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Sleep No More (2011 Play)
''Sleep No More'' is the New York City production of an immersive work of theatre created by British theatre company Punchdrunk. It is primarily based on William Shakespeare's '' Macbeth'', with inspiration also taken from noir films (especially those of Alfred Hitchcock), as well as some reference to the 1697 Paisley witch trials. It is expanded from their original 2003 London incarnation (at the Beaufoy Building) and their Brookline, Massachusetts 2009 collaboration with Boston's American Repertory Theatre (at the Old Lincoln School). The company reinvented ''Sleep No More'' as a co-production with Emursive, and began performances on March 7, 2011. ''Sleep No More'' won the 2011 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience and won Punchdrunk special citations at the 2011 Obie Awards for design and choreography. ''Sleep No More'' adapts the story of ''Macbeth'', deprived of nearly all spoken dialogue and set primarily in a dimly-lit, 1930s-era establishment called ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Punchdrunk (theatre Company)
Punchdrunk is a British theatre company, formed in 2000 by Felix Barrett. The company developed a form of immersive theatre in which no audience member will have the same experience as another. The audience is free to choose what to watch and where to go. The format is related to promenade theatre, but utilizes audience immersion more extensively. The company's way of using sound, light, movement, and environment in such ways while merging mass spectacle with intimate audience experiences, has garnered major recognition for being so unique. In 2015, Punchdrunk formed a new company, Punchdrunk International, which produces a selection of Punchdrunk's commercial productions for national and international audiences. The company is a National Portfolio Organisation with Arts Council England. Punchdrunk International In 2015, Punchdrunk founded a new production company, Punchdrunk International. Felix Barrett serves as the Artistic Director of Punchdrunk International. Company ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the American Theatre Wing. As the Tony Awards cover Broadway productions, the Obie Awards cover off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions. Background The Obie Awards were initiated by Edwin (Ed) Fancher, publisher of ''The Village Voice,'' who handled the financing and business side of the project. They were first given in 1956 under the direction of theater critic Jerry Tallmer. Initially, only off-Broadway productions were eligible; in 1964, off-off-Broadway productions were made eligible. The first Obie Awards ceremony was held at Helen Gee's cafe.Aletti, Vince"Helen Gee 1919–2004" ''Village Voice'' (New York City), 12 October 2004, accessed on 21 November 2013 With the exception of the Lifetime Achievement and Best New American ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lunatic Asylum
The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry. While there were earlier institutions that housed the " insane", the conclusion that institutionalization was the correct solution to treating people considered to be "mad" was part of a social process in the 19th century that began to seek solutions outside of families and local communities. History Medieval era In the Islamic world, the '' Bimaristans'' were described by European travellers, who wrote about their wonder at the care and kindness shown to lunatics. In 872, Ahmad ibn Tulun built a hospital in Cairo that provided care to the insane, which included music therapy. Nonetheless, physical historian Roy Porter cautions against idealising the role of hospitals generally in medieval Islam, stating that "They were a drop in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manderley
Manderley is a fictional estate in Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel '' Rebecca'', owned by the character Maxim de Winter. Located in southern England (often said to be Cornwall as this was where the author lived, and explicitly stated as such in the Hitchcock adaptation), Manderley is a typical country estate: it is filled with family heirlooms, is run by a large domestic staff and is open to the public on certain days. In spite of the house's beauty, the main character, the unnamed narrator, who has become mistress of Manderley, senses an atmosphere of doom about it, due to the death of Max's first wife (the titular Rebecca), and it is hinted that Rebecca haunts the estate. Du Maurier's childhood visits to Milton Hall, Cambridgeshire, home of the Fitzwilliam family, influenced the descriptions of Manderley, especially the interior. She told the 10th Earl Fitzwilliam in a letter that when she wrote ''Rebecca'' 20 years later, the interior of Manderley was based on her recollec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paisley Witch Trials
The Paisley witches, also known as the Bargarran witches or the Renfrewshire witches, were tried in Paisley, Renfrewshire, central Scotland, in 1697. Eleven-year-old Christian Shaw, daughter of the Laird of Bargarran, complained of being tormented by some local witches; they included one of her family's servants, Catherine Campbell, whom she had reported to her mother after witnessing her steal a drink of milk. Seven people – Margaret Lang, John Lindsay, James Lindsay, John Reid, Catherine Campbell, Margaret Fulton, and Agnes Naismith – were found guilty of having bewitched Shaw and were condemned to death. One subsequently committed suicide by hanging himself in his prison cell. The other six were hanged and then burned on the ''Gallow Green'' in Paisley on 10 June 1697, the last mass execution for witchcraft in western Europe. Agnes Naismith cursed everyone present at her trial and their descendants, and for many years afterwards every tragedy in Paisley was b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sleep No More Letter
Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, but more reactive than a coma or disorders of consciousness, with sleep displaying different, active brain patterns. Sleep occurs in repeating periods, in which the body alternates between two distinct modes: REM sleep and non-REM sleep. Although REM stands for "rapid eye movement", this mode of sleep has many other aspects, including virtual paralysis of the body. Dreams are a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. During sleep, most of the body's systems are in an anabolic state, helping to restore the immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems; these are vital processes that maintain mood, memory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strobe Lights
