The Cold Romantics & The Year Without a Summer is a Scary, Interactive Masquerade! (5 stars)
I’m excited about Escapism Productions, which produces “immersive” theater shows. They don’t take place on a stage. Instead, you go to a historic home or other venue and walk around, exploring the space and discovering actors, who interact with you and each other. It’s improvisational, interactive, and a lot of fun. You feel like you’re at the center of the action because you are. And you also have a goal in their shows. For example, can you solve a murder? Last year I gave one of their experiences my rare 5 stars PLUS to last year, Killer in the Conservatory, an Interactive Murder Mystery, is Genius on Every Level.
This time, for The Cold Romantics & The Year Without a Summer, the troupe went back to 1816 for a spooky Halloween show based on famous American and British authors including Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein. They’re attending a masquerade, and so are you, when something unusual and supernatural happens. Can you survive? Can you figure out what’s happening and how to engineer a happy ending?
The production was held at the Isham-Terry House in Hartford, built in 1854 as a home and doctor’s office, with the medical rooms and their surgical instruments and medicines largely undisturbed. Attendees got separated into separate blue and yellow groups, and led by cast members with blue and yellow lanterns to different rooms in the house to watch scenes play out with actors.
It was spooky and fun. The acting was compelling and the story was both grounded in the real world lives of these old time authors but also set in a supernatural Halloween environment. The costumes and music set a haunting mood, and the actors were excellent at engaging with the audience and facilitating conversation with attendees — an absolute must for an audience new to this type of show who must be guided. They gave the audience just the right level of clues and hints.
Even more impressive, it was always clear when it was “time to walk”, when guests were allowed to speak with the performers, and “time to watch”, when the audience should stay quiet while a scene played out between characters.
It’s possible to note a few nitpicks. The experience only ran for an hour, and had no poetic ending for the main characters. Sometimes the actors couldn’t be heard, competing with the background music, a floor fan, and the background noise of guests and actors talking in a small space. Ultimately I don’t know that I learned anything about these famous 19th century authors, and the handouts had too much text to read, while standing, in a darkly lit and powerful (distracting) environment.
But overall, it was another success for Escapism Productions. Spooky, fun, and engaging, and even with some special effects, The Cold Romantics & The Year Without a Summer gets a perfect 5 out of 5 stars. It’s absolutely one of the best Halloween experiences that you can have in New England.
For more, see escapismproductions.com.