When I found myself in San Francisco in the summer of 2013, en-route New York I had to check if it was still running. Surely it was. We booked 3 tickets 2 weeks from that day and did not really know what we were letting ourselves in for.
I must admit I was utterly confused. Mesmerized, but confused. Did not get the concept of "following" and did not understand why some audience members were suddenly whisked away into secret rooms. I stood there with genuine fear of being picked by someone to partake in a couples dance while a small part of me secretly wished I was as brave as the others who seemed to immerse themselves completely.
We left the show early.
2 months later we were planning a trip to London. I randomly searched for Punchdrunk, and discovered that they were doing a new production in London, Drowned Man. I watched the first trailer they released, and found the aesthetics wonderful and exciting.
We decided to go, and this time not be thrown off by strange happenings, but just go along with everything.
On the night of the play I was genuinely nervous. I felt that Punchdrunk was something I should "get" and understand, and I was fearing that I would miss the point this time as well.
We were let into the show, the introduction in the elevator was promising. I was gripped by the story straight away. We were let out of the elevator in the trailer park section, and the smells were intense. Loved walking towards the flashing neon sign of the saloon. All the attention to detail was immense, and the soundtrack haunting. Every room you walk in to you hear nostalgic music of yesteryear perfectly placed and timed to fit the mood of the room.
Walked downstairs and stumbled upon Frankie´s initiation. Loved the dancing, and the soft movements. Ended up following Dolores up into the Ornate bedroom. Was struck by how glamorous she was. It really felt like she was the star of the studio, and someone I thought had to be a main character for sure. After watching her for a bit we decided to have a look around. The 2nd loop must have just started as we walked straight into the birthday party in the tent. None of the characters really stood out, so ended up walking yet again.
We walked up to the desert and looked around in various rooms, when we saw two handsome men fighting over a woman. The two men were Miguel and Dwayne. The woman, a character I have yet to follow to this day, Faye. We followed Miguel down to the Saloon where I saw my favorite scene for the first time - The Hoedown. I loved the intensity of the dancing, how it feels like the entire building is going to collapse.
We hung around in town for a bit after the hoedown. Looked into Tuttles shop, no one was there so we snuck into a tiny room behind the counter. It was too dark to see anything, and it did feel slightly forbidden to be in there so we crawled back out. After looking around the various shops in town we went back up to the desert as Miguel had caught my eye.
As we arrived we saw this dark mysterious character, The Dust witch doing this ritual, I secretly envied her for being able to touch him. Ygal who played Miguel that night must have seen that jealousy in my eyes as he walked over to me and leaned against me, full of sand. He walked me over to his tent, nearly closed it and pointed towards a washbasin with a sponge. He felt so helpless, weak. I wanted to comfort him, help him.
I was finally immersed. There I was, completely out of my comfort zone, washing a half naked man. I knew I was hooked. I am not sure if it was the whiskey or the man.
As the scene with Faye and Dwayne started again we decided to head downstairs again.
We stumbled upon the seamstress who wanted my boyfriend to come into the side room for a 1:1. He was not up for it (stupid) so the door was quickly shut with another white-mask inside. We were then ushered to the finale where parts of the music from the Hoedown was being played again.
Again I felt this intense joy I previously felt at the hoedown. The cast was dancing like they were going to tear down the entire building.
When were outside, I was practically seeing stars. I did not have any clue what had happened in there, did not know anything about the story, but I knew I had witnessed something magical, something I had to see again. I also sensed that this was something I would be wise to walk alone the next time. This was a personal journey and I would finally follow that instruction. Another trip had to be made.
The song that really stuck with me was The Shangri-Las Walking in the sand.
The song that really stuck with me was The Shangri-Las Walking in the sand.
