Punchdrunk - Burnt City

[mkb]

A five-star review from Anna James at The Stage: www.thestage.co.uk/long-reviews/long-reviews/punchdrunk-the-burnt-city-review-at-woolwich-works

But I smell a rat.

Could any reviewer really have gleaned all of that detail and have seen so much of the experience in a single trip? If so, she had incredible luck, and her insight into who the characters are and their stories is quite remarkable.

Reading some of the other reviews, I can't help but wonder if the press were given advance briefing notes by way of explanation, with tips on where to go at what times. My own experience would have been improved immensely had I such resources.

[mkb]

Here's another example. In Sarah Crompton's three-star review for WhatsOnStage, she says:

My own narrative began in Mycenae... Here lovely Iphigenia is sent skipping down a long dining table under brightly moving lights, rigged out by her mother Clytemnestra as if for her bridal day.

I cannot fathom how she knew that she was seeing Iphigenia and Clytemnestra.  Is it that you need to have mastered Greek mythology as a pre-requisite to attendance, but, even then, how do you work out who is whom?

Another line:

Once you are in Troy – all small, shuttered streets, full of shops with bright neon names such as Hesperides, and night clubs called things like Divine Destiny – the level of care is almost overwhelming; each room and space is fully realised. You walk into one and find a woman weeping and stockings drying over a bath; into another and there is a man dressing himself; into a third and another man is thrashing around, bleeding from the eyes.

This is incredible good fortune.  The typical experience is more likely to be: you walk into one room, nothing is happening; into another, still nothing happening; into a third, and yes you might find a cast member if you are lucky.

The smaller rooms are used for very little of each loop.

[Phantom of London]

For the life of me I never really understood why they didn't go safe and open Sleep No More a guaranteed hit.

[harry]

Apr 22, 2022 12:12:22 GMT mkb said:

This is incredible good fortune.  The typical experience is more likely to be: you walk into one room, nothing is happening; into another, still nothing happening; into a third, and yes you might find a cast member if you are lucky.

The smaller rooms are used for very little of each loop.

I’ve not seen this yet but my experience of The Drowned Man and The Masque of the Red Death were both similar and were made up of lots of incredibly infuriating and boring sections wandering round empty rooms wondering “is this it?” mixed with some electrifying moments where you find yourself in the right place at the right time. Actually the most fun was always trying to piece things together and comparing notes with others after the show (always tinged with a slight sense of regret that you hadn’t experienced one thing or another). So the raft of mainly 3-star reviews for this would match my previous Punchdrunk experience but not because the show itself is mediocre rather as an average rating of a show that was either 1-star or 5-star at any given moment and pretty much nothing in between.

[NeilVHughes]

From all that has been posted and the reviews my interest in this is more or less extinguished.

I hope people continue to post their thoughts as it may provide the enlightenment I need to at least pique my interest.

[alexandra]

It all sounds unbelievably stressful and FOMO-triggering. Which is how I found Faust, where I missed the entire finale. Not for me.

[n1david]

Crossrail announced to be opening on May 24 which will make getting here easier, even if it won't change the nature of the production!

Trains every 5 minutes from Central London will take 21 minutes (from TCR) to the new Woolwich station which is a bit closer to Punchdrunk's place than the existing Woolwich Arsenal station.

Makes it more likely I'll use my ticket but wonder if the journey there might be the most interesting thing about the evening...

[profquatermass]

Apr 22, 2022 12:12:22 GMT mkb said:

Here's another example. In Sarah Crompton's three-star review for WhatsOnStage, she says:

My own narrative began in Mycenae... Here lovely Iphigenia is sent skipping down a long dining table under brightly moving lights, rigged out by her mother Clytemnestra as if for her bridal day.

I cannot fathom how she knew that she was seeing Iphigenia and Clytemnestra.  Is it that you need to have mastered Greek mythology as a pre-requisite to attendance, but, even then, how do you work out who is whom?

I was able to follow the whole Mycenae story perfectly - it's not hard to work out if you know any Greek mythology or tragedy.  I don't find it unlikely that a drama critic would be familiar with the plots of Iphigeneia in Aulis and the Oresteia

[samuelwhiskers]

I forgot to post before but having expected to hate it, oh God I completely fell in love with it! Dreamy…

[caa]

I went yesterday, thanks to people who told me about Troy, with a little bit of luck I found Troy quite quickly getting there early. I saw the arrival of the Greeks and the death of a Trojan princess. Troy as others have said is full I detail. I followed one character through a wardrobe which was fun and reminded me of other Punchdrunk shows. If anything Troy is full of rooms but sadly not much action not many characters in the rooms, I would say that I spent most of the evening in Troy.

