Then She Fell

No spoilers in this review, mostly informational.
Make sure to show up on time, they WILL start without you. We were supposed to have 15 but they started with 13.
The actors are all dressed in Victorian era garb, you can wear whatever, dress comfortably. I didn’t get any liquids on my clothing and neither did anyone else in my group of 4. You will be apart from your group for most of the experience but it’s a better experience if you don’t see anyone you know.
Definitely a good idea to read up on alice in wonderland story if you aren’t familiar with it and also the life of the author and the relationship with the real alice.
Go in with an open mind and have fun! We all had a blast.

Incredible experience that I highly recommend! Maybe I should mention I haven’t seen Sleep No More or any other interactive theater, so I can’t compare, but absolutely loved Then She Fell (we saw the 10:30 performance on ½/​16). Intimate and intense are definitely accurate descriptors. I’m the type of person who’s afraid of their own shadow, so as we were ushered in of course I started having flashbacks from recently seeing House on Haunted Hill, and then remembering the email they send out prior to the performance that mentions you shouldn’t mind being alone, I sort of started freaking out a little bit on the inside. But once the performance started, and I was pulled into the world of Alice and the Kingsland Ward, I just became so excited and in awe of everything happening around me that all that nervousness fell away (well, mostly. there are certainly moments when you have no idea what will happen next when you’re not sure if you’re feeling the excitement of anticipation or nervous anxiety). The one-​on-​one moments were sometimes very intense with lots of moody eye contact and sometimes just plain fun. The interspersed small group moments were nice for giving you a different sort of perspective and feeling «in it» together with your group. I often had the feeling of wow, this mini performance is just for me. I loved the variety of rooms and experiences, and I would recommend that you just go to enjoy, experience, and explore, and go with the flow without any real expectations. And have fun with it!
Oh, and weird sidenote: my boyfriend and I both agreed that the White Queen smelled amazing. Please someone tell me what perfume she was wearing!

After seeing SNM (and absolutely loving it) I got tickets to see TSF with my boyfriend for our anniversary. It did not disappoint! In this show, you are lead through different scenes & rooms by the cast (as opposed to SNM where you wander freely). In this sense, I find it hard to compare the two, because they are such different shows. TSF looks into the relationship between Alice and Lewis Carroll. **I highly recommend skimming through Alice in Wonderland before the show, and doing 2 minutes of research on LC and his relationship with the real life Alice, because it will help with the interpretation of the show. That said, I don’t think you should understand everything after leaving. That’s part of the fun!
For dancers/​dance enthusiasts: the movement is less dynamically intense than SNM, which I think is fine, just different. It has a more pedestrian feel to it, and they were very smooth. On the dance/​acting spectrum this show is more on the acting end than the dancing one.
My boyfriend and I spent the first hour together and then were separated for the second hour. This was a wonderful balance because we could talk about things we both experienced and also had new things to share with each other afterwards. There are a couple scenes which I believe everybody gets, but I believe there is still significant variation.
If you are trying to decide between TSF and SNM:
TSF if: you prefer being lead around and not missing out on scenes, if you want to be guaranteed to be fed alcoholic drinks, and you prefer guaranteed one on one scenes to the chance of them

I have experienced both SNM and TSF and really enjoyed both — HOWEVER I have a major complaint with Then She Fell
I manage a small office in Brooklyn and thought this would be a great team building/​holiday celebration — so I privatized the event — meaning we bought all the tickets for the show and went as a team. At the end of the show one of one my employees was missing and we thought maybe she was «forgotten» in one of the last scenes. But we found her outside! She had been asked to the leave the show 40 minutes earlier and since we had a dinner after together she was waiting for us on the steps. She was in a room with 4 colleagues and they were talking — which technically they were not supposed to be — but some of the times you were left a lone were rather long, so some talking happens! A woman came in, led her out — she thought it was part of the show — and kicked her out.
I know they tell you they will kick you out for being intoxicated or bad behavior — but seriously — for talking a little too much??? I thinks it was out of line, and especially since I bought out all the available spots for the evening so we could be together and experience this as a team — just for this I would not recommend — it a shame cause its could have been an amazing night

I came here expecting an experience as good as or better than Sleep no more, but that didn’t happen.
Super boring, theres no story line, its just a bunch of different scenes in different rooms. I was so lost throughout the whole thing, didn’t have a clue of what i was watching.

