Somehow, I managed to miss every single death scene in The Drowned Man, and spent a very awkward three minutes sitting on a bar stool watching a character brood. Still, it was all very exciting, not least because I spent the first half hour of my Drowned Man experience entirely convinced that I was somehow going to get offed. The sets are so intricate and thoroughly creepy that I honestly thought I might get axe murdered while poking around the darker rooms - the stuffed magpies really gave me a fright. Then I got kissed on the neck by the first character I finally found, which was likewise a rather terrifying experience. When she grabbed me there was a fleeting moment I was utterly convinced she was a vampire and that was it for me.
I spent the next half hour following her around like a duckling that had imprinted on the first thing it saw, until she grabbed another audience member and vanished into a locked cupboard. After that I floated between characters, snatching bits of backstory where I could, which resulted in a fairly rich understanding of the web of relationships. The amazing thing about the play, apart from the richness of the storytelling and the fact that the cast are all wonderful dancers, is that with Punchdrunk's brand of immersive theatre you won't get anything like the same experience if you go again and again. I'd love to visit one more time, but the prices have been going up and up and even concession tickets have now risen to £25.
:(
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