Working The ‘Night Shift’ (The NoPro Review)

In Los Angeles someone got their escape room mixed up with a haunt, and made a Halloween treat

When I began work at my very first job, I started on the night shift. As I trained, I remember how the tentative, cautious feeling in my stomach was compounded by the darkness outside, and by the gleeful strangeness of the employees’ behavior when clients were no longer around. All sorts of behavior that would have been unacceptable by daylight became a bit more accepted. I was reminded of that strange night shift culture this week, as for an hour I joined the warehouse “crew” trying to survive Night Shift.

Created by Rachel Foti and Robert Decker, Night Shift places the audience in the center of a mystery: where has the previous night shift gone, and what has become of the shipments they received? Audience members assume the role of new warehouse employees, and are soon exposed to a cast of alarming neighborhood characters who have the potential to unlock the truth. Part escape room, part haunt, with elements of immersive theater in the mix, the show is a festive hybrid that intentionally bridges the gap between escape rooms and immersive and haunt experiences.

As our audience of five prepared to go in for our shift, Foti carefully clarified the rules of immersion for us. Most notably, this was not a traditional escape room: we would not get the most out of the experience if we focused on combinations and puzzle-solving while ignoring characters and atmosphere. Nor was it entirely a haunt, although some of her preparatory questions (asking for a detailed list of allergies, for example) suggested mildly invasive haunt-like elements. This was primarily a story — a structured adventure.

And with that, we ventured into the darkened warehouse.

While I won’t give away the specifics, that first room excellently calibrated our expectations for what was to come. There were clues to find. There were orders to obey. We were berated and mocked, albeit with an undercurrent of affection, by the wildly frustrated Warehouse Manager (played, in our show, by Darius Cottrell). We were tormented by the idea that we were failing at our new job, that the stakes were higher than we could imagine, and that more heightened insanity waited around the corner. The tone veered speedily from alarming to absurd and back again. We cringed and we laughed.

Which brings me to one of the most endearing aspects of the show: the humor. The marriage of horror and humor is so often fraught with compromise, but Night Shift kept both elements thriving throughout. Character bullying came with an edge of dry wit; maniacal ravings contained moments of sly awareness. I found myself laughing in delight at some of the show’s most gleeful weirdness. But at no point did Night Shift’s playfulness blunt our pressing sense of urgency. We always had a mission; there was always something in the shadows behind us.

Sixty minutes after we began, we tumbled out of the final room. In that time period, we’d traveled a labyrinthine set, interacted with multiple cast members, and — mild spoilers — emerged with markedly different appearances. Night Shift had transported us into a world of possessed objects, ancient mirrors, and masked homeowners. The mood was festive: the adventure had been a success.

As a hybrid, the show has the broad accessibility of something like Delusion (although operating on a much smaller scale). It is a safe introductory experience for escape room enthusiasts trying their first haunt, haunted house aficionados dipping their toes in immersive waters, and anyone else looking for an easy bridge to escape or immersive genres. The show also offers the chance to select the intensity of the experience: Night Shift sells both “Regular” tickets and “Full Contact” tickets. The experience I went through was “Full Contact,” which meant that I was touched by actors, exposed to and touched by offensive smells, shown offensive visuals, and generally interacted with more intensely, all of which “Regular” customers can forego.

All these options make Night Shift a welcoming and entertaining journey. I have no doubt they’ll find plenty more willing crew members for their next shift.

Night Shift runs in downtown Los Angeles through November 3rd. Tickets are $50. Ages 18+.

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