I’ve always loves Sleep No More and have seen it 3 times already, whenever I get to visit NYC. but on this trip to NY I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to watch Then She Fell. 15 Audience members in a 100 yr old creepy building (old hospital ward), in a strange part of town, definitely made it a must experience. Being from LA, I wasn’t familiar with this area what so ever and taking the subway and looking for the place at night time in this seedy neighborhood actually had me on edge. I think it helped me a lot as I used that energy to actually immerse myself into the show.
If you let go of logic and expectations, and just let yourself flow with the show, you will definitely enjoy this very unique experience.
I don’t think this show should get compared with SNM as the other one is self driven… you can get twice the intensity you get from TSF show, or you can get ¼ of intensity and interactions if you just keep to yourself exploring, or get lost, or not put real effort into following a character around. With TSF, you are lead through an experience. You don’t really have to put a lot of effort into navigating the show and no need to stress if you are seeing the right parts or not but still a very great experience.
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The stage and décor was spot on, the dim lights, the grunginess of the place with a touch of elegance from what was once past, the back ground music that’s always playing, and the smell they infuse in the air while on different rooms really etches into your memory.
Unforgettable scenes for me were the ff:
* Being part of the mad tea party (doing their tea drinking ritual with them)
* Being read a bed time story by the white queen (kinda awkard at first since I was asked to lay down in a bed next to a woman I didn’t know in a dark room of a strange building) but added to the adrenaline rush,
* The singing from inside the closet of the dark room,
* Watching the Red Queen through a window, struggling with herself and the pills while she’s in an enclosed room.
*Being asked to mix ingredients for a tea that me and another girl ended up drinking later,
* Intense and intimate dance of the white queen on the long table while staring me down multiple times, and ending up with a cool structure of chairs, etc…
* Milder but also cool experiences were being alone with an actor in a small room painting white roses red (later pinning it into a room full of red roses), writing a dictation for LC in his room with a small pond, the dance on the stairs between alice and the rabbit, the check mate move with the chess board that coincides with a story about the Alice characters, and multiple drinking of potions and eating of fruits.
* * * My favorite scene was being pulled alone separated from the rest of the audience, ushered into a dark part of the ward, asked to sit in a small, dark, claustrophobic, closet room under the stairs with a voyeuristic reflection view of Alice and later on helping her dress. This was my fave not because I’m perving, ;p (there was no real nudity here unlike SNM and their orgy scene), but really, the scene got super intense for me as Alice kept asking me personal questions about my past experiences in her most innocent tone that kept building one into another, but soon as the answers I gave moved towards negatives, her tone and facial expression changed into a darker, angrier alice, that eventually faded into a dark stairway, through another reflection. Super cool and very intense.
I should definitely come back for seconds on this show and see how different my next set of experiences will be.
Bravo to Then She Fell casts! (clap clap clap)

If you’re not into interpretive dance, you might want to try something else. That’s most of what you see. Story didn’t make any sense to me, but maybe I just needed to know more about Alice and Lewis Carroll. There were a lot of times where you had to read stuff on old-​timey hipster paper, but it was hard to tell if it was just a random prop or something you needed to read to know what was happening in the story. They gave you keys to open up little boxes, but the stuff inside never had anything important to do with anything, which was sort of a let down.

This is the most entertaining show I have ever been to. I have never been to Sleep No More and honestly had no idea what to expect, but within the first 10 minutes I was hooked. Throughout the show, actors will snipe lone group members and pull them into side rooms where you get a one-​on-​one experience. This happens quite frequently; I spent at least 50% of the show alone, doing my own thing. Sometimes actors have you perform a task for them, like write a letter or hand Alice her clothes as she dresses. Sometimes they ask you surprisingly personal questions.
Sometimes they feed you, or read to you, or give you ‘medicine’ (booze) to take. I loved every second of it and never knew what I would see and experience next.
I also enjoyed the dance quite a bit. I’m definitely not into dance but I thought the choreography was intense and expressive, and the actors really put a lot of emotion into their movements. Many of the negative reviews here harp on the dance but I thought it was fantastic.
In terms of exploration, I felt like I had ample time to explore the rooms I was in. Usually I had two or three minutes to read the letters and notes hidden in each room before an actor came in and started a scene. Sometimes I entered a room and a scene was already starting so I couldn’t explore, but that was fine. Most of the fun came from the actors, though the sets were really spectacularly done.
It’s definitely an experience worth doing with a group or at least a friend. I did it with my girlfriend and we spent over 90% of the show apart. She saw so many things I didn’t and we had fun sharing our stories and filling each other in on the scenes that we saw. It just makes me want to go back and see more of that world.
I can’t recommend this show enough!

