Though the title of “Sleep No More” and much of its shadow of a plot do come from the compact tragedy that is a favorite of high school English classes, this is not the place to look for insights into Shakespeare. You’ll notice that so far I have not mentioned the name of the writer who immortalized Macbeth. The creative team here has taken on the duties of messing with your head, which they do just as thoroughly as any artificial stimulant. But they should know that sentimentally partaking of any mood-altering substances is inadvisable.Īn unimpaired sense of balance and depth perception is crucial to attending “Sleep No More,” which leads its audience on a merry, macabre chase up and down stairs, and through minimally illuminated, furniture-cluttered rooms and corridors. New Yorkers with fond memories of nights out in the era of theme-park clubs like Area and MK have the chance to relive their salad days with this production (if they can score tickets). Punchdrunk, a British site-specific theater company, has taken over three abandoned warehouses on West 27th Street to enact the sorry sights of the murderous Macbeths’ career in a movable orgy titled “Sleep No More.” And the resulting adventure in décor - a 1930s pleasure palace called the McKittrick - suggests what might have happened had Stanley Kubrick (of “Eyes Wide Shut” and “The Shining”) been asked to design the Haunted Mansion at Disney World, with that little old box maker Joseph Cornell as a consultant. Don’t be surprised if it shows up soon on the cover of Architectural Digest, bloodstains and all. The Thane of Cawdor and his wife have moved into a deserted hotel in the hinterlands of the West 20s, and my dear, what they’ve done with the place. Those pushy Macbeths may be backstabbing social climbers, but you must admit that their new digs are to die for.
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