Books, Bedrooms and Balconies: “Captivated: Chapter 1: Justine” (The NoPro Review)
LA’s They Played Productions blurs the line between LARP and immersive theatre
It was a Saturday night when I found myself walking down a labyrinthine side street of apartment buildings and condos in North Hollywood. Like the carefree days of my bachelor existence, I was headed to a late night get together to catch up with an old friend. Pizza, conversation, and alcohol-soothed awkwardness were on the menu.
Unlike, my former glory days, this was no “normal” party, but one thrown by my “old friend” Victoria, as part of They Played Productions’ first immersive production, Captivated: An Obsession in 3 Acts: Chapter 1 Justine.
Creators Erik Blair and Thea Rivera present what they deem an “a modern retelling of a classic horror story, one based on obsession, drive, pride and just a few dead bodies.” However, Captivated: Justine digs deeper with themes of dysphoria, imprisonment, and control; and it does so due to a deft story and a talented cast.
(Heavy Spoilers To Follow)
As I made my way towards the party through the shadow-filled street, I passed a rough looking homeless man in a hoodie. He grunted as he crossed the street away from me. Slightly shaken, I made my way into the lobby of Victoria’s apartment building where her other guests had gathered.
Enter Victoria (Stepy Kamei), a posh psychiatrist, who greeted us warmly with tentative hugs. After a brief ride up the elevator to her sparsely decorated penthouse apartment, we were made welcome. She explained that her longtime friend Ely was running late and that he was bringing his new girlfriend with him. He was bringing the pizza to the party, and we should feel free to start without him. Our hostess invited us to make ourselves comfortable, as she poured us drinks. We obliged by doing what any guest naturally does in the halting, opening salvos of a party: We eyeballed her stuff.
Looking over at her desk, I noticed a guitar leaning on its stand, and I inquired if she played. “No, I don’t play,” she explained; it belonged to her late husband, and she couldn’t part with it. She wistfully gestured at a lone picture of her and her husband in happier times.
After receiving a phone call, Victoria announced that Ely and his girlfriend had arrived. Handing me the key to the elevator, she asked if I would be so kind as to go down and receive them.
Here’s where it began to get…weird.
As I exited the elevator, I’m just in time to greet Ely (Erik Blair) as he gingerly escorts in a lovely young woman, quietly reminding her to take it easy. I extend my hand and Ely introduces himself and his wife, Justine (Asia Ring). I steer us into the elevator, I ponder aloud that I thought she was his girlfriend, but shake it off. Justine remarks that the corridors back to the penthouse look familiar. Ely tells her that she’s mistaken, and then quickly explains (not for the last time of the night) that she is recovering from a brain injury that affects her memory.
Ely gets on his phone — it’s his assistant, Henry. Ely, suddenly annoyed, whispers something into the phone, and then thrusts it into my hand. He quickly and quietly tells me that his assistant sometimes goes off on tangents, and he needs to check on Justine; would I be kind enough to just listen and grunt? Let him know if he says anything of substance?
Henry is…odd. I begin to long for a second drink.
Not long after returning to the penthouse Henry shows up with a pizza not large enough to feed the party, and Ely takes off with another guest to correct the screw-up in a Lyft.
Soon I find myself alone on the balcony with Justine.
The night air is chilly, but alive with motion. I peer over the edge and see Ely getting into the car six floors below. “I know this is going to sound weird,” Justine says, “but Henry makes me really uncomfortable. He keeps following me with his eyes…”
I agree, and we launch into conversation about the oddness of her life — how she recouped in seclusion with only Ely and Henry to guide her; her strange scars, her lack of memories, her lack of physician care, and the lack of pictures or belongings from her life before the accident…
Over the course of the evening, I find myself whisked back and forth through awkward, private conversations . Victoria asks for help with a computer issue, which turns into a strange interview about my conversation with Justine. A stilted, uncomfortable conversation with Henry finds his eyes constantly flicking between following Justine around the room and sizing me up.
The expedition for pizza returns, and Victoria — having changed outfits with the help of another guest — decides to kick off the party games. She begins the most uncomfortable word association game of all time. Words like “death” and “decapitation” and “blood” are fitted onto “life,” “ice cream,” and “love.”
Things boil over.
Lies are told, accusations begin to fly, and confidences are breached. Henry is confined to the bedroom. Ely whisks his wife to the balcony to talk privately. Victoria, ever composed, declares that the party is over.
I and my fellow party goers ride down the elevator in stunned silence.
Upon returning to the sidewalk, we huddle beneath a streetlamp. Together we try and piece the clues together, and start to exchange information — when we’re interrupted by a gruff man in a hoodie.
Didn’t I see you before?
He hands one of us a card, his face hidden in shadow like a character from some neo-noir film.
“That girl,” he says, “She’s not the first. There’ve been others before.” He asks us to tell him what we know and then walks back into the night.
Our group looks at each other, and knows that we’re in deep.
The multi-layered story has a lot going on, and sometimes the sheer amount of information being given to the “party guests” is overwhelming. Yet Captivated: Justine manages to keep it from being too much by its smart use of one on ones. One or two people get enough puzzle pieces to start to form a part of the picture — but not the whole. While not novel, it is organic, and manages to never feel forced — a party with people breaking off, like they do.
What impressed me was the show’s use of downtime. There were a couple of fixed moments when the characters would peel away to other rooms and leave us alone to compare notes. The simple device of leaving the audience breathing room allowed us to become better invested in the world. Something we needed, as there there was a lot to dig into.
Wonderfully enough, we were allowed to dig, and dig deep. While my own LARP background (and another guest’s ARX experience) might have given a slight leg up on how to interact with the show, Captivated: Justine intrigues, invites and entices. Even someone new to the world of immersive will want to ask “What the hell is going on?” This is Immersive Telenovela.
By setting the story in a lived in place, we were given a short-hand to fill in gaps about our host, and her intentions. Clues are everywhere, from the subtle (a dog-eared copy of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, tucked on a shelf) to the overt (a coffee table book titled Postcards From The Brain Museum.) The depth of story, ephemera and set dressing brought the production as close to an immersive theatre sandbox as I’ve been lucky to see outside of a LARP.
The heavy lifting is done by the cast: comfortable enough in their characters’ skin that I often forgot that they were, in fact, acting. Stepy Kamei (Victoria) put in a smart performance as someone who’s holding onto a slipping façade. Asia Ring (Justine) rings true as a woman who’s slowly rising from a fog into unsettling realizations.
Erik Blair (Ely) is in turns enigmatic, controlling and effusive towards his bride. Josh Ritz (Henry), pushed his role enough to make me actually consider putting my hands on someone, but not enough that I would feel I needed to.
As far as intimate parties go, Victoria’s was a success. I met some new people, made some new friends, and was entertained. Despite the drama (or in this case, because of it), I had a good time — and I’m definitely looking forward to the next one…
Captivated: Chapter 1 Justine ran from March 16 to April 1 to a sold out run. Tickets were $30. It was the first of 3 chapters, the second of which is expected to be announced sometime this summer.
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