Me, Myself, and I
Professor McHugh
Underworld Journey
24 November 2015
Staying home to study for a midterm while all of the rest of my classmates went on a field trip was the last thing I wanted to do. After hearing nothing but good things about Sleep No More from research and multiple professors, I was excited to go and experience it for myself. Upon hearing stories about how spooky, uncanny and riveting it was, I also felt a little left out. And then the work began.
The most common thread running through everyone’s (except Raymond and I’s) page includes their actual personal experience within Sleep No More. From what I gathered, everyone had the same basic introduction on the elevator with the elusive elevator man, then parted separate ways to pave their own path. One author from the class book states that “Sleep No More was one of the most confusing things [he’s] done” because the play offered no guide, and he had to figure it out on his own. This same person though it important to relate it to Undertale and its various perplexing puzzles. I can see how the two relate; the player must use better judgement to decipher the new world the find themselves in. Amelia described her experience as “overwhelming” as it left her “constantly questioning the importance or relevance of the things [she saw] in each room.” Taking a more analytical approach, she fully embraced the mass confusion in front of her. Nic was most fascinated with the play. I though it was interesting how he noted how the play was “Free from constant iPhone notifications, blaring city lights, and the ability to enter and exit at will” and how “the guest is able to simply wander, to rummage through drawers and coats, to just exist like one does in childhood, unconnected and available.” While most found the Mckittrick Hotel daunting and scary, it reminded Nic of the blissful unawareness of childhood. In summation: Sleep No More is whatever the adventurer makes of it. After reading everyone’s accounts, I have to wonder: since most were confused with the settings of the play, how “true to book” was it (was each scene similar to how it was portrayed in the book)?
Doing the adapted version of this project while looking at everyone else’s pages made me feel a little left out, especially because I didn’t go to study for the class I despise the most. I feel I would have gotten a lot more out of this assignment if I had gone.