In Troy is the bar and the bar acts as good spot to recharge and as I discovered is quite easy to get to Mycenae, I noticed that the bar got very busy which I think says much about the show. In Myceanae, I saw the marriage and death of Iphigenia and some other scenes, I really liked her bedroom which was full of detail. Myceanae isn't as good as Troy in detail (it has scale) but did seem to have more going on at least in terms of Greek drama. But where is the House of Aegisthus?

As I left I asked one of the staff, is that all? I guess I meant after spending almost three hours it didn't feel that I had really understood the production. Its not a play, the actors don't speak, things are repeated so that its possible to see the same scene repeated. But as its unclear who they are I guess my feelings are it was good, but as someone who booked when the tickets first went on sale (I feel that paid too much) I should have waited, and got a Time Out ticket. Don't get me wrong its good in places, but they really need to bring more of it to life as so many areas are dead spaces. A tip to those in Troy there is a map of Troy on one of the walls and I found a guide map in one of the rooms.

[digne]

It's interesting seeing such a mixed response here because I've never been to a Punchdrunk show before, was indeed dreading it in some way, and yet had such a good time that I'm really looking forward now to seeing it again in three weeks (and maybe again after that if I can get those cheap Time Out tickets).

My main anxiety was the thought of getting lost walking all alone through a maze of empty rooms in a giant abandoned warehouse - except for the first few minutes where I found myself alone walking through dark corridors, I was never alone again. In fact, I would say there were too many people there. So often I was watching an interesting scene but then decided not to follow the actor because there was already of throng of thirty people rushing after them and there was no way to make it through the people in between.

At other times, I saw an actor take an audience member into a tiny room in Troy and sit down on a couch with him and stroke his hair, and immediately six other people would squeeze in with them although the room barely offered enough space for two.

Also, after having read earlier in the thread that someone missed all of Troy, I vaguely remembered the directions someone else gave and so immediately made my way into Troy - only to realize at the end that this meant I'd missed exploring all of Mycenae, which I only found at the very end when an actor led us there for the final scene. I remembered that big open space from where we first came in, but just couldn't find my way back there from Troy.

The friend I'd come with meanwhile had explored Mycenae but missed the final scene there, so we had a great journey home trying to puzzle out what we'd seen (I thought I'd seen the death of Iphigenia, but it turns out I missed out on that due to missing Mycenae and had instead watched the death of Polyxena).

I managed to see most of Polymestor's loop too, mostly because I kept getting lost in the maze of Troy and couldn't find my way back out, even though I found the bar twice. But those were definitely some of my favourite moments, together with the big finale.

I don't think I miss a more coherent narrative - I'd come expecting an experience, not a play, and that was definitely an experience. Also I found I really enjoyed the freedom of wandering around as I liked, abandoning a room or an actor after a minute if they didn't hold my attention because at least in my three hours in there, pretty much every time I turned around a corner I found new action happening.

I can't compare it to other productions, of course, and you can't miss what you've never seen. I'm also not sure I liked it enough to want to pay £80 several times - but I'd be happy to do it with those £25 rush tickets.

[mkb]

Cancelled tonight due to heat according to
a Punchdrunk Tweet. I'm astonished they didn't install air-conditioning in this venue. It was already toastie in the Spring here.

I gather at least one previous show started 30 minutes late and only did two loops, to protect performers, with no partial refunds offered.

[samuelwhiskers]

They send out an email saying that during the heatwave the show will only be two loops, with the first 30 minutes dedicated to private exploring, in order to protect the cast. I believe people did have the option to re-book.

[andrew]

I went last night and really enjoyed it. I hadn't seen a Punchdrunk before so perhaps the concept being new to me made me enjoy the novelty of it more, but I really loved it. I split up from my group of 4 from the museum onwards, and we spent the rest of the evening until 1am dissecting what we'd seen and piecing it together. I'd had a brief read of the wikipedia pages for the plays of Hecuba and the Oresteia beforehand to remind myself of the main characters, and I think that was absolutely essential. I agree generally with the point that you shouldn't have to do homework before seeing a piece of theatre, and perhaps the creators are overestimating the general publics understanding of Greek mythology, but having put in the research I was richly rewarded.

It was absolutely sweltering in there though, wear as few square inches of clothing as you possibly can. And was still on 2 loops, which ultimately probably made it a less tiring experience but also I feel made me miss an awful lot of the main Troy moments, due to bad luck.

