Punchdrunk Theatre’s immersive, site-specific The Drowned Man featured a cast of forty performers inhabiting an enormous, impressively detailed world (staged in a sprawling former postal facility), made up of dozens of rooms, alleyways, and other, more hidden spaces. Audience members – all brilliantly anonymized by the wearing of identical ghostlike masks – were free to explore that world (loosely inspired by Georg Büchner’s 19th century tragedy Woyzeck), whether to follow a particular character or storyline, or to branch off on their own to uncover its innumerable secrets.

It has been nearly a decade since The Drowned Man. Since that time, Punchdrunk’s seemingly eternal staging of the Macbeth-like Sleep No More has continued to sell out in New York City, all while London waited – and waited (and waited) – for Punchdrunk to debut its next major work back home. Side projects – the hyper-exclusive Kabeiroi, the bizarre Jude Law TV series The Third Day (which culminated in a 24-hour livestream from the show’s fictional island setting) – have kept Punchdrunk somewhat active, but also kept it away from what it does best.

The Burnt City, Punchdrunk’s triumphant return to form, is the show audiences have been waiting for. Even if its labyrinthine setting – and even more labyrinthine plot – can be overwhelming, it is, to borrow from the Greek tradition which inspired City, the apotheosis of Punchdrunk’s dazzlingly immersive brand of site-specific theatre.

In other words, The Burnt City is incredible, and unlike anything you have ever encountered.

Staged across two colossal, multi-storey warehouses that once served as armouries, Punchdrunk has managed to create a plausibly real space, one that feels lived in, detailed, and authentic. Taking inspiration from the Trojan War – specifically, two plays by classical Greek tragedian Euripides – The Burnt City reimagines and interpolates those events as a darkly dramatic immersive dance/theatre performance with a deliberately timeless aesthetic.

As is Punchdrunk’s trademark, audience members don ghostlike masks, then are given only the most perfunctory of introductions by a gleefully menacing “host” (the spoilerish identity of that character being one of the show’s many delights) before being set loose in the title city.

Across three hours, audience members are free to explore the setting at leisure, sometimes getting lost in its darkest corners, sometimes following a particular character or characters to see where the plot takes them. The cast of mostly dancers (there is very little in the way of dialogue) is easy to identify: they are the only ones without masks, and they typically have a horde of ghosts (audience members) following closely behind them.

In The Burnt City, every character has their own narrative agency, and the choice to follow this main character over that side character will result in a unique visit for every audience member. So too does the choice to not follow any character at all, but spend time – as much or as little of it as you want –  exploring the world itself. Indeed, much of the fun of The Burnt City is in poking and prodding, voyeuristically, through the dozens if not hundreds of spaces which have been lovingly realized by Punchdrunk’s incredible production team.

That said, The Burnt City also does a remarkable job of funnelling audiences towards important details. The opening rooms, for example – including the lobby before you enter the show proper – contain extremely important hints that are worth paying attention to. Characters also tend to converge at key moments, such that even if you follow the most tertiary of side characters, they (and you) will arrive in time to bear witness to at least some of the major narrative developments. The lighting and music cues also do a decent job of prodding audiences in the right direction, though you’re just as free to resist the urge to go where the main action is, with equally compelling rewards for those who wander off the beaten path.

A piece of friendly advice is in order, however: attend The Burnt City with, and immediately split up from, a friend, so you can compare notes afterwards. Between the two of you, you will find that you each have valuable information – separate scenes you’ve witnessed, aspects of the world you’ve uncovered – which you would never have picked up on all on your own.

The Burnt City. [Image courtesy Punchdrunk 2023.]

The Burnt City is not for the faint of heart. Not only does it trade in some very serious, very mature themes (anyone who’s superficially familiar with Greek tragedy can hazard a guess), it is also willing to make audiences feel uncomfortable. There is nudity in The Burnt City. There is blood. There is darkness, and unsettling content, and the insidious feeling that the next door you open could contain something horrible – or, by the same token, something beautiful or magical. Part of the marvel of The Burnt City is that you are never quite at ease: you may think you’ve mentally mapped out your environs, or where the story is headed next, but you will undoubtedly find yourself surprised – occasionally shocked – by what Punchdrunk has in store.

For all its vastness, The Burnt City is also surprisingly intimate, affording, nay, encouraging, the minute, the individualized. Maybe it’s that moment where, alone in a room, you stumble upon a letter containing a key revelation about a character. Or maybe it’s that feeling you get on the back of your neck when you come across a secret passage, or when you walk in on a character, utterly alone, going about their business as if you aren’t there. Even if you actively seek to avoid such moments, The Burnt City is structured in such a way that you’ll encounter them anyway. Rarely has getting lost in a back alleyway felt so invigorating.

The anonymity of your fellow ghost-masked audience members is also key to the whole experience. Indeed, The Burnt City would not work without its audience, and some of its best moments come from opening a door on a mystical tableau in which a single actor stands surrounded by silent, watchful ghosts.

