Post by bellboard27 on Sept 30, 2018 8:15:59 GMT
I saw/experienced this at The Old Market in Brighton. It is closing there today, but it has been touring in various countries for the last couple of years and it may pop up anywhere, so I thought it worth some comment in case others wonder about going at some point.
It is a mix of live performance and VR. It lasts about 40 minutes. Trigger warnings were issued beforehand. They are listed below. Sometimes with trigger warnings in shows, they are pretty fleeting. For these (especially 1-5), they were extensive and immersive. Not for the faint hearted!
1. Violence
2. Death, including suicide
3. Blood and organs
4. Dead animals
5. Nudity
6. Underwater submersion
7. Sharks
8. Body contact
9. Nausea
10. Heat
11. Heights
12. Unknown fluid consumption
13. Strobe lights
Doom Room was developed in Copenhagen and information is here: doomroom.dk/pages/doomroom.html
Each show has a maximum of six participants. However, when I went I was on my own. This intensified the experience! Afterwards I happened to wander past the stage door where a couple of performers were hanging around. This gave me a chance to talk through their ideas, if only briefly.
I am putting the rest in a spoiler!
It is a mix of live performance and VR. It lasts about 40 minutes. Trigger warnings were issued beforehand. They are listed below. Sometimes with trigger warnings in shows, they are pretty fleeting. For these (especially 1-5), they were extensive and immersive. Not for the faint hearted!
1. Violence
2. Death, including suicide
3. Blood and organs
4. Dead animals
5. Nudity
6. Underwater submersion
7. Sharks
8. Body contact
9. Nausea
10. Heat
11. Heights
12. Unknown fluid consumption
13. Strobe lights
Doom Room was developed in Copenhagen and information is here: doomroom.dk/pages/doomroom.html
Each show has a maximum of six participants. However, when I went I was on my own. This intensified the experience! Afterwards I happened to wander past the stage door where a couple of performers were hanging around. This gave me a chance to talk through their ideas, if only briefly.
I am putting the rest in a spoiler!
{Spoiler - click to view}
The experience starts in a dark corridor. A woman appears at the end. She beckons me to join her. She is totally naked, but painted black. She takes my hand, leading me to a room where I sit. In front on me she performs a ritual. She then comes over with a silver bowl. In it are some hearts (lambs’ hearts I guess). I take one. There is congealed blood on it. After some time, I am asked to kneel in front of her. She takes the heart, then gently washes me, removing any blood. Eventually I get up and she leads me to another corridor. Before leaving her, she takes my hands, standing close and stares into my eyes for what seems like ages. I leave her and head down the corridor.
Talking to her afterwards, it seems this part is partly a challenge of intimacy – being comfortable with a naked woman touching, etc.,. Apparently some find this a bit much and they are very interested in audience reactions. I had no problem, though. With the hearts, there is a challenge of dealing with blood and organs. It seems that some do leave at this point. I wondered what vegetarians/vegans make of it!
The next section is VR. This starts with me sitting in front of a dead deer. I cut into its abdomen and remove its heart. I place it alongside the lungs and liver on the grass. There is a commentary asking me to relax, etc. I take a knife and slice open the heart. I play with my hunting rifle. Eventually I put it into my mouth and pull the trigger.
The VR then continues to a range of very odd images. One sequence involves school children, but joining them is Denmark’s tallest man, so perspective is a bit odd! The images continue for some time, but are frankly confusing. Eventually I am joined by a naked man in the VR. Someone takes my hands for real and leads me out of the room. He takes off the headset and it is the naked man from the VR.
Afterwards there is a relaxation area to have a drink and talk. I spoke to the theatre FOH there. She had done the show and had found the images as confusing as I did!
The first half is much more of a challenge than the second. I don’t have problems with animal organs. This does seem to be difficult for some participants. Frankly when the heart was sliced open, my initial reaction was “I wonder how much blood is still in there?”!
Overall, there were some interesting parts to this. I am not sure what the totality of the show is really meant to say, however. However, if it does come to a venue near you and you feel up to it!
The experience starts in a dark corridor. A woman appears at the end. She beckons me to join her. She is totally naked, but painted black. She takes my hand, leading me to a room where I sit. In front on me she performs a ritual. She then comes over with a silver bowl. In it are some hearts (lambs’ hearts I guess). I take one. There is congealed blood on it. After some time, I am asked to kneel in front of her. She takes the heart, then gently washes me, removing any blood. Eventually I get up and she leads me to another corridor. Before leaving her, she takes my hands, standing close and stares into my eyes for what seems like ages. I leave her and head down the corridor.
Talking to her afterwards, it seems this part is partly a challenge of intimacy – being comfortable with a naked woman touching, etc.,. Apparently some find this a bit much and they are very interested in audience reactions. I had no problem, though. With the hearts, there is a challenge of dealing with blood and organs. It seems that some do leave at this point. I wondered what vegetarians/vegans make of it!
The next section is VR. This starts with me sitting in front of a dead deer. I cut into its abdomen and remove its heart. I place it alongside the lungs and liver on the grass. There is a commentary asking me to relax, etc. I take a knife and slice open the heart. I play with my hunting rifle. Eventually I put it into my mouth and pull the trigger.
The VR then continues to a range of very odd images. One sequence involves school children, but joining them is Denmark’s tallest man, so perspective is a bit odd! The images continue for some time, but are frankly confusing. Eventually I am joined by a naked man in the VR. Someone takes my hands for real and leads me out of the room. He takes off the headset and it is the naked man from the VR.
Afterwards there is a relaxation area to have a drink and talk. I spoke to the theatre FOH there. She had done the show and had found the images as confusing as I did!
The first half is much more of a challenge than the second. I don’t have problems with animal organs. This does seem to be difficult for some participants. Frankly when the heart was sliced open, my initial reaction was “I wonder how much blood is still in there?”!
Overall, there were some interesting parts to this. I am not sure what the totality of the show is really meant to say, however. However, if it does come to a venue near you and you feel up to it!