Review Rundown: The One Where We Go Back In Time, Into Space and Upside Down
Flashback to the days of Tammany Hall in NYC, do a little shopping in Stranger Things’ Hawkins, gamble your soul on a video game. Nine Reviews.
Now this is what I’m talking about: an ambitious immersive theatre project in NYC (Tammany Hall), a whole lot of experimental work in the Big Apple as well, the Selfie Palace gets reinvented as a store thanks to Stranger Things in LA and NYC, the ultra-fun MetaMovie in NeosVR and a hell of a lot more.
Oh, and the creepiest freaking video game/ARG thing in existence.
So that’s Theatre, VR, Experimental Immersive, Video Games/ARGs, & Pop-Up Marketing this week. Good mix!
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Inscryption — Daniel Mullins Games
$20; PC; Available Now
I know. I know. We don’t review video games. Well, not ones that don’t require you to put on a VR headset anyway.
But IS Daniel Mullins’ Inscryption a video game? Or should I say: is it JUST a video game?
Mechanically speaking the heart of the game is a deck builder style system — think Magic: The Gathering — but from the jump there’s something odd about this one. Like the fact that you can only “CONTINUE” when you first start. Or those sounds — familiar to anyone who ever booted up an x86 machine back in the day — which accompany the first moments of booting up the game.
Inscryption does more to put you in a role, and then break the fourth wall, than most conventional role playing games. Hell, than most interactive/immersive theatre. It’s also creepy. Real Blair Witch Project/spent all night reading r/CreepyPasta vibes.
Oh: and there’s something for the escape game- and ARG-set as well. Even if the later is technically all wrapped up. If I seem like I’m talking AROUND this it’s because I am. This thing is a perfect little horror thriller mind trip that’s far better than the sum of its parts should allow and yeah: it’s immersive AF.
— Noah Nelson, Publisher
Lizardly — MAXLive 2021: The Neuroverse
$15; New York, NY; Run Concluded
A performer enters the stage, dressed in a full body blue lycra suit. She motions towards a helmet, and with great exaggerated movement she puts the item on, before turning to face the rest of the empty stage, soon to be transformed into a computerized world.
Lizardly is an experiment in motion capture technology, with two live performers having their every action computerized and appearing on screen in the form of a lizard. The third performer, the one in blue, acts as the voyeur or camera to the world.
The technology was either having a particularly rough night, or it is simply not yet ready for public consumption. The graphics were awfully outdated early 2000s-era renders, the live rendering was very laggy with jumping frames throughout the performance, and the avatars themselves felt lifeless and unresponsive to the movements of the performers, as hard as they may try. With no facial recognition, the lizard faces stare blankly at us from the screen, with no mouth movement at all. The poor cameraperson had to remain completely still for the duration, which made me wonder, why not just have a stationary camera in the first place?
Every few minutes a boxing bell would chime, as a sign to the performers that they needed to reset and get back to the center of the stage for the tech to try to track them better. It was so distracting to the performance that it took away from the story of a changing relationship which was trying to be told. The show concluded with a particularly awkward moment of the two performers trying to align themselves to hug on screen, which, while meant to be poignant, came across as comical due to the limitations of the technology, as they had to position themselves most uncomfortably and separately to make it all align.
An interesting experiment perhaps, but not ready for human (or lizard) consumption just yet.
— Edward Mylechreest, New York City Correspondent
The MetaMovie Presents: Alien Rescue —Jason Moore
$10; NeosVR — Raindance Run through Nov. 21
The promise of the metaverse — if I’m still legally allowed to use that term — is that we’ll all one day get to be part of elaborate, fully staged immersive game/movie hybrids that let us play out our fantasies.
Oh. I’m sorry. I meant to write “reality” instead of “promise,” because that’s pretty much what I did this weekend during a run of The MetaMovie: Alien Rescue.
The premise is straightforward enough: there’s an intergalactic war, and one side is turning species on the verge of extinction into bio weapons. You’ve been hired on to liberate one of these tortured creatures from a fortified lab on a hostile world. Your team is a dysfunctional group of mismatched aliens and humans who are quicker on their bickering and banter than maybe they are on the draw.
If this sounds like a lot of video games, well, it kinda is. Only everyone but you and the floating drones who accompany you are actors. Which means if you’re like me and ever found yourself wishing the characters in Mass Effect or Vader Immortal could hear you and not just say their preprogrammed lines, you are in luck.