Some of those moments felt deeply, profoundly, personal. Some, surrounded by other “ghosts”, were so transcendently magical that I almost wish I knew who my fellow spectators were, so we could form a group to keep talking about what we experienced. (There’s one moment in particular, at the intersection between the Greek and the Trojan narratives, that’s so stunning that Punchdrunk does everything short of grabbing you by the arm to make sure you see it.)

If there are any failings to The Burnt City, they are few and far between. Yes, it probably could benefit from an explanatory note, similar to the one Punchdrunk started handing out at the start of The Drowned Man after audiences complained about its impenetrability. No, The Burnt City did not need a Porsche product placement – the one false, fourth-wall-shattering note in an otherwise impeccably immersive experience. Yes, some audience members might be annoyed that, at the end of three hours, they are left to furiously google Greek mythology to understand precisely what the hell they just saw. (Though, in my view, that’s all part of The Burnt City‘s charm.)

Still, if the idea of three hours of complete and utter immersion – did I mention they take your phone away before the show? – in a fantastical world sounds appealing, there is truly nothing better than The Burnt City. It is the most exciting theatrical event in recent memory, and the best reason to visit the UK this year.

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For tickets to Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City, click here.

For an immersive experience closer to home, we’re big fans of Outside the March, which combines site-specific performance with a progressive ethos to tell fascinating, compelling stories featuring diverse characters. Check out Outside the March here.

The post The Burnt City (London, UK Theatre) Review: Apotheosis appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

And yet, Merrye Olde Englande still retains much of its old charm. And London, one of the truly great cities of the world, remains one of our favourite places to visit – a city of music, of art, of theatre, and yes, even of food (there’s more to life than blood pudding!).

During our latest visit to London, we managed to take in no less than seven shows, six galleries/museums, and at least one journey to the sky – all within the space of a week. Read on for the highlights of London 2023 – the things you should definitely check out if you make your way across the pond in the coming year.

One of our favourite things to do, every time we visit London, is to scope out all our favourite actors appearing on stage. Anyone planning a UK vacation in 2024, for example, should keep in mind that Logan Roy himself, Brian Cox, will be appearing in Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Which is not to suggest, of course, that star power is the only reason to see British theatre: home to Billy S., the UK has probably the greatest single concentration of theatrical talent in the world. Whether it’s in the West End or in the exurbs of London, there’s always something new and exciting to see. Speaking of which…

Punchdrunk Entertainment’s unique brand of immersive theatrical experiences reaches its apotheosis in The Burnt City, a loose adaptation of several mythological incidents surrounding the Trojan War. Situated in an enormous, multi-storey former armory on the outskirts of London, the three-hour experience sees audiences don ghostlike masks and set free to explore an intricately detailed, labyrinthine set populated by dozens of actors, and dozens more rooms, alleyways, secret passages to find them in. Those up on their Euripides will likely make the most of Punchdrunk’s dazzlingly inventive retelling of Greek mythology, but for sheer spectacle alone there is little else that compares. (Except, of course, Punchdrunk’s own Sleep No More, playing slightly closer to home in New York City.)

Comedian Lenny Henry is less of a familiar name on these shores, even as his Chef! and The Lenny Henry Show remain some of the most beloved (and hilarious) British TV series of the 80s and 90s. Henry’s relatively recent transition to stage work, including highly acclaimed performances in Othello and The Comedy of Errors, has only further cemented his status as a British national treasure. Now, with his new play August in England, a deeply personal one-man show (written by Henry in his playwriting debut), he has created a powerful, very funny, and also very heartbreaking account of the “Windrush Generation” of Caribbean immigrants who arrived in the UK in the postwar era. August may have sadly come to a close, but the dynamic Bush Theatre, which presents daring, inventive new works by contemporary playwrights, is definitely worth putting on your itinerary.

Comedy nerds will know Tom Hollander from his turns in In the Loop and The White Lotus, but the star of Peter Morgan’s new play Patriots is also an interesting character actor with dramatic talent as well. His starring turn in Patriots, as the late Boris Berezovsky, the Russian oligarch who claimed to have “created” Putin, and who died in exile in London in 2013, is a rare opportunity for Hollander to take centre stage. He handles the role with aplomb, leaning into the inherent absurdity of a billionaire who self-styled as a champion of the people, and who had a habit of making friends (and enemies) of those who later wound up dead or disappeared. Will Keen is excellent as the devil incarnate, Vladimir Putin.

Filmmaker Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Skyfall) also happens to be one of the most interesting stage directors working today. Although his direction of Jack Thorne’s new play The Motive and the Cue is perhaps more conservative than it needs to be, he elicits (mostly) strong performances from a starry cast, in this behind-the-scenes account of Broadway’s fabled 1964 Gielgud-Burton production of Hamlet. Mark Gatiss (Sherlock‘s Mycroft Holmes) is excellent as John Gielgud, the actor-turned-director whose old-school sensibilities clash with the approach (and ego) of the then-world’s biggest star, Richard Burton (Johnny Flynn). Though the play sometimes leans into cliché – Elizabeth Taylor (Tuppence Middleton), for all her tabloid scandal, deserves better than the reductive “boorish American” depiction she gets here – there are some genuinely touching moments. Canadians will be glad to see Hume Cronyn (Allan Corduner) show up as a supporting character – he played Polonius to Burton’s Hamlet in ’64.

