Long-running immersive show Sleep No More may have finally crossed the point of no return.
After a full year of extensions past its originally announced closing date, the show, based on Shakespeare's Macbeth, has announced that January 5, 2025 will be its "absolute" (according to press notes, in all caps) final performance—for real, this time.
The loose adaptation, which reimagined Shakespeare's classic as a quasi-dance piece with audience interaction, began previews March 7, 2011. Fourteen years later, it has enjoyed more than two million attendees and has run for over 5,000 performances.
The New York debut of Sleep No More has been presented by Emursive's Randy Weiner (The Donkey Show), Arthur Karpati, and Jonathan Hochwald—in association with Rebecca Gold Productions. Not able to find an existing venue to accommodate the show, an empty building in the Chelsea neighborhood was transformed into the McKittrick Hotel, a multi-level dining, nightlife, and entertainment venue.
Sleep No More takes a non-linear approach to its storytelling, allowing theatregoers to freely explore five floors of the venue, where scenes, tableaux, and scenarios play out, conjuring the world and themes of Shakespeare's bloody tale. Audience members don masks and must be silent during the experience. Participants are encouraged to open drawers, pull back curtains, read private notes and journals, and follow the performers. The production has co-direction and choreography by Maxin Doyle and sound design by Stephen Dobbie. Design associates are Beatrice Minns and Livi Vaughan.
Only time will tell if this is truly the production's death knell. It is unknown what show would replace Sleep No More at the McKittrick.
Visit McKittrickHotel.com.