Exposition 3 - How could you see the same show 3 times?!

All images by Sara Krulwich/The New York Times, except cemetary statue (Scouting New York) and masked audience members (Alick Crossley/Sleep No More). from http://blog.hgtv.com/design/2011/07/21/daily-delight-the-set-of-sleep-no-more/

As I was driven home from the airport in Dallas, fresh from my SNM experience, I was asked what shows I'd seen in NY. I said I'd seen the matinee of TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL and SLEEP NO MORE three times. My questioner was sort of flabbergasted that I would have wasted three nights in NY on the same show.  I told them I would have seen it again if I could have, and that I hope it runs long enough for me to come back and see it even MORE times.

"What?!" they asked me incredulously. I tried to explain that, in actuality, I did NOT see the "same show" three times at all.   This did not help the confusion. "How?!" they demanded.  The metaphor that came to mind was that of license plates.  Given that there are 26 letters in the alphabet and numbers 0-9, if there are 6 characters on a license plate, how many combinations are possible?  I'm not a math person, so I won't even try to figure it, but let's go with the imprecise answer: LOTS.  SLEEP NO MORE is similar.  The show is conceived to offer up nearly that many combinations (or maybe more!) to spectators. 

Here's how:

•  Each spectator can (and is encouraged to) choose their own path through about 100 rooms spread over 6 floors. You can go anywhere and watch whatever interests you.  The downside is it is impossible to see everything or everyone.  Things are happening simultaneously on different floors and in different rooms, and in choosing to watch one thing, you lose out on something else.  So, if you go multiple times, you can do different things each time, making each trip a totally unique experience.
• The 'play' repeats each hour.  Each actor completes his or her cycle of activity and interaction three times a night, culminating in an 'everybody go see' sequence at the end of the final cycle. Depending on what time you arrive at the "McKittrick Hotel" and are admitted to the show, and depending on your own tastes, you can see all three cycles, or fewer. 
• You can sit in a single location and watch the activities that occur there up to 3 times.
• You are encouraged at any time you're feeling tired or confused to come down to the bar -- in which you mingle with actors-in-character as a terrific house band with torch singer plays in the cabaret-like, hazy atmosphere.  You can choose to do that or never experience that at all.
• There are multiple storylines, or arcs if you will, occurring at the same time within the same show.  You can follow one or more, but not all.
• There is the "Macbeths arc" which features radical, visceral interpretations of several significant scenes in the lives of the characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Those familiar with MACBETH will recognize various murders, the banquet scene, 'Out, Out, Damned Spot,' 'Screw your courage to the sticking place,' 'A little water clears us of this deed,' and many other famous scenes performed without words. Following just that makes for a very compelling evening. The trouble with doing that, however, is M and his Lady often separate, and you have to choose one or the other, and in choosing, you miss stuff.
•  There is also MacDuff's arc within the MACBETH story.  Sometimes it intersects with the Macbeths' arc, but a lot of it does not, so if you want to know what MacDuff is doing, you will miss lots of the Lady and M.  Banquo has a cycle of activity, as does Lady MacDuff, and Malcolm, and others. So, it is impossible to see even all of the MACBETH elements in a single night.
• There is a Hitchcock's REBECCA story line you can follow.  I didn't, so I can't tell you much about it.
• There are also subordinate characters with lives and activities as interesting and rich as those of any of the MACBETH folk.  They weave in and out of each other's and the main narrative (some more than others), but each one has a total arc of his or her own.  Some take you to interesting places, some are designated to watch someone else's sequence of action, so you can too even if you're following them. You can follow anyone, but again not everyone, at a given performance. 
• Additionally, there are what have come to be called one-on-ones (1:1) in which a character, usually one of the 'subordinates,' will select a spectator and take them into a space where it's just the two of you for a very intense 2-5 minute span of time. Various things occur in a 1:1, and I will not divulge my experience with the ones I've had.  Only a small percentage of spectators ever get a 1:1 at any performance, there are many characters who do 1:1 encounters and they're all different, and at least one character I know of has more than one.  Theoretically, a spectator could see the show dozens of times and still not experience all of the 1:1s to be had, if you even want to chase that aspect of the show.
• As 1:1s are just you and the actor, even though the encounter is precisely and meticulously conceived and 'blocked,' nuances can color them depending on what you're doing, what the actor observes about you, etc.  So even the same 1:1 isn't the same every time.
• And in some 1:1 encounters, the character will give you a quest -- things to go see, things to find, other characters to accost.  You could spend your entire time in the space trying to fulfill one of these quests and see almost nothing of the MACBETH or REBECCA storyline at all.
• There are also rooms and spaces that only the tiniest few ever get to see.  On occasion, it is because of the size of the room.  You have to be one of the first to get there just as a thing happens.  One preciously guarded thing is something most folk don't even know about, and it is very difficult to see it, even if you're aware it exists.
• And most members of the show's cast have more than one character they can play, and who is playing what role changes on a given night.  While choreography and action is the same for each character no matter who is playing it, a different actor playing the character will nuance the role differently.  So, even if you've seen, for example, the Lady M bathtub angst, you haven't seen it done by *her* or *this other her*.  It can be very fulfilling seeing how each actor handles their role.  And actors have different chemistry with one another as well. The energy and connection in some combinations of actors is palpable!
• There are also many "SQUIRREL" moments -- where you are watching something with rapt attention, and suddenly a light will flash down the hall, another actor will appear from around the corner, or you'll hear a scream, or you'll see spectators running in mass following...SOMEthing, and whatever you were watching suddenly seems less interesting. You, metaphorically, chase the ambulance.  You can miss a lot doing that, but you can also see moments you would have missed if you hadn't changed a kind of stagnant course. (But there's the nagging fear that it wasn't a 'stagnant' course at all, and you missed out on something wonderful by bailing too soon.)
• The set is so rich with detail, you could also spend part or a whole evening just looking at that -- most of which you are welcomed to touch, examine, and even taste or drink. Some spectators wait until the action leaves the room, and then they proceed to dig through drawers, look in cupboards, pull back sheets, hang pajamas on the clothes line, etc. Just that can make for a very interesting night.
• You can also "people watch" other spectators.  Though everyone is masked, it is fun to see body language, how people deal with their discomfort, how probably mild-mannered souls can suddenly become very dominant if someone comes up and blocks the view of the scene they're watching or they elbow another spectator out of the way to follow an actor as he bounds up a staircase or she springs through a window...
• The show is a pastiche of many carefully chosen things, any or all of which you can explore -- film references, music usage, literary allusions, religious symbols, and more
• And finally (or hardly 'finally,' but the last thing I'll talk about here), you can go do and see things you liked best in a previous viewing over and over again, if you choose.

The variety of possibilities is one of the most befuddling, intriguing, and cutting-edge things about experiencing SLEEP NO MORE.  I saw it three times, and if I had the opportunity, I would gladly go multiple times, every week, for the rest of the run.  Can't say that about any other theatrical experience I've ever had, and, as I do theatre for a living, that's, again imprecisely, LOTS!