The lead-up to Halloween often means theater companies program thematically spooky shows to attract folks eager to get into the ghost and goblin spirit.
This year we have a moody/action-filled adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula thanks to Classical Theatre’s straight-ahead, bum-in-seat dramatic horror story show. The kind of traditional quality theater that Houston audiences know and love.
Then there’s, The Endings (written by Haley E. R. Cooper and J. Cameron Cooper), the latest offering from the wildly creative and genre-bending Strange Bird Immersive. The same company that gave us The Man From Beyond, the award-winning show that invited us to a private séance to contact the spirit of Harry Houdini.
Part solo immersive theater, part choose your own adventure, The Endings sends audience members into a haze-filled, detritus-strewn seemingly post-apocalyptic multi-roomed office space armed only with a mini flashlight and an audio guide voiced by a omnipresent narrator.
The fun of the show is that every experience is unique. Or more specifically, unique based on what narrative choices one makes along the way. What isn’t up for choice is that our story will always end with us dying in some utterly ludicrous and unexpected fashion.
From the minute you enter the space (10 people per hour in staggered start times) choice abounds. Or at least the perception of choice out of a handful of options.
Under the conceit of applying for a position as The Protagonist at the unnamed office, we are greeted by the creepily deadpan Human Resources director upon entry and given an application to fill out.
But take a moment to look around the reception area. The posters on the wall, the video loop playing on the TV screen, the application itself and you’ll realize how darkly funny this all is meant to be.
“Dying on the job can be fun, so make some fun choices” one of the bright and very HR-designed posters read. A video screen quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin and then humorously debunked tells us “Not to take life too seriously as you don’t get out of it alive.”
Our application (and necessary immersive theater liability waiver) asks us how we feel about death, wolves, orchids and what the apocalypse might look like. This isn’t like any job you’ve ever applied for; one hopes.
We’re laughing at the intended absurdity before we’ve even begun the meat of the experience.
Once inside the many-roomed dark and disturbing office space, our headphones and iPhone-like device guide us through the journey of spaces and choices that offer up eleven different narratives and thirty-six possible endings to explore.
Obviously not in one go. Strange Bird hopes that people return to explore alternate options and experience the space and their deaths in different ways.
So, it’s a cool idea, as many immersive shows are. But does it deliver?
To answer this, you’ll permit a little roundup/explanation of recent successful immersive genres.
Sleep No More, the famous Punchdrunk performance (New York) of various scenes of Macbeth, left it up to audience members to roam the multi-floor space to find the actors and action. Great if you got lucky, but frustrating if you missed all the performance moments.
Then She Fell, (Third Rail Projects, Brooklyn) Inspired by the life and writings of Lewis Carroll, offered audiences an Alice-like fully guided immersive experience, ensuring audiences experienced every scene in the space. Certainly fulfilling, but perhaps more didactic than immersive theater enthusiasts hoped for.
Ghost River Theater’s auditory experience of Ray Bradbury’s 1948 short story Tomorrow’s Child (Calgary), placed blindfolded audience members in swivel chairs to experience a 360-acoustic experience of the sci-fi story. Like a collective sensory deprivation experiment, the thrill was in the solo listening instead of the interaction.
With The Endings, Strange Bird has taken the best elements of all these shows and mixed them into a technically astounding and perfectly timed experience that delivers enough sass and surprise to make the hour we spend in the show a whole lot of fun.
To comment on what happens inside The Endings space would spoil the experience, but certain things are true no matter the choices you make in the show’s 10-plus office rooms.
Creepy as the set design is, prepare for hazy, dark foreboding spaces, there isn’t a fright to be found in this show. In contrast to the eerieness of the space, and thanks to the snark of the situations and the clever interaction with the audio narrator, you’ll be laughing at the absurdity of the situation the entire show.
And what a fresh take that is. Immersive experiences can be wonderfully tongue-in-cheek and without preciousness, death can be smartly silly and solo theater can make you laugh out loud by yourself.
Just a tip – if you find yourself in the Party Room doom loop…just give in to the riot. Personally, I’d go back just to experience those deaths all over again.
What is somewhat lacking in The Endings is a real narrative or takeaway purpose to the whole thing.
We’re told we’re the Protagonist applying for a job in this strange company. Our choices and stories take us through the office to discover what happened to the space, but truly, the whole purpose of the show is to make our choices result in our absurd death.
I suppose one could argue that life is like a job interview where no matter how hard we try to impress, do the job well or make the right choice, we end up dying, often in ridiculous and unforeseen circumstances.
But that’s like reading the artist essay after seeing the painting. Sure, it makes sense theoretically, but that’s not necessarily what you get from the piece itself.
So, the show is a little light on epiphany or depth. OK, noted. But where else do you get to decide if Cheetos may kill you, see how dice tell your fate, donate an organ to an organ, run from werewolves, ruinously pin a tail on a donkey and find that booze is worse than a deal with the devil? Or whatever alternate narrative your choices afford you?
With The Endings, the Strange Bird Immersive folks have once again given us an utterly unique and exquisitely run experience that will appeal to theater buffs and adventurers alike.
Houston has many spectacular traditional theaters where you can sit and watch great shows. But when you want to get up from those confines and experience something different, how lucky are we to have Strange Bird Immersive continuing to create.
Death becomes us this Halloween season thanks to The Endings. Never was our mortal end game so much fun.
The Endings continues through November 3, location to be disclosed upon purchase. For more information, visit strangebirdimmersive. $48.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