There was robust debate among our traveling group all trip about what was better, Then She Fell or Sleep No More, and something I still sway back and forth about in my head, but at the end of the day I think it just comes down to what tickles you personally more: size/​scope or intimacy.
Then She Fell, an Alice in Wonderland by way of insane asylum themed immersive theater experience, had a small but amazing cast who will constantly pull you into the performance in ways that were meant to shake you out of your comfort zone a little. Sometimes you’re alone, sometimes you’re in a small group. You may be fed things, asked to help the performers with tasks, be asked intimate personal details about your life, or join in the crazy at a certain tea party. These moments are mixed with others where you take a step back (literally in many cases) and take in some great interpretative dance or other interesting performances.
We were lucky enough to be traveling with a group that filled up the whole 14 spots, so we could (and did) all chat for hours afterwards swapping stories and no one had the exact same experience. We had a couple in our party that were doing this for the second time and felt almost 50% of what they saw this time was new to them. If I was back in NYC before the end of the year (when the website currently says the run goes until) I would go again for sure.

As an immersive theater junkie, I had high expectations going into this. I paid $ 200 assuming it was going to be amazing after reading reviews. It was extremely disappointing. I was bored out of my mind wishing I never did it. It’s possible they have a new cast since this opened and it’s not as good now. I’m not sure.
The actors were awful and choreography repetitive and overly dramatic. Just as one scene would get interesting, it ended abruptly. We were often left in rooms by ourselves for too long without anything interesting to look at or do. The only cool scene, the tea party, could have been amazing, but the acting was just unbearable. They could not stay in character and it felt like they were trying too hard which made it uncomfortable at times.
Sleep No More is a way better production and better value.

Basically I’m going again.
And am hoping I get a different experience next time… because I loved it so much. Even if I don’t, it was THAT enjoyable.
The girl who played the Mad Hatter was my absolute favorite. She sang to me, and she had the most beautiful voice I have ever heard, something along the lines of Lana Del Rey, but BETTER. I had to research her afterward. What a talent.
That’s all I can give away. The less you know, the better.

I had heard that this was a fun experience, and after going to ‘Sleep No More’ and loving it, I wanted to see what this was all about. This event books months in advance, so I had to plan ahead. As the date grew nearer, I was increasingly excited, and in retrospect, I’d wished I’d had expected less because I don’t know if anything could have met my lofty expectations. Don’t get me wrong, the show makes for a fun night and a cool, unique experience. It’s expensive though, and I wanted more self-​exploration.
The night started in a small room with the other attendants (15 guests/​show). We were ushered off individually or in small groups to select areas of the building, which is three floors/15−20 rooms in total. Apparently the building used to be an old hospital – creepy. One of my biggest criticisms is that most of the show happened in small groups of 2 – 5. I came here with a friend and we were together for nearly half of the performance. Another criticism is that I would have enjoyed a few more drinks during the performance. We were served about 3 or 4 ‘potions’ or ‘elixirs’ during the performance, but I wish there was a way to get served more drinks or go to a bar during the show. One other thing that I should say is that this area of Brooklyn isn’t the nicest area, and not being familiar with the area, I was a little spooked. The subway is about a 5-​minute walk, but I wish the area was a little more convenient to travel to and from. Lastly, as mentioned, there isn’t much room for self-​exploration. I was often ushered to a room, the door was shut by someone, I was left alone for 5 – 10 minutes, and then someone came to get me or someone came to tell me a story. I wished I could go from room to room more freely.
As others have commented, the story is based on the life of Lewis Carroll. Some of the choreography is interesting and fun, but at other times, you do need to suspend your disbelief to enjoy the night. There were parts that were confusing, but it was fun to compare experiences with friends after the show was finished. If you know the story of Alice and Wonderland and the story of Alice and Lewis Carroll, you’ll pick up most of the plot.
This was definitely a fun night, but for the money, I expected a little bit more. Unlike other interactive theater productions, I don’t know that I would tell friends this is a must-​see show.