Of all the live XR/performance hybrid work I’ve experienced so far, this has been the closest to what I’ve always imagined it would be like. Something akin to a digital LARP with an infinite FX budget. Yet, it’s not just the large scale set pieces built on the NeosVR platform (which takes a moment to get used to, but I took to faster than I did VRChat), it’s the cast bringing it all to life that make this so delightful. I had a ball.
I won’t be content until there a thousand more things just like Alien Rescue in existence.
— Noah Nelson, Publisher, from his forthcoming Full Review
Odd Man Out — Martín Bondone
$35–90; New York, NY; Through December 4
“Welcome aboard,” the flight attendant tells me as I enter a dimly lit room, blindfold in hand and a pair of expensive looking headphones around my neck. “Our flight will depart momentarily.”
Odd Man Out tells the story of an Argentinian musician making his return flight to his motherland after many years away. Through an audio presentation, we learn of his story, of where he has been, and what has happened to him all this time. We are blindfolded throughout, because Alberto himself is blind.
Where sight is missing, sound, smell and taste more than make up for it in the experience. I am able to smell the traffic of a busy city. I can feel the rain on my skin. And most poignantly of all, I am able to learn an important phrase in Braille. It is a simple concept, well executed throughout by some theatrical flaire, which immediately transports the audience into the life of this blind musician in a way that no other medium could.
Produced over the course of the past year, all the actors and musicians have recorded their work individually to then later be mixed. For the most part this works very well, but there are occasional audio glitches and drops in fidelity which does take away from the experience somewhat. As the show is so dependent on sound for delivery, my senses feel sharpened to even the smallest discrepancy, which is a shame.
I am glad to find that there is an option between English and Spanish for the experience, as well as there being several sight impaired individuals actually involved in the creative process. This is a great example of genuine inclusivity within immersive theatre.
At the end of the performance, the credits roll, and we are promised future immersive flights from this new company — and I am ready to book again right now!
— Edward Mylechreest, New York City Correspondent
rECHOllection — Submersive Productions
Free; Baltimore, MD; Run Concluded
There’s a great shot in Documentary Now!, in an episode parodying Marina Abromović, in which Cate Blanchett, on her hands and knees, screams at a cat. “I am human!” she cries. For those of us who have seen a lot of inscrutable performance art, the joke lands with a hearty laugh.
I think of this as I sit placidly, rubbing pantyhose filled with ball bearings on my body to indicate where I feel certain emotions, mimicked by a woman wearing a poncho that resembles a telephone touchpad. A metal insect man dances attached to a curly phone cable held by a young boy. I think of Cate more than Marina.
Submersive Production’s spectacular See Also demonstrated what can be achieved when their high concept work gels, despite its abstractions. Unfortunately, rECHOllection does anything but gel. With a very loose, only half-explained plot — in which a time rift has opened up, revealing a future in which all digital technology has been destroyed by a virus spreading between man and machine, forcing social distancing — there was potential for commentary on how technology and pandemic isolation have interacted for better and for worse. The show seems less than concerned with this though, diving into disparate and unevenly explored themes of memory, empathy, indigenous cultures, and more, all through small, arch scenes as described above.
The outdoor venue does nothing to help. With distractions abound and noise leaking between set pieces, it’s hard to tell any sort of deeper meaning and authorial intent behind each piece. The audience is encouraged to treat it less like theatre and more like sculpture, leading to an inevitable running commentary of confusion. While each tableau presents interesting aesthetic decisions, suitable for an outdoor sculptural installation, as a cohesive work of theatre, rECHOllection is sadly too unfocused to be memorable.
— Blake Weil, East Coast Curator At Large
Siren — MAXLive 2021: The Neuroverse
$20; New York, NY; Run Concluded
An underwater symphony reverberates around the large empty room. It’s empty, apart from the huge net that towers over us forebodingly, staring down at the strange beings entering its domain.
Siren is a scientific experiment meeting with public art, where real world whale noises have been combined into a musical journey for audiences to enjoy. Listening to the music of these underwater behemoths, patterns seem to emerge almost as if observing a jazz ensemble, as improvisations grow and expand upon each other.
The room is in darkness except for a large fishing net, which lights up in a wide variety of colors as a computerized response to the music that we are hearing. The lights become the whales, and the strange unearthly sounds become personified in the stuttering lights that awaken the room. Whales are increasingly becoming endangered by overfishing around the globe, and the art piece brings this threat to life for the audience.