In between dashing from one play to the next, we also found time to check out quite a few art exhibitions, featuring the best of old and new.

For the classics, the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance is the definition of a blockbuster event. Showcasing one of the finest sculptors who ever lived, the exhibition pulls together examples from across different forms – monumental sculpture, bas-reliefs, decorative work – and insightfully positions Donatello alongside other artists of the era. The works of Donatello, who died in 1466, remain fresh and vital today, with standouts including the colossal Carafa Horse and Donatello’s lesser-known, but no less impressive bronze David. With Donatello winding down, more information about upcoming V&A exhibitions and its main collection – which includes a fine array of Rodin sculptures – can be found here.

Though operating in a different medium, the (sadly now-shuttered) Thin Air at London’s “The Beams” venue is the only other London experience that rivalled The Burnt City for immersive spectacle this year. Similarly situated in an enormous, multi-room warehouse, Thin Air featured a series of light-based installations, typically accompanied by evocative (and loud!) soundtracks. Standing in the centre of a cavernous warehouse while red strobe lights flicker and the low thrum of overpowered speakers shakes your body, Thin Air delivered up synesthesia of the highest order. UK-bound travellers should stay tuned to The Beams website for the latest on this most happening of art spaces.

Finally, the National Gallery’s After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art offered an interesting, if incohesive overview of various European art movements that flourished in the ill-defined period of “everything after van Gogh, we guess”. I truly, deeply love the National Gallery, which is perhaps my favourite museum in the whole world, but the scattershot approach – a Mondrian here, a Klimt there – never really coalesces around a clear theme. That said, fans of the great late 19th-early 20th century artists will find much to love here, including undisputed masterpieces from Matisse, Kandinsky, and a plethora of works from Cezanne, who takes an unexpectedly central role in this story of the “birth” of modern art.

We haven’t even scratched the surface of what there is to see and do in London. The greenery – despite its dull gray reputation, London is home to dozens of parks, from the stately Hyde Park to the rolling hills of Greenwich Park (where visitors can stand at the Prime Meridian) – and architecture – both St. Paul’s and Westminster are a must-visit – make for a charming summer’s day out, not to mention the views from Tower Bridge over the Thames.

Speaking of views, the London Eye, which, when it opened in 2000 was the world’s largest Ferris Wheel, still remains the best way to see one of the finest cities i̶n̶ ̶E̶u̶r̶o̶p̶e̶ from a bird’s eye view. The half-hour circuit gives you wonderful views of Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, plenty of churches, and of course the teeny tiny boats floating along the Thames. Go at sunset, and you’ll get a lovely view of the golden hour as the sun sets over the city, though you may have to jostle for position with amorous couples and happy families looking for the best selfie. The London skyline may not be as iconic as, say, Manhattan, but it’s just as impressive.

We’re also partial to the London food scene, starting with the excellent South Asian (predominantly Bangladeshi) cuisine found along Brick Lane in the east end. The Ottolenghi-brand restaurant NOPI is another star attraction; at a relatively affordable price, you get a feast’s worth of Mediterranean-inspired sharing plates. Yotam Ottolenghi’s bestselling cookbook Jerusalem remains a staple of modern kitchens, and a visit to any of his restaurants is worth your time.

Royal-watchers (ugh, sigh) will, I guess, also find reason to visit. Windsor Castle, just outside London, is arguably the nicest of the royal palaces, while visitors should bear in mind that Buckingham Palace is only open for tours from July to September (along with select dates in Fall/Winter). The Tower of London is, despite its macabre reputation, also worth the visit: though best known as the prison where some rather interesting names spent some time, it was predominantly used as a royal residence, and is home to the Crown Jewels of England.

CHEERIO AND PIP-PIP (FOR NOW)

Honestly, it wasn’t so long ago that we were reluctant to visit the UK.

Continental Europe, with its diverse languages, beautiful beaches, and some of the best dining in the world, seemed more appealing. But ever since our first jaunt over, we’ve fallen in love with this city that is overflowing with things to do. Go to London for the arts scene. Or the theatre. Or the food (nearly 70 Michelin star restaurants). Or the history. Or the beautiful parks. Or the music.

There’s always something to see, and do, and eat, and drink in London. And if you have the time, there’s a whole sceptred isle – Stratford-Upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s grave!), Liverpool (The Beatles’ digs), Edinburgh (peaty scotch whiskey!) – to explore while you’re over there.

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For more Toronto Guardian travel advice, check out our features on the Canadian weekend, a visit to India, and summer in Croatia.

The post This Sceptred Isle: A Traveller’s Guide to London, UK appeared first on Toronto Guardian.