A strobe light or stroboscopic lamp, commonly called a strobe, is a device used to produce regular flashes of light. It is one of a number of devices that can be used as a stroboscope. The word originated from the Ancient Greek ('), meaning "act of whirling". A typical commercial strobe light has a flash energy in the region of 10 to 150 joules, and discharge times as short as a few milliseconds, often resulting in a flash power of several kilowatts. Larger strobe lights can be used in “continuous” mode, producing extremely intense illumination. The light source is commonly a xenon flash lamp, or ''flashtube'', which has a complex spectrum and a color temperature of approximately 5,600 kelvins. To obtain colored light, colored gels may be used. Scientific explanation of flashtubes Strobe lights usually use flashtubes with energy supplied from a capacitor, an energy storage device much like a battery, but capable of charging and releasing energy much faster. In a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haunted Attraction (simulated)
A haunted attraction is a form of live entertainment that simulates the experience of visiting haunted locations or storylines typical of horror fiction. They usually feature fearsome sets and characters, especially demons, ghosts, monsters, possessed people, witches or wizards, serial killers, and slashers. Humorous characters may also be included. Haunted attractions may be set up at many kinds of locations. Built attractions or existing structures in which attractions may be operated include temporarily constructed simulations of haunted houses; actual abandoned or dilapidated houses; abandoned asylums; defunct prisons; defunct or active amusement parks; defunct or active ships; defunct factories; defunct or active barns; and shopping malls. Outdoor places hosting such attractions include corn mazes or cornfields; hedge mazes; farms (often including "haunted" hayrides); wooded areas or forests; and parks. Haunted attractions (also known as "haunts" or "mazes" within ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interactive Theatre
Interactive theatre is a presentational or theatrical form or work that breaks the "fourth wall" that traditionally separates the performer from the audience both physically and verbally. In traditional theatre, performance is limited to a designated stage area and the action of the play unfolds without audience members, who function as passive observers. Conversely, in interactive theatre, the performance engages directly with audience members, making them active participants in the piece. Interactive theatre often goes hand in hand with immersive theatre, which brings the audience into the same playing space as the performers. They may be asked to hold props, supply performance suggestions (as in improvisational theatre), share the action's real-world (non-theatrical) setting (as in site-specific theatre and immersive theatre), or become characters in the performance. They may also be asked to participate in altering the course of the play by collectively voting to steer the pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Immersive Theatre
Immersive theater differentiates itself from traditional theater by removing the stage and immersing audiences within the performance itself. Often, this is accomplished by using a specific location ('' site-specific''), allowing audiences to converse with the actors and interact with their surroundings ('' interactive''), thereby breaking the fourth wall. (Immersive theater and interactive theater are not necessarily synonymous; immersive theater may not have interactive elements in it at all, and interactive theater may not be immersive in the core sense.) In ''choose-your-own-adventure theater'', agency is given to the audience to participate in changing the narrative while the performance is taking place. ''Bespoke theater'', invented by ''Fondudes'', extends participation to pre-production so each show is customized per audience at script level. Modern forms of immersive theater have a wide range of definitions, all based upon the degree and type of engagement found between ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theater (building)
A theater, theatre or playhouse, is a structure where theatrical works, performing arts and musical concerts are presented. The theater building serves to define the performance and audience spaces. The facility usually is organized to provide support areas for performers, the technical crew and the audience members, as well as the stage where the performance takes place. There are as many types of theaters as there are types of performance. Theaters may be built specifically for a certain types of productions, they may serve for more general performance needs or they may be adapted or converted for use as a theater. They may range from open-air amphitheaters to ornate, cathedral-like structures to simple, undecorated rooms or black box theaters. A theatre used for opera performances is called an opera house. A theater is not required for performance (as in environmental theater or street theater), this article is about structures used specifically for performance. Some theater ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Environmental Theatre
Site-specific theatre is a theatrical production that is performed at a unique, specially adapted location other than a standard theatre. This unique site may have been built without any intention of serving theatrical purposes (for example, a hotel, courtyard, or converted building). It may also simply be an unconventional space for theatre (for example, a forest). Site-specific theatre seeks to use the properties of a unique site's landscape, rather than a typical theatre stage, to add depth to a theatrical production. Sites are selected based on their ability to amplify storytelling and form a more vivid backdrop for the actors in a theatrical production. A performance in a traditional theatre venue that has been transformed to resemble a specific space (for example, a junkyard), can also be considered as site-specific, as long as it no longer has the functionality (i.e. seats, stages) that a traditional theatre would have. Site-specific theatre is commonly more interactive tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
