By removing such a foundational component of the play, the production chances losing much of its dramatic and emotive power. The only scene explicitly recognizable from the original play was Lady Macbeth’s “Out, damned spot!” soliloquy, and there was a strange detective plot that was difficult to follow (something which would likely be less so with a second viewing).Īdapting “Macbeth” without dialogue is a bold and risky undertaking the original play was written almost exclusively in dialogue. Despite their vastly different settings, both adaptations featured strikingly similar costumes, set pieces and lighting.īeyond these few thematic references, however, “Sleep No More” featured few other connections to Shakespeare. The visual tone and general aesthetic of “Sleep No More” were highly reminiscent of of the 2008 Off Broadway adaptation of “Macbeth” starring Patrick Stewart (released on film by BBC in 2010), the entirety of which takes place in a Soviet-era military bunker. Consequently, the production felt quite confining and isolated, feelings that, as the play progresses, drive Macbeth to the brink of insanity. The production was dark, isolated, and claustrophobic there was not a single window in the entire hotel, and each floor’s twisting corridors made it nearly impossible to maintain any sense of orientation. A bathtub, stained red with blood, occupied one of the hotel’s largest rooms. Perhaps the most easily discernible theme incorporated from Shakespeare is that of guilt. It is not called “Macbeth ” instead, its title comes from the famous line “Sleep no more! / Macbeth does murder sleep.” Additionally, the plot has been greatly simplified (and the ending was drastically changed), although this is of course necessary, as the play is performed without words or a linear narrative structure. “Sleep No More” differs from all of these examples in that, rather than being a direct adaptation of a literary work, it is merely inspired by one. Other productions include “The House of Oedipus,” in which “Oedipus the King” and “Antigone” run in tandem, “The Tempest” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Likewise, in 2007, it produced “The Masque of Red Death,” which was inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe story of the same name. In 2005, the company put on “The Yellow Wallpaper,” a one-to-one performance installation based off of the short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Punchdrunk has based many of its productions off of literary works. The New York location, despite being described on the show’s website as a “legendary hotel” that was abandoned weeks before opening in 1939, is in fact a block of converted Chelsea warehouses. It has evolved considerably since then, running for a short time in Boston in 2009 before settling into its present location two years later. “Sleep No More,” one of many immersive theatre productions put on by Punchdrunk, first premiered in London in 2003. Each room of the “hotel” is meticulously decorated, and audience members are encouraged to pick up and examine anything they choose in the 100,000 square feet of space. Scenes are performed without dialogue, and the audience is asked to remain silent. The site-specific production is a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” in which the cast moves freely through the five floors of the fictitious McKittrick Hotel. Six years after its debut, the popularity of the British theater company Punchdrunk’s “Sleep No More” has yet to fade.
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