Overall, I thought it was a good piece, my only issue is with the negative/opposition view expressed by Jim Pasco; it seems extremely misguided. The metaphor he makes comparing lockpicking to “let’s pretend we robbed a bank, or something of that nature” makes little sense. Perhaps if he compared locksport to paintball or a firing range it would be more comprehensible, but it would unfortunately undermine his point as those are not controversial activities.
The best comment on the site, unfortunately hasn’t been replied to as it a grave concern of mine:
Have you found pipe smoking to help, distract from, or have no effect on your lock picking? Do you think there is a place for pipe smoking in the so-called “locksport”? – DM
The piece was also slightly recut and broadcast during Here and Now, under the title: The Sport of Picking Locks.
In a previous post, I mentioned that there was a play Sleep No More that I was very interested in seeing. I have since been able to attend, and my quick review is that it is amazing, and I’d highly recommend that everyone should try to see it. I definitely plan on partaking again, and maybe even a third time. I hope to do a more detailed writeup in the future, with many more details and spoilers, but first I’ll need to see it again.
Here’s a quick writeup:
Sleep No More by punchdrunk re-imagines both Macbeth and what it means to experience a play. The play runs from 7pm to 10pm, and concludes with a night club for the audience to lounge and compare stories. Sleep No More, is different from most plays in three very important ways. First, instead of taking place on a stage the punchdrunk have taken over an entire building recreating it into Macbeth’s Castle. Which leads to the second major difference, the audience is allowed to wander throughout the installation, exploring various rooms while the action plays out. You can follow characters around, stay in one location, or mix and match; this leads each individuals experience being strikingly different. The third major difference is that the play actually repeats itself three times, though the final iteration, I believe, has a few small changes. The Actors and Actresses do an amazing job in what has to be an extremely challenging environment.
A significant portion of the experience is exploration and confusion one must confront as audience member. To truly experience this play you must make decisions, and decide if you want to chase a character as they run down a hall or whom to follow. I won’t ruin any of the surprises, because discovering them and being surprised by them is the purpose of the play. With that in mind, I will make a few recommendations that can maximize one’s enjoyment of the play.
To best enjoy this Sleep No More, a thorough knowledge of Macbeth is essential. If one doesn’t wish to read the play, they can review an outline/summarization at SparkNotes. It is key to know the plot and characters as that background will greatly enhance the story, and help situate the activity of the characters as you follow them around. Once the story is understood, I’d recommend watching Polanski’s Macbeth as it is a great rendition and it will help to reinforce your prior knowledge.
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Once the necessary preparation has been completed, you are ready to see the play. If you’re open to seeing it multiple times, then I recommend that you explore on your own and ignore the following advice — the sense of exploration and discovery is worth it. Whereas if this will be your only viewing, I have a few suggestions to help guide your behavior so that you’ll be sure to see some of the important scenes. Remember that you’ll invariably miss something, the play only repeats three times, and there is a lot more going on than you can see it that short amount of time. The best piece of advice I can give is to start as soon as possible by following a major character: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, King Duncan, or one of the Withces. Try your best to follow them for the full hour. During the second hour explore, and follow various characters around. In the third hour, once again follow a main character around — make sure they’re a different one than you did the first hour. You can, of course, switch who you’re followig, but to see the most interesting parts I’d recommend only switching between the main characters. There are other character scattered about whom you can interract with, but there are some amazing scenes are on the main storyline, and you do not want to miss them. I’d also recommed buying a glass of punch in the opening room as it’s very tasty, but – be warned – they will want you to drink it while in there, before the play starts.
There are few aspects of the play that I think warrant special recognition. Throughout the play, the audience are instructed to wear white masks. This serves a few purposes, first it allows one to clearly identify who the actors are, and second it greatly enhances the experience of the play. Instead of looking around and seeing fellow audience members standing around, one sees erry looking people wearing masks. This would be greatly enhanced if they also had the audience wear cloaks so that they all look the same. I also like how the actors interact with the audience. These interactions make for a memorable experience. I also think one interesting idea that they don’t seem to play with, would be to have plants in the audience, that perform key interactions in the play that is having actors wearing masks like the audience every now and then.
To conclude, I really enjoyed this play and I hope that their are more plays that are created in this style. I think that this form of play would work in the heist genre, e.g. The Great Train Robbery, where multiple actors are all acting in parrallell and come together for a few key scense.
