Creep LA’s ‘Awake’ is a Delightful Nightmare (The NoPro Review)
Just Fix It Productions reaches new highs with their latest edition of Creep
Let’s get this out of the way, right away: Creep LA’s Awake is a blast. It takes the essence of what you expect out of Creep LA, a show that’s equal parts artsy, weird, fun, sexy, cool, scary, and of course, creepy, and distills it into a taut 60-or-so-minutes.
Awake plunges its audiences into the divide between the waking world and the world of dreams. Okay, okay, nightmares really. They want to take you on a journey through the reality and unreality of that space. What is real? What just feels real? Does the difference between the two matter?
That journey starts with the space. The 60,000 square feet they’ve utilized feels like a dreamscape. The further you get into it and the more you’re moved around in it, the more disorienting it becomes. I’ve got a guess as to how it’s laid out, but I’m probably wrong. Some excellent lighting design throughout serves to accentuate the strangeness. You might see actors flit in and out of the shadows and the red fog or maybe a character appears bathed in light before disappearing and reappearing further down, illuminated once again. It’s a simple, but effective way of playing a trick on the eyes while also suggesting there’s something poking around the edges of your consciousness.
With unfinished rooms and doors to nowhere, the set itself feels like a nightmare too. It’s filled with things you recognize, but they’re not quite right. Other elements worm their way in too. Did I actually see one of the doors from Lore? I think so, but couldn’t tell you for sure. The uneven, springy ground with a coffin sitting on it felt awfully familiar too.
If the set and space work to set the tone of Awake, the strong ensemble, comprised of a number of Creep LA regulars and other familiar faces, are the ones who make sure you’re dialed in. Much of the performance relies on them working together as a collective. They jump and float from person to person with a touch here, a whisper there, a long stare, a hug, a breath, a silent presence. At the same time they’re making you feel uncomfortable falling into this nightmare world, they create a strange sense of ease. Like the set, the cast conveys the sense that there’s something unreal about the situation, but only a notch or two over from normal reality. This could really be happening, but should it be? That’s really a rhetorical question, but the answer is a resounding yes.
As they move audience members from scene to scene, they imbue the short transitions with a frenetic, nervous energy that heightens the feeling of the show. A small touch to be sure, but one that lends itself well to a waking nightmare (or a nightmare that feels real as can be while it’s occurring).
The scenes themselves are a twisted series of vignettes that fall in various places on the awake/nightmare spectrum. They each follow their own dream logic and things that are totally absurd in waking life may just make sense inside the world of Awake. Of course that’s how you eat your dinner. Why yes, a wedding ceremony does end with the customary snapping of a pencil. Your dreams don’t stop for a dance interlude?
Some are out-and-out nightmares, others aim towards more pedestrian fears, and then there are a few that mix both together. A particularly stand out section blended those ideas together to unsettling effect. As a woman recalls her encounter with a salesman from her younger days, the nightmare starts to manifest. She stays grounded in reality as she relives (or projects) the story, but the salesman is a terrifying, nightmare vision made real. Everything about him is heightened, from his look to his movements. By taking advantage of the duality of the scene, it somehow becomes even more real, even more disturbing. Her recollection of the experience reflects and refracts what might have actually happened to demonstrate her emotional truth in the moment.
The set, the ensemble, and the scenes themselves work so well on their own, and they all contribute to the wonderful, nightmarish atmosphere of Awake. That atmosphere permeates every inch of those 60,000 square feet and is a joy and horror to breathe in. It captures that sensation of being in a surreal nightmare with all the same strange, absurd, scary, and real feelings that entails.
Creep: Awake runs through November 4th at the Row DTLA in Downtown Los Angeles. Tickets are $89.
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