that sometimes the performers also put on a white mask and contemporary street coat over their costume to pass by audience members to get from one scene to another.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 9:24am

Not for nothing, billyboy, but I am fully capable of analyzing my own feelings and emotions and the environments in which they surface. I am capable of looking at artwork from several vantage points and holding multi-faceted interpretations in my brain at the same time.

One of the interesting things that comes up with the Sleep No More experience is what it does to control queens of all genders. You can't control other people, even if, as happened the first time I saw it in New York, I thought the only other audience guy who was watching the nurse in the maze with me was "too close" and "vaguely sexually threatening" (even though that was all made up in my head), and yet, wasn't I pissed off when HE got pulled into a one on one with her?

Again, I am just saying, a pair of people CAN experience Sleep No More in tandem without disrupting the experience for others by blocking ways or audible chatter. That is ALL.

Even Punchdrunk would say they "recommend" going it alone, not that that is the perfect way to do it. But it takes somebody who really thinks the world would be perfect if everybody did things his way to have such certainty about his opinion.

[billyboyA]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 11:55am

Whatever. I'm disgusted at this point. As a lung actor coming up the ranks there were always mentors around who would give perspective on things to help my appreciation for theater grow. I'm eternally grateful to them for helping me to appreciate things that initially might have turned me off, by showing me another way to look at it. When the he'll did I EVER say MY opinion was the right and ONLY way? I was effing TRYING to be supportive of YOU, who seemed to be very sweet and enthusiastic about the show, in maybe giving you a couple of ways to see how you could see your experience as positive.

Now, I don't know you and for all I effing know, you're a professor at Yale who teaches Shakespeare and don't need ANYONE giving you perspective and new ways to look at things. But at this point I'm effing SICK of being criticized and slammed because I cared enough to want to help you feel as if you're last eerience was in many ways just perfect. Not perfect as in the ONLY way to do it!! But perfect in the more higher spiritual/Buddhist sense of belief that whatever we are experiencing at any given time is perfect and right.

Why the heck can't you guys see that it doesn't matter a wit to me that you experience anything in this world in MY way, and see that I was ONLY trying to help you find another level of appreciation for how YOU experienced it.

This is a message board of essential strangers. Filled with everything from teens who haven't seen their first professional show, all the way up to seasoned aging professionals. We can't BEGIN to know what level of experience people have, but don't you think the beauty of a board like this is for everyone to grow and expand their appreciation of theater? And perhaps you don't need a G.D. Person in the world to expand your views because you're already well advanced. But I didn't know that!! And don't you think in the realm of possibilities that MAYBE someone like you just MIGHT got yo Sleep No More and have that isolation experience and walk away feeling negative about it, and can you POSSIBLY stretch your imagination enough to see that if someone like that who was perhaps young and not experienced in theater just MIGHT read my initial response about it and just maybe see their experience in a new light and INSTEAD of carrying a negative memory, just might turn it around after reading my post and think "wow, that's cool. Now I KNOW what MacBeth must have felt like"... And that is ALL I intended with my post. And I'm sort of socked that I've been attacked and criticized for that.

I mean, I love red wine, but HATED it when I first tried it. I'll always be grateful to the people who taught me how to appreciate red wine, same with modern opera, same with modern art.

So I do apologize to you for being presumptuous that you might not have considered what was COOL about your experience... And I apologize for caring enough about you to want to help put A positive spin on what you felt was negative.

Maybe it's just best if none of us help to expand each other's views because we might offend the intellect and experience of those who are already evolved.

Jesus, don't take it so effing personally and try to realize that someone - a stranger - cared enough to want YOU to have a good memory of a show you have been so supportive of.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 12:00pm

I don't think I am capable of heaving a bigger sigh as I reprint your own words as illustration: a-HA! So you had the RIGHT and perfect experience!!

Sorry 'bout your petard.

All *I* was doing was explaining which visits to Sleep No More worked better for me and to point out that my opinion was a contrarian one in this thread. By saying that, I was acknowledging that it was going against the common wisdom in the thread. I GET what Sleep No More is about. I GET what they are trying to do. I've always GOT how isolated MacBeth is, long before I entered Punchdrunk's world. I had read the play AND seen Rebecca long before I ever saw the show.

So, ya'know, I am an INFORMED consumer, and if you read my posts in my thread about the show before you started this one, or if you even read my posts in this one, I think you might have GOTTEN that.

Updated On: 5/11/11 at 12:00 PM

[Boston28]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 12:02pm

Can't we all just get along? I think you've both had valid points and might each be taking the others' posts a little too personally (as had been pointed out earlier. . .the problem with posts, in general.) I'm still in the "solitary" camp but can can see that others could enjoy the experience with a friend. That's the libra in me I guess.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 12:08pm

I TOTALLY get the "solitary" camp. I just wanted to inject that it is possible for a couple of people to stick together without being disruptive and to leave with a fantastic shared experience to talk about.

What I got when I explained that TO ME, my solitary experience wasn't as good as the times I stuck with my BF, was the newsflash that I had finally had the RIGHT experience. It took me three times, but GD it, the time I enjoyed it a little less was the way it was SUPPOSED to be!

[yay_gerb]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 12:16pm

I agree, it's getting a little unnecessary. Billyboy, no one is forcing you to read or write on this board. If you feel like you are being verbally abused you can stop reading. I get what you're trying to say about feeling isolated like Macbeth, but not everyone will agree on everything.