The musical installation lasts around 20 minutes, but unfortunately there is not really enough here to keep audiences engaged for the full amount of time. As I sit and enjoy the display, I notice several other groups of attendees come and go during my time there. It’s beautiful and impactful in its unique way, but it lacks the necessary hook to really hold onto the audience.
I enjoyed my time in this underwater jazz club, where greater study, understanding and a little patience certainly rewards the listener.
— Edward Mylechreest, New York City Correspondent
Stranger Things: The Official Store — Netflix
Free; LA: Americana at Brand, NYC: Times Square; Limited Run, Reservations Accepted
Let’s get some things straight: while this is from Netflix this is not the Stranger Things Experience which is on sale in NYC and SF right now. (That’s something different.) What this is represents what might just be the next step in the evolution of pop-up activations: a retail store themed to a single IP that’s engineered to sustain hype between seasons.
Mixing the best parts of a Selfie Palace — iconic photo spots — with interactive features, free games, and merch you’ll actually want if you like Stranger Things I’m almost dismayed to tell you how much I liked this. Like, totally: a lot.
The wild thing is that after spending about twenty minutes hopping around the store, playing Centipede, taking pics, admiring the cool arcade cabinet displays for hoodies, and getting folks to take my picture while I was being an idiot, I found myself getting nostalgic for Stranger Things. Congratulations, Netflix: the plan worked. There were even little details that made me want to rewatch an episode to see if they were from the show.
Ahhhhh. They’ve hooked me.
My only real complaint is that while you could find Ghostbusters and Masters of the Universe merch — 95% of it referencing the ’80s incarnations — there was no Dungeons & Dragons kit. Maybe the crew grew out of D&D. Or maybe Hasbro didn’t want to cough up the cash to get them on the shelves. In any case: a missed opportunity for D&D. That’s not on Netflix. They did good here.
Best of all: it’s free to go. Just don’t be surprised if you leave with an I (Demogorgon) LA bag or a personalized Scoops Ahoy hat. They’re kinda rad.
— Noah Nelson, Publisher
Tammany Hall — Created by Darren Lee Cole and Alexander Wright
$93.75; SoHo Playhouse (15 Vandam St., New York, NY, 10013); Through January 2022
(Spoilers follow.)
Tammany Hall whisks audience members away, going back in time to the NYC mayoral election of 1929. Corrupt politicians argue their way through a debate while audience members sip “illegal” alcohol and mingle with various members of the political scene. With the heavy pressure of Tammany Hall representatives, audience members are guided to cast their ballot for the Tammany backed incumbent mayor but as the evening wears on, more and more secret corruption is revealed. The night culminates in the result of the election, leading to an abrupt and convoluted ending that left this reviewer questioning whether the script was actually finished.
Tammany Hall does almost everything right — the venue is well designed and is full of unsuspecting nooks and hidden hideaways, making for a fulfilling physical journey of the piece, the actors are committed and compelling, and the piece is peppered with secretive moments and mysterious one-on-ones, rounding out the list of things I crave in immersive theatre. But I found performer interactions to be superficial and blatantly in service of the production which was a disappointment. Combined with the hasty and bizarre tying of loose ends in the finale, this left a sour taste at the end of the night. While the production is aesthetically stunning and structurally well done, it lacks a bit of heart and consideration for the audience.
— Allie Marotta, NYC Correspondent
Wandering Mind — MAXLive 2021: The Neuroverse
$15; New York, NY; Run Concluded
Yoga mat in place, I make myself comfortable on the floor. It’s been a long week, and in the darkness I suddenly find my eyelids begin to feel heavier. Luckily for me, this is exactly what Wandering Mind is hoping to achieve.
Tens of thousands of live field recordings have been analyzed by an artificial intelligence, then mapped out into a visualization of familiar sounds for a performer to wander around on a computer. For the audience, we are treated to a unique soundscape made up of musical ingredients from around the globe.
I hear the familiar sounds of an NYC emergency vehicle, but it morphs into the sounds of a freeway. A Formula One car sound complements nicely the gentle waves of some faraway beach. It’s a bizarre game of “name that tune,” only its all worldly sounds that permeate around the room. A solo violinist aids the experience by walking gently around the room, making simple musical gestures when the ambience calls for it. It is all improvisational, and it is all delightful.
It is a gentle musical experience, almost meditative in nature. According to the creator it is best experienced in that state between waking and sleeping. I know that New York City is the city that never sleeps, and so I am surprised to find that it is the sound of the city itself that can perhaps put this writer to sleep, in the most complimentary of ways.
— Edward Mylechreest, New York City Correspondent
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