I’m giving this 5 stars, because it was such a fucking cool immersive experience, but as I think about the overall exploration here, I think I liked Sleep No More a titch more. Just a wee bit, but enough to want to go back to SNM over TSF the next time I’m in town.
Here’s what I liked better than SNM. It’s super intimate (15 people MAX each night), it’s a smaller experience thus more manageable and less overwhelming, you are a crucial part of the play: rather than the play happening around you in the background, you are a character in the play.
***Spoiler alert on specifics of what I experienced. If you want to be completely surprised, don’t’ continue reading.***
I ate a tangerine, tried on a hat, was given a rose, was asked to write a letter, was read a bedtime story (with my boyfriend laying on a bed next to me, holding my hand — how beautiful!), drank tea with a cast of characters, was handed drinks through out the night, was given a poem, was given a pill, wrote a wish on a scroll and had it put into a bottle and floated in a pool, watched a dance and was truly amazed the whole time.
Suspend reality, be open to disbelief, be prepared for the magic and get ready for an all around amazing experience.

This was my first time going to a show like this and I have to say I enjoyed every second of it. It was like I left this earth and was transported directly into Wonderland.
The set design was impeccable and vast; the lighting and music was crazy. The whole time I was wondering how it was all placed together so cohesively in the madness that was the show. People were all over the place, everyone was being separated and jostled from room to room, but the show was so smooth. My mind was blown!
I found myself smiling the whole time. The show had me so emotional. I almost cried when I was alone with Alice in her closet brushing her hair; the conversation we were having was so intense.
The choreography was mesmerizing as well. I couldn’t believe the talent of the actors. All my friends and I got different experiences. I would love to go again to see all the rooms that I missed.

Shut your mouth and open your mind to enter the unique world of Greenpoint Hospital in north Brooklyn.
I’m over 21 so the doctor and nurses checked me in with 13 other people (only 15 are admitted per performance), and I was given a set of keys and was told to feel free to unlock cabinets or drawers to fulfill my curiosity.
Two rules: No doors to be open and not to speak unless spoken to. You will be given elixirs (made of alcohol) so use your discretion!
This is a worthy competition to «Sleep no more,» however, «Then she fall» is more intimate and kinda less spectacular.
I was lucky to experience the white queen telling a bedtime story while i was lying on hospital bed. Wonderful! At another foreboding room, I was seated across of the white rabbit, who handed me a white rose, a brush and a paint jar, and I just knew what i was suppose to do. Again, I was lucky to be part of the last scene and take dictation from Lewis Carroll himself to write the last letter to Alice.
Five Unilocal

Amazing.
There’s nothing that I can write about Then She Fell that my fellow Unilocalers have not said already… you need to get tickets and see this ASAP.
The production was great, it’s genius… it’s well thought out and just so wonderfully put together. It’s not a traditional show, it’s interactive and very deep so be open minded and inquisitive.
Enjoy!!!

INCREDIBLE IMMERSIVE THEATRE EXPERIENCE.
This and Sleep No More are two different worlds – with only 15 people or less admitted at a time, this results in a much much more intimate experience with the actors.
You begin by being «admitted» to a hospital ward and from there it’s time to «fall» into the world of Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland.
Without giving away the details – the experience is very very intimate – several times I was in rooms alone with just one actor being told to do things from writing letters to having drinks (yes they serve you drinks).
How intimate may you ask? Let’s just say I had to help Alice get redressed at one point (don’t worry parents, your kids won’t see anything).
Seriously, just go. The storyline alone is great, but the experience itself cannot be duplicated.

A beautifully intimate and immersive experience that is worth the trip.
No spoilers ahead, but what I can say is that there is much to look forward to in this show. Most have probably already stumbled through the «gateway drug» of Sleep No More, which is definitely a brilliant experience as well; but «Then She Fell» takes a different approach and creates a more guided, personal and, at times, almost voyeuristic experience for the audience.
As others have mentioned, the fact that you are guided through each scene by means of an ably coordinated choreography of open and closed doors, makes you feel like you aren’t going to «miss» anything, although it’s true that you won’t be able to see everything that is going on in one go. But the well thought out path that they take each member of the audience, sometimes solo or in a pair (but no more than four at once), really makes you feel like you have seen what you needed to see, and that the story you saw was full and complete.
A sublime experience and, albeit on a smaller scale than Sleep No More, was one that felt much more personalized, made just for you.