There is definitely a way to go about the performance with a friend and not disturb anyone else. The 4 friends i brought to the show (all on separate occasions, so this has worked multiple times) had followed me for the first hour of the performance so they see some of the important scenes and understand how the show "works". I made sure that if I had to wait for them I was out of the way. If they wanted to explore something a little more, I would wait for them. We weren't holding hands or blocking anyone from getting anywhere. If you feel more comfortable with someone else, then by all means try to stick with them. As Namo pointed out, Punchdrunk "recommends" that you explore individually. They don't split every single person up to explore alone, that is, unless your first out of the elevator ;]

[sabrelady]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 1:38pm

OK now that we're finished judging and rejudging our individual experiences as valid/invalid, can we PLEASE get back to discussing the actual SHOW?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 2:02pm

Some people take off their clothes.

[yay_gerb]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 2:43pm

Then they dance and go downstairs to eat.

[billyboyA]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 3:00pm

Seriously? You can't even acknowledge that even though it may not apply to YOUR case, that I was, at the core, trying to help you put a positive spin on your experience? Why in the h e l l is nobody getting this: I'm saying that WHATEVER experience you have there is perfect, but that if by chance you felt isolated and alone, that THAT is a perfect experience too because it gives you insight to the characters you may not have had.

Why am I the insensitive bad guy here? This is ridiculous. Quite frankly, I thought from reading your posts that you were a shy VERY young 18 year old girl. I now realize from reading other people's comments about you that you aren't either of those things.

And in my heart of hearts, if an 18 year old got freaked out and left Sleep No More feeling badly about it and isolated, my words might have helped that girl to see something cool about her experience.

Yet, here we all are glomming onto the "you don't have to tell ME to how experience this show" bandwagon... and the "you don't have to give ME any insight about this" bandwagon...

So be it.

To everyone else who doesn't have a chip on their shoulder:

Embrace HOWEVER you experience this show, as long it's not disturbing the other audience members. And even if you have a NEGATIVE experience - in reflection, you might even find something sort of COOL about that negative experience, because it is, after all, MacBeth...

This whole discussion has become absurd, especially since I would hazard to guess that I'm one of the only people engaged in this aspect of the debate who is actually employed full time working in a Broadway show. And yes, my long term career, working in New York theater and in Hollywood, does make me think I DO have something worth saying these subjects.

And I'm now seeing why so many of my current and former cast mates won't come anywhere near these boards. Sad really. We all have a passion for theater. We should all be able to creatively share our passion with each other.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 3:21pm

"Quite frankly, I thought from reading your posts that you were a shy VERY young 18 year old girl."

Well, you're right about that. BUT FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, did you actually read my posts in this thread or my first thread about Sleep No More that I put up as soon as I heard it was coming to New York? Because you would have understood that I was VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE SHOW, that I had seen it TWICE before it got to NYC, (which might have been a clue that I didn't need anybody to help me put a "positive spin" on my experience -- most repeat visitors do so because they LOVED IT).

For once and for all, I just wanted to interject that despite the prevailing wisdom of the solitude approach, I, ME, THIS PERSON HERE, personally enjoyed it more the first two times when I was not isolated. To say that there are exceptions to conventional wisdom. I didn't need you to help me interpret my visit, I didn't need you to salvage my memory, most of all, I didn't need you to make sure I had positive feelings about the show because I haven't been posting about it for a year because I had negative feelings about it.

As one of the witches would probably say if they had lines: A-DOY!!!!!

Oh, and by the way, I'm pretty sure you just lost everybody else with this bit:

This whole discussion has become absurd, especially since I would hazard to guess that I'm one of the only people engaged in this aspect of the debate who is actually employed full time working in a Broadway show.


---

And then, three hours later some of the white shirts the men wear are very grubby.

Updated On: 5/11/11 at 03:21 PM

[billyboyA]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 5:21pm

Yeah, and women don't NEED men to open the doors for them or give up seats on the subway either... But isnt it awfully nice when one is considerate enough to do that for a woman?

I apologize again for misleading you to think that I was somehow criticizing how you experienced this show. And I apologize for caring that a stranger might see the positive in something they already are too worldly too need to consider.

And I apologize to myself and the rest of the board for engaging in an unnecessary debate with a child.

I can only sincerely hope that nobody again makes the mistake of caring to try to help expand your horizons. Because God knows that 18 year olds already know it all and have nothing new to learn. Thats why there are so many 18 year old college professors and 18 year old best sellers. But I'll thank you to not accuse me again of suggesting that any of the ways you experienced this show were wrong or invalid. I think they all were valid and special and right in their own ways.

Now, can we get back to praising Sleep No More?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 7:39pm

You seem incapable of realizing that your "caring" manifested as superiority complex-ridden condescension. Telling somebody how to feel about or interpret their experience is never going to be received well unless your audience is a bunch of blank-faced and impressionable morons, of which Namo is not one. And not that he can't completely hold is own here, but I think it's pretty clear that you did not even read his posts if you felt he needed that from you.

Updated On: 5/11/11 at 07:39 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 10:42pm

Thank you, THANK YOU. All I ask is that somebody READS my posts before commenting on me.

Personally, I hold doors open for every person, not matter which of the many possible gender variations. But that's just how I roll that way.

Many of the performers in Sleep No More roll around over the course of an evening.