Immersive Beyond the One on One

Reflecting on a staple of the immersive theater space, after the McKittrick closed

The Porter, asking guests if they’d like to sign a guestbook during Apparitions

Over the years, I’ve heard a number of people (including people who work on the show) claim that the heart of Sleep No More’s immersive experience is its “one on ones” - key moments during the show, where characters will draw an audience member in to lead them to a secret corner of the building and offer them a trinket, have a heartfelt conversation, or whisper a secret. And yes, there’s something intrinsically powerful about being selected out of a crowd of ~400 audience members to have an experience that’s inherently personal to you. Many times when I’ve been told stories of fans’ favorite moments, it’s been those intimate moments shared with cast members that resonate the strongest.

And yet, despite that, I feel like framing one on ones as the most important part of the show cheapens what they’ve actually accomplished. Because those rare moments are only one of the ways the show creates a sense of intimacy with audience members.

The residents of Mayfair having a grand old time, during Apparitions

The Reality of the One on One: It’s Not Just Gambling, It’s Insider Trading
At this point, I’ve been to Sleep No More twice, and Emursive’s follow-up experience Life and Trust two more times. And I have yet to experience what is traditionally considered to be a one on one at a Punchdrunk / Emursive performance. And that experience is likely the norm for the majority of immersive attendees to the shows. Running some very rough numbers, that makes sense: assuming there are 40-50 of these encounters over the course of a night, only about 10-15% of audience members will experience those moments in any given show.

Those are the odds if the deck was stacked in your favor. But the thing about an active fandom fixated on personalized encounters? There’s extensive documentation on who you need to follow, what you need to do, and even where you need to stand to help your odds of getting a particular encounter. While I was attending Apparitions, a three night farewell party to the McKittrick Hotel, a fellow guest showed me the schedule he programmed into his smartwatch. By setting priorities out ahead of time, he turned Sleep No More into a series of scheduled “meetings”, designed to maximize show returns in five minute increments. It was brilliant, and it worked for him.

The Apparitions grand finale, captured from the back of the crowd. Where I could still see just fine.

Fortune Favors the Bold, and Only Sometimes the Considerate
There’s another factor that likely contributed to me missing out on the fabled one-on-one experience: I’m a tall guy, and many of Sleep No More’s spaces are fairly compact. So, I’ll often check the space to see if I’m blocking peoples’ views, and move aside in case standing back a little could mean more people can see what’s going on. While that’s good for the average audience experience, it does make me more likely to be out of reach for the more opportunistic interactions.

This particular challenge has contributed to some of the complaints about bad behavior from Sleep No More attendees - not in terms of cast harassment (that’s a separate conversation entirely), but overly aggressive behavior in chasing key moments during the show. If audience members are seeking out intimate moments and see other attendees rewarded for their assertiveness, they’ve been taught to be more assertive themselves: the show is teaching them how to behave.

The nurses, at Apparitions - sometimes, a moment of eye contact is more powerful than a conversation

Focusing on the Intimacy of the One on One at the Expense of Its Broader Focus
This article isn’t a sour grapes complaint about never feeling special inside a Punchdrunk/Emursive experience, I swear. It’s actually quite the opposite. I feel like putting so much focus on those overt, obvious moments of intimacy comes at the expense of the smaller moments that the cast create within the margins of the show. So, time for a story of the moment I fell in love with Sleep No More.

During my first show, I stumbled across an intimate scene between Duncan and his son Malcolm. Duncan is preparing to go down to the ballroom, and his son carefully, almost ritualistically, shaves him. Duncan looks nervous, as the blade approaches his neck. And those nerves mount, as Malcolm’s razor gets closer and closer to his throat with every flick of the blade. Eventually, Duncan startles in his chair, Malcolm falls down in the corner, and they both start silently laughing, the tension in the room diffused. Their preparations for the ball assume a more lighthearted tone, and they leave clasping each others shoulders.

Sleep No More has dozens of these moments between characters that let you vicariously experience different forms of intimacy. Sometimes that intimacy is expressed through dance, but often it’s told through gentle touch and expressive stares. And that is the intimate experience that practically all Sleep No More attendees experience, in some way. During a Salon Series conversation following one of the final shows, Conor Doyle talked about how much of his focus was on creating magical moments for attendees through those smaller moments: a furtive moment of eye contact, or a brief encounter while flitting through the halls.

The Michelin Star Immersive Experience
There’s an episode of The Bear where Richie stages at a Michelin Star Restaurant. The highlight of his time there is a moment where he overhears a table talking about missing out on eating a deep dish pizza during their time in Chicago, so the restaurant plans a “Surprise” - a dish where the chef gives them a gourmet presentation of the dish they casually remarked wanting.

That was undeniably a magical moment for the guests. But if the restaurant was judged on its ability to deliver that level of responsiveness and personalization to every customer, the vast majority of their customers would leave dissatisfied. Rather, it’s the intense attention to detail paid to all the guests that makes the restaurant’s reputation - the surprise is just that - an unexpected surprise.

Instead, it’s the consistent attention to detail in finding a way to make every guest feel seen that is the core of the fictional restaurant’s reputation. From accounting for dietary restrictions to planning around diners’ eating speeds…that’s the heart of the experience, the occasional “surprise” is just a prominent component of that care.

Final Thoughts on My Favorite One on Ones - The Sleep No More Fandom
As designed, Sleep No More one on ones are a nice surprise you may get to experience during a show, but neither a core part of the experience for most, nor an accurate depiction of what intimacy of experience looks like during the show. However, one place where that level of intimacy does express itself is in the Sleep No More fandom itself. Waiting in line for a show is something of a tailgate party. Fans exchange homemade trinkets, talk about their experiences about the show, and even offer advice to newer attendees. So while it’s possible to go to the show without a one on one with the cast, you are quite likely to have one with the audience’s fandom.

During the final Apparitions parties, that even led some fans to create their own moments for fellow attendees. During the second night, someone I was talking with got handed a piece of paper with the McKittrick Hotel letterhead.

A handwritten letter (and contract), sealed with a kiss.

On one side of the paper was a typewritten contract sealed with a kiss, asking the signer to enter into a contract with Hecate. On the other side, a Latin phrase tempted readers: “Ululum Cum Jupis Cum Quibus Esse Cupis” - roughly translated, “Howl with the wolves you want to be with”. That quote appears within the McKittrick’s halls, etched at the bottom of a stained glass mural painting leading into the venue’s central ballroom.

Stained glass, leading to the ballroom at the McKittrick

One interpretation of that quote might be an encouragement to find those moments of intimacy with fellow guests. Find the people you want to spend time with, and make noise with them.

Then again, one particularly well-read Sleep No More fan posited a more cautionary interpretation of the aphorism: if you choose to keep company with wolves, you’ll soon start to howl along with them. So, make sure you’re comfortable with the kind of noise that’s being made, first.