‘Into the Mist’ Invites Audience Into the 1920’s (Review)
A lighthearted Jazz Age night on the virtual town
I love the 1920’s for immersive theatre. The music, the fashion, and the inherent smoky mystique create the perfect equation for an immersive environment and the story opportunities are endless. I think this was particularly proven out by London’s immersive Great Gatsby experience which thrilled every fiber of my immersive soul, so I was excited to finally see a virtual production taking a stab at it via Into the Mist.
Into the Mist is a sandbox style remote performance using a custom designed, interactive web site in conjunction with Zoom. Upon arrival, audience members are transported to a virtual theatre lobby featuring three main hallways. Audience then click through the various areas on the website and can discover new rooms with different performers hidden around every corner. Featuring acts like a jazzy singing duo, a magician, and even a sketch artist, there is a little something for everyone. If observing isn’t your thing, there are also plenty of rooms with things to do, like learning dance styles of the time, competing in trivia, or joining a game of poker. There are also some mysteries to be uncovered during your time in the space, and audience members can find them by completing tasks like puzzles, riddles, and scavenger hunts to unlock secret areas or even a potential prize. Although the structure of the event was streamlined, and the performers featured were engaging, there’s just something about Into the Mist that misses the mark.
It’s hard not to draw a heavy comparison between Into the Mist and the early pandemic darling Eschaton. The latter popped up in the early summer of 2020 and set the standard for multi-room interactive Zoom performance art, all but inventing the genre. Into the Mist borrows much of Eschaton’s structure between the website that’s used to navigate the Zoom rooms which hold the various performers, as well as the idea of puzzle elements as a way of tying the whole thing together. An area where Into the Mist failed to meet expectations was the level of engagement and element of surprise. With Eschaton, half the reason I went back more than once was because it was impossible to visit every room and each room had something so bizarre in it, so I was dying to know what else was in store. For Into the Mist, I had found every room fairly quickly and had a sense of understanding of what I could generally expect in each one. It is also very difficult to make headway with the puzzles in Eschaton, to the point where I question if there even is a solution, which is part of what keeps people coming back, but we were able to solve the puzzles during Into the Mist within about 15 minutes or so. Having finished the puzzles and explored the available rooms early on left me wanting more in terms of engagement and complexity.
Get Allie Marotta’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
SubscribeSubscribe
What Into the Mist brought to the table that I really enjoyed (and didn’t get as much with Eschaton) was an incredible suspension of disbelief and commitment to the period aspect of the piece. Most audience members were dressed in theme and seemed to buy into the period right away which I’ve found to be hit or miss at many virtual productions. At one point during the after party, an MC announced an amazing new drink called Kool Aid and later someone in the chat celebrated the first flight in an air vehicle which occurred recently. Performers also joined the audience in the club after party and were active in the chat and on camera, which I think helped a lot because they were able to model participation and suspension of disbelief. It was also a really nice immersive touch to be able to communicate with them outside of their personal Zoom performance rooms. This immersive world-building aspect is something I have found is really difficult to achieve and often find lacking in virtual performance. It’s tricky to pull audience members into a new world when they’re tuning in from home and creators don’t have the tool of controlling the space like they would at an in person event. Into the Mist highly succeeded at this which I found to be very impressive.
Something I also really enjoyed was the ability to communicate with the colleagues I attended the performance with. I feel like Eschaton is so wild and winding that it is usually hard to find my friends and I tend to end up experiencing the night alone, but Into the Mist was easier to navigate and therefore easier to meet up which was nice. There also was a sense of community as opposed to Eschaton’s air of mystery — I ran into the same audience members multiple times and even got to know some a little bit through our collective experiences which was a refreshing change from the usual fleeting faces of Zoom.
Overall, the production was really lovely, but not particularly enthralling. I think a good way to think about Into the Mist is kind of like a scaffolded version of virtual immersive work. It’s a really well done, polished production, but it doesn’t ask as much from the audience as those that cater to fans of a deep dive does. This works in the favor of the experience for those who value atmosphere and aesthetics over puzzle solving, are looking to party with their friends, or who are new to immersive work and intimidated by the fabled complexity of some shows. I think the theme of 1920’s is also a great way in for folks who maybe aren’t avid theatre-goers; it’s a really familiar concept and people know what to expect which can help audience members feel less intimidated or nervous. So while I might not confidently recommend Into the Mist to those who like to dive as deep into an immersive work as I do, I think it would be a great first time immersive experience.
Into The Mist currently runs through April 16 on Friday nights. More dates may be added. Tickets are $16.
Discover the latest immersive events, festivals, workshops, and more at our new site EVERYTHING IMMERSIVE, new home of NoPro’s show listings.
NoPro is a labor of love made possible by our generous Patreon backers. Join them today!
In addition to the No Proscenium web site, our podcast, and our newsletters, you can find NoPro on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, in the Facebook community Everything Immersive, and on our Discord.