I'd gladly go back, and had an excellent evening.

[JJShaw]

The rush tickets with TineOut have ended now, do we think there will be another way to get relatively cheap tickets for the run? It's going until December (?)

[Dave B]

Jul 24, 2022 20:18:47 GMT JJShaw said:

The rush tickets with TineOut have ended now, do we think there will be another way to get relatively cheap tickets for the run? It's going until December (?)

There is a £25 TodayTix lottery which I guess is new? www.todaytix.com/london/shows/25388-punchdrunk-the-burnt-city

[partytentdown]

Jul 24, 2022 20:18:47 GMT JJShaw said:

The rush tickets with TineOut have ended now, do we think there will be another way to get relatively cheap tickets for the run? It's going until December (?)

They are starting a lottery with TodayTix

[pochard]

Really interesting to read all the threads which I'd held off on until I'd been - unfortunately delayed twice by Covid & then another event (found the Box Office to be very helpful in this regard.)

Last night's was still just a two hour running time which I felt really wasn't enough to get to see some arcs and explore the sets. I remember leaving TDM and immediately wanting to book again but I didn't have this feeling AT ALL this time. I really had no clue about what was going - it felt quite Punchdrunk generic - but admittedly I didn't follow characters as faithfully as I could. I tended to be in a room just as a cast member came in (one time I didn't even have a chance to move before being almost involved in a fight) so would get to the end of something that I didn't know about.

Additionally, although there are warnings about strobe lighting etc, it really is quite central in some scenes and not easy to get away from. My partner has epilepsy but was fine in TDM, but here there were two big scenes he just had to get away from (in the central hall it was quite hard, and a staff member blocked his way when he tried to go stand in one passage) - because it really was just *continuous* flashing.

If I can get a cheap ballot ticket, I maybe - might - go again, as there were definitely some big rooms I missed (I spent a lot of time in Troy & forgot that I hadn't seen all of Greece). For me the pinnacle of Punchdrunk (other than my first visit to TDM) was watching 12 hours (and I did watch all 12 hours) of The Third Day, which is an experience I'll never forget!

[kyvai]

There were £42 tickets on TodayTix for this earlier today, for dates through till October, I was going to book but needed to check diary, so waited until after work, and now it’s back to £89/£102 again 😡 which is annoying. I’m intrigued, not been to a Punchdrunk production before, but I’m not £102 intrigued.

[Steffi]

Aug 19, 2022 18:26:21 GMT kyvai said:

There were £42 tickets on TodayTix for this earlier today, for dates through till October, I was going to book but needed to check diary, so waited until after work, and now it’s back to £89/£102 again 😡 which is annoying. I’m intrigued, not been to a Punchdrunk production before, but I’m not £102 intrigued.

Give it a little bit of time. I wouldn’t be surprised if those cheaper prices go live again soon. To me it looks like someone at TodayTix might just have clicked a button too early and put them on sale before they were supposed to be available.

[Steffi]

Aug 19, 2022 18:26:21 GMT kyvai said:

There were £42 tickets on TodayTix for this earlier today, for dates through till October, I was going to book but needed to check diary, so waited until after work, and now it’s back to £89/£102 again 😡 which is annoying. I’m intrigued, not been to a Punchdrunk production before, but I’m not £102 intrigued.

£35 and £45 tickets now available on TodayTix. :-)

[partytentdown]

Aug 22, 2022 7:24:23 GMT Steffi said:

Aug 19, 2022 18:26:21 GMT kyvai said:

There were £42 tickets on TodayTix for this earlier today, for dates through till October, I was going to book but needed to check diary, so waited until after work, and now it’s back to £89/£102 again 😡 which is annoying. I’m intrigued, not been to a Punchdrunk production before, but I’m not £102 intrigued.

£35 and £45 tickets now available on TodayTix. :-)

Steffi, as resident Punchdrunk expert, how do you recommend I enter in Troy or find it easily? My previous visit, I missed that entire half of the experience (see my earlier post) but I have bought one of the £35 tickets to go back and try and do the other half! Thanks

[southstreet]

If you have the choice when you enter after having been given your masks... go through the exhibition doors straight ahead and then up the stairs rather than the ones going off to the left. If you don't have the choice and end up in Greece, if you leave through the doors at the end of the big hall where the ladder is (as opposed to the big staircase) and follow along those tunnels, you'll end up in Troy.

[Steffi]

What southstreet said. :-)

[kyvai]

Aug 22, 2022 7:24:23 GMT Steffi said:

£35 and £45 tickets now available on TodayTix. :-)

Thankyou!