I’ve held off on writing this review for a long time because I couldn’t fully wrap my mind around it, but it remains one of the best theatre experiences of my life.
As others have suggested, Sleep No More is a good introduction to this type of interactive theatre, but Then She Fell is much more intimate, and in my opinion, more enjoyable.
Despite being paired off and hit on by an actually crazy woman in the audience (long story that I won’t go into), this was an incredible experience that left me reeling for weeks. I’m not a theatre-​goer, and I don’t often see plays, but Then She Fell was perfect in every way.
Unlike Sleep No More, where you’re running around and following characters, the pace of TSF is steadier and you will have more one-​on-​one interactions with the characters. The acting, costume design, and staging were creative & inspiring. There were scenes that left me shaking, scenes that made me giddy with laughter, and scenes that made me want to weep.
You will feel all the feelings.
*** SOME SPOILERS BELOW ***
I love, love, loved the bedroom story and have been desperately trying to find the text ever since, but I don’t think it’s available since it was commissioned specifically for the show. Such a mesmerizing and touching piece of work.
Damn, who knew Lewis Carroll had such a conflicted life? And was kind of a creep? His stories are a perfect backdrop for an interactive show, though — imaginative and haunting.
The guys in my group experienced some different scenes than the women.
The concoctions they give you are very herbal-​y and not for everyone. My friend said she almost threw up. I personally liked them!
*** END OF SPOILERS ***
Just go.

Holy. CRAP.
It was a birthday treat for my super BFF and I. After all, Then She Fell was only a few blocks away from her apartment, and we loved the Sleep No More immersive experience. Plus it was cheaper, and oh hey, with only 15 attendees per show, we wouldn’t have the awful crowds that pervails at SNM.
What we got was so much more.
The story/​theme of Then She Fell is based off of Alice in Wonderland and the relationship that Lewis Carroll had with Alice Liddell (and what caused the break between Carroll and the Liddell family). As this is immersive theater, everyone’s experience is different (my BFF got the Mad Tea Party, but she didn’t get the roses nor the one-​on-​one with Looking-​Glass Alice), however, the interweaving between the fantasy-​land of Wonderland and the story of Carroll and Liddel was amazing.
Instead of wandering the halls and exploring on your own, Then She Fell has actors and «nurses» from the Kingsland Ward escort you from room to room. At no point are you left alone for more than 5 minutes, but when alone, you have the luxury of exploring the room and discovering old photos, letters and poems.
Throughout the experience, you will be fed tantalizing little bites of food, and alcoholic concoctions (no more than a shot at a time), that, for me, really makes this a true immersive experience, as all of my senses are assulted (wait until you get into the rose room — my goodness that was a gorgeous smelling room!).
Normally, I hate comparing shows and venues against each other, but since so many people compare this to Sleep No More, also an immersive theater experience, I have to say that if you’re going to do both shows, do SNM first. If you do this show first, SNM will feel overwhelming yet dull in comparison.
While SNM has a larger facility, and the sets are more lush and overwhelming, Then She Fell is a much more intense experience. There are plenty of time in SNM where nothing is happening — you are exploring the building on your own, and if you’re timing is off — you can easily miss half of the action by the actors. With Then She Fell, there is less random exploring, but you are with an actor (or actors) at least 80% of the time. The sets may not be as huge and overwhelming and world building as SNM, but what they did with the space and the atmosphere is just as effective. Plus, the actors in TSF actually interact with you — no veiled whisperings and nonsensical murmurs. They speak lines, they look and smile at you — and draw you in deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole which you just fell into.
I loved both experiences, but for me, TSF was much more intense and personal, and with only 15 audience members per show, you also don’t have the crowds of tourists and hipster that you have with SNM.
Oh, and during our showing of TSF… NEIL PATRICK HARRIS and his husband David were in the audience. So there’s that. But the experience was so amazing that meeting NPH was only a footnote to the evening (and if you knew about my Doogie Howser obsession, you would understand what a big deal it is for me to say this).