Sleep No More Tickets

The award-winning immersive experience Sleep No More has been going strong in New York since 2011. Get Sleep No More tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

What is Sleep No More?

Sleep No More is a show that reimagines Shakespeare's Macbeth as a walkthrough experience in Manhattan's McKittrick Hotel. Audience members are given masks and then left to wander among the floors of the hotel at their own pace, encountering different scenes from the show throughout. There's little dialogue, though; the scenes are reenacted with movement. And while you're walking around, the actors are, too, so you can follow them and discover even more secret locales — though they might take you there themselves first. You might also spot a celebrity, as famous actors make guest appearances from time to time. Past guests have included Sara Bareilles, Neil Patrick Harris, and Emma Stone.

Another way Sleep No More differs from a traditional Macbeth is that this version incorporates diverse historical influences. There are some references to the Paisley witch trials that took place in 1697 Scotland, and the design is inspired by film noir (actors dress in 1930s period costume) and Alfred Hitchcock's work. The venue itself is named after the hotel from Hitchcock's Vertigo, and the name of its in-house bar, the Manderley Bar, is pulled from his film Rebecca.

As Punchdrunk and Emursive, the immersive theatre companies that co-created and produced Sleep No More, state on the show's own website, the McKittrick was a 1930s luxury hotel that ended up shuttered just before its planned opening, and was left unused until they brought Sleep No More there. This is just a legend, though, to enhance the world of the show; in reality, the McKittrick was once a group of warehouses that were redecorated to look like an old hotel and converted into a performance space.

Before coming to Manhattan, Sleep No More had its world premiere in 2003 in London, where Punchdrunk is based. The show then went up in Boston in 2009 as a co-production with the American Repertory Theater, a company known for producing lots of New York- and Broadway-bound shows. Following that run, which won the 2010 Elliot Norton Award for Best Theatrical Experience, Punchdrunk collaborated with Emursive to rework the production and mount it in New York. The show opened in March 2011 to critical and popular acclaim, winning the 2011 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. Punchdrunk also got special Obie Awards for its design and choreography.

Five years after the premiere of Sleep No More in New York, the show went up in China. For this production, the story of Macbeth was combined with Chinese mythology, and the production went up in a formerly abandoned venue that was re-christined the McKinnon Hotel.

How long is Sleep No More?

Sleep No More runs up to three hours. The exact time varies depending on your check-in time — each performance has multiple check-in windows for audiences to enter in waves — and how long you spend in the venue.

Come experience the New York institution that is Sleep No More off Broadway — and then come again, as you can attend multiple times and never have the same experience twice. Get Sleep No More tickets in New York now.