What I liked
I am certain that this review will, to those of you who have not yet seen this experience, read as the review of someone who should probably be quietly locked away somewhere.
I’m sorry—but this experience requires a response that is, itself, somewhat circular (to avoid spoilers that, trust me, you don’t want me to give out). It requires a response that is also somewhat questioning—to you, the audience, and to Annie (the creator) and to the individual(s) inside the experience. But even there, see, I have to be careful. If I tell you how many there are, your experience is already being crafted by me, shaped by my telling you what to expect.
I can’t do that here. You, the person reading this review, you should GO TO THIS while you can. And you should do it WITHOUT knowing any more than you absolutely have to know.
Which is that I liked ALL of this.
In the sense that I appreciate what Annie has done here.
Liked the CONTENT may be an irrelevant concept. I don’t know if it’s meant to be liked. Or maybe it is.
Liked the PERFORMER is entirely audience dependent. You will have to judge for yourself. I won’t do it for you this time.
Liked the SPACE is even more dependent. For every one of us will see it differently. This I promise you, for I experienced this immediately after a friend of mine and we compared notes. We do not believe we were within the same reality. Although we know we were in the same SPACE.
Liked the CONCEPT. You’re damn right. I want the rest of the 25 of them right now. You should, too.
What I didn't like
Nothing.
I mean this. Nothing.
What I might normally have had a problem with here is part of the experience. I wasn’t sure when or how or if I should leave when I did. I wasn’t sure when or how or if I should have tried to leave something behind when I did. I wasn’t sure when or how or if I should have tried to enter places that might or might not have been intended to be off-limits.
Normally, that would have bothered me.
Here….that IS part of the point. I am sure of it.
At least…I think I am.
The lingering doubt is ALSO part of what I like. So it can’t be something I didn’t like. Can it?
My overall impression
I’m going to try and give a more normal review here. But fair warning—this experience lends itself to repeated thinking and alternative ideas.
If you have ever been involved in truly immersive theater or been to an escape room, you have SOME idea of what you might experience here. SOME idea. Now envision an immersive theater or an escape room where you are the only audience member, the only person in the room.
Can you envision this in your head?
Now remove the entire idea of it being an “escape room”. Or of it being “immersive theater”. It’s simply a room. Or rather, an apartment. The experience is called Apartment 8, after all. One should imagine it might be about an Apartment 8 without that being much of a spoiler.
This is an experience about you. You by yourself. Which doesn’t mean you may not have others with you. It just means you will be alone. Confused yet? Good. Join the club. I’ve already done it—and I’m still there. Confused. A little lost, still.
It’s immediate. It’s intimate. You will be in someone else’s skin. And yet you remain you. No one demands you escape in a given time frame—but you may wish to escape at any point. You will experience things that frighten you. Or you may not. One of us (between my friend and I) did. The other did not. Different realities. Same space.
This is not theater.
This is an experience.
This is about having a moment.
This is about reliving the past.
But it may not be yours.
But it may be.
What this IS, for damn sure, is EXACTLY the sort of thing Fringe is made for. Because this is EXACTLY what is at the “Fringe” of theater. And everyone—everyone—should go. I’m very, very glad I did.
