Enter Viola's Room, an Entrancing Narrative Art Experience at The Shed

With the terms experiential and immersive art so often used as labels for marketing activations, one might bristle at their very mention. And yet “Viola’s Room,” open now through November 16 at The Shed, acts as a refreshing reminder that these concepts originate from transformative experiences and artistry. Imagined and produced by Punchdrunk, the theatrical innovator behind “Sleep No More,” and narrated by Helena Bonham Carter, “Viola’s Room” asks audience members to take off their shoes, check their telephones, put on headphones, and step into a lush, layered fairytale enveloped in darkness.

To navigate the hour-long artwork, attendees follow fuzzy light bulbs as they illuminate—one at a time—through a maze-like world complete with the intimacy of a bedroom and the extravagance of a grand gala. Immediately you feel as if you’ve left The Shed. “We wanted to create a living fever dream in which the corridors of your mind open up in a nonsensical way,” Felix Barrett, Punchdrunk’s founder and artistic director, tells Surface. “The design layout is there to create that feeling. Also, we wondered what it would be like to fall inside your bed and get lost in the duvet covers. We wanted to find out what might happen next.”

From a narrative perspective, “Viola’s Room” tells a story within a story—one contemporary, of passing from youth into young adulthood; another, a fairy tale of a princess dancing through the darkness of night. Design details support every layer, adding texture to the surface and everything that lies beneath—whether that’s with tunnels of sand, shifting scent in the air, a well-placed toy soldier, or worn ballet slippers. “We set out to tell this story with as many senses engaged as possible,” Barrett continues. “We knew taste would be tricky but we wanted to hit all the others—sight, sound, touch, smell—in as many ways as possible.”

Without actors—only a set that encouraged a sense of adventure, and evocative narration—the Punchdrunk creative team had to ask themselves, “how could you craft this story through sense alone?” It was with an obsessive attention to sensory stimulation. Barrett adds, “we also hate style over content, so the level of detail in our work is very important. Every object has to fold back into the meta narrative. If only one audience member notices an object tucked away in the set, then it has served its purpose.”

Beyond the mesmerizing narration, the sound experience has been carefully concocted—though will defy expectation for some participants. In fact, without giving too much away, the soundtrack embraces atmospheric hits… from 1994. This attribute welcomes guests to the world. “It is an immediate way to transport an audience,” Barrett explains. “We wanted to take them to the nostalgic, dewey-eyed liminal space between childhood and adulthood. For us, these songs beautifully encapsulate that feeling. We wanted the audience to tumble inside them.” Tumble, crawl, gasp, and reflect, we did.