noproscenium.com: While some modern haunts may be more extreme in terms of scenarios and level of contact, none have the history and legacy of the first breakout haunt success, Blackout. I remember pangs of jealousy when reading about its terrified audience as a teenager. I desperately searched for more information about the experience (in vain) and occasionally happened upon a terrifying snippet online. Without concrete specifics, my mind filled in the blanks with potential shackles and staple guns.
2 comments:
I had never heard about Blackout until reading this article. But before I started reading the initial image before the article really intrigued me. The fact that this is considered the first breakout haunt success speaks volumes. The person who wrote this article had been interested in this experience for a long period of time. Extreme haunts are always an endeavor. How far is too far is a really important question to consider about an experience like Blackout. The reputation of Blackout feels very similar to that of Sleep No More simply because it’s reputation precedes it because no one will talk about the details of the adventure. You have to sign wavers, you cannot touch the actors, and you will experience a horror film in real life for forty-five minutes. That’s truly all you’ll find on the internet about Blackout expect for a couple of staged photos that they allow.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of theatrical experiences or haunted houses where the actors can touch the audience and the audience can’t touch the actors. I completely understand why the audience can’t touch the actors but I don’t understand why the non-consensual touching isn’t two ways. One could say the audience gave consent when buying the ticket but I feel like this isn’t 100% true consent because usually the experience centers around being touched and if you asked them not to touch you then you would stop the performance. This means there is no way to give your true consent and get the same experience as everyone else. This might only bother me because I don’t like haunted houses or part being of interactive theatre. I think as interactive theatre goes forward they need to put consent more at the forefront and this consent has to be continual and not just implied when you purchase a ticket or are read a statement before the experience begins. The other problem I have when the actor can touch you and you can’t touch them is that this puts a very tough power relationship in play. The actor has a lot of power over the audience member and this makes me personally feel very uncomfortable. A positive of this article is that it mentions that Blackout employs the safe word technique. It was interesting reading about this show is psychosexual and targeted for straight men. I feel like this experience isn’t very inclusive and I’m confused as to how it is so successful -even though straight men are a majority I don’t think that a majority of people like psychosexual horror experiences.
Post a Comment