3DD13
Since I was now on BL4KM4SS’s list of approved members after participating in their first virtual show, 3Y3, a few weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from them about the dates and times of their second virtual show, 3DD13. After making the commitment to myself for a ridiculously late night in early January, I was all set to take part with three other guests. As they are based in LA, there will be time zone issues to overcome, the available times were a bit worse for me than 3Y3, but given how much I enjoyed the first show it was worth a day of yawning.
Due to the secrecy of the shows, there’s precious little that I can say about the plot of the show, narrative, details, etc., so again this is likely to be a fairly short review on that score. This time around 3DD13 is conducted exclusively on Zoom, but rather than just one singular group chat for the duration there are, well choreographed and produced pieces of media and the use of some of Zoom’s other features.
Because it was all through Zoom, I found the whole narrative easy to follow and despite being busy with tasks, I could fully concentrate on the sounds and visuals coming from the chat window. Myself and the other three guests were joined by a variety of ‘interesting’ characters in a way which makes perfect sense for the initial briefing we received via email about half an hour before the call. Prior to the email, I had virtually no idea what the show was going to be about.
What I did expect though was a similar use of disturbing and potentially triggering themes, very adult language and imagery pretty much throughout, all with some dark humour. It would be easy for extreme and mature content to be merely an attempt at just doing it to create shock value, but there is a reason for it throughout, so it never feels cheap by being there. Admittedly the plot of 3DD13 is not one that anyone would ever find themselves in normally, but the motivations of the characters inside it felt convincingly real.
This immersion comes about from what might be loosely described as a more traditional piece of theatre. The first 45 to 50 minutes of the show, myself and the other guests were entirely passive. Observing, listening intently, watching, judging this group of characters. This allowed the excellent actors to really build up their characters, their relationships, their individual and shared histories. So, whilst we were mere voyeurs, I felt that I got to know the different personalities and their motivations even if they were something alien to me.
The last third of the show was much more interactive, with a much greater sense of agency than many other productions I’ve been to, and in a couple of occasions a bit challenging. I’m a terrible actor, so occasionally I struggle when I’m pushed out of my comfort zone and I did find that happen. Nothing enough to diminish or jeopardise the experience, and to be honest, part of the enjoyment of more intense or extreme experiences is about overcoming challenges and questioning yourself. In hindsight, I’d probably have enjoyed a bit more of this part of the experience despite how frustrating I may have found it at the time. It’s worth noting that this wasn’t the case throughout all of the final third, just at a couple of key moments. That said your mileage may vary of course, and you might not have an issue with any of it, or different elements to me.
So after about an hour and ten minutes, the show built to a thrilling, shocking and fitting conclusion. The ending didn’t feel abrupt so I felt OK when the Zoom call suddenly ended. I also didn’t feel that, had I behaved differently that the outcome would have been different. Not that that is a bad thing in itself, it did make me wonder about the more interactive parts of the show and how I was more of an interactive voyeur rather than an active participant in the narrative. Again, nothing wrong in that, I’m, personally, just a sucker for as convincing a sense of agency as possible, even if it is all an illusion.
The cast were superb throughout and really made me feel that they were a group of well-rounded characters with a rich and deep history. They might not have been the most sympathetic bunch, but I did empathise with them and the actors did a very convincing portrayal. The single use of Zoom with enhancements throughout made it easy to follow and thanks to the BL4KM4SS team for another thrilling virtual show that, as far as I know, thematically goes where no-one else currently does, but executed in an intelligent, funny and compelling way.
Further details for BL4KM4SS can be found on their Instagram or Facebook pages.
3Y3
One of the few good things to come out of the global COVID situation has been the creation of more online experiences. We’ve been fortunate to do quite a few different innovative events and escape rooms, that normally we’d never have been able to do due to geography. Because of that, a few days ago, I was rudely awoken by my alarm far earlier in the morning than I’m used to so that I could take part in BL4KM4SS’ online event ‘3Y3’.
BL4KM4SS are a predominantly LA based group who offer immersive horror experiences that normally sit at the more extreme side of the scale. They announced that they were branching out to do a remote show and I had to take the opportunity to experience it firsthand despite the time zone differences. Since this was my first BL4KM4SS event, I had to fill in a questionnaire as an application form for consideration to become a member. Thankfully it was approved and I managed to get one of the last few spots for ‘3Y3’.
Despite the title of the show, I was going in pretty much blind and really had no idea what to expect and since this will be a spoiler free review, there’s not going to be much about the specific details of the shows content. That said, the bulk of it is held over an hour long Zoom call, with some personal interaction conducted privately over social media. I was one of three guests for the call and we were joined by many more actors.
The inevitable anxiousness that comes with not knowing what to expect beforehand was quickly dissipated once the event started and the multiple actors interacted with each other, myself and the other guests. It was all done in a very natural way, especially so if you’ve ever been dragged in to a Zoom call with no real idea of why you’ve been roped in. As well as these natural interactions, the troupe ad-libbed really well responding amusingly to initial introductions and at other opportunities throughout the show.
The easy familiarity quickly went away as parts of the narrative started. The content was expectedly very disturbing pretty much from the start and it didn’t let up throughout. Some parts were pretty humorous, especially with the delivery from the actors, but are still very, very dark and the content may be triggering for some. During the Zoom call there are also more interactive elements to contend with as well, and these form a big part of the experience.
This mixture of active and passive parts worked well most of the time, but I’m not great at multi-tasking so felt that I missed some of the narrative, whilst I was focusing on the more active parts. Nothing damaging to the experience, more my FOMO of not being able to fully concentrate on everything going on at once. These interactions were some of the most challenging of the evening as there was larger sense of agency, and again with disturbing content. It genuinely felt that the decisions that I made here had at least an influence on future interactions, to the extent that I did ponder during and after the event what might have happened if I had responded differently, and more importantly should I have responded differently, were the decisions I was making the correct ones? Whether it would have made a difference I’ll never know and despite the previously mentioned FOMO, I enjoyed the ambiguity. Eventually the hour on Zoom came to an abrupt end. Personally, I’d have preferred it to have not felt as rushed, but it fitted and worked well in the context of the events.
I really enjoyed my time with ‘3Y3’, though enjoyed is never quite the right word. It certainly provided something different, challenging, and for me, at times humorous. The entire premise fitted in exactly with the need to run the whole thing over Zoom. The numerous actors were all brilliant, very convincing and spot on. They interacted with each other and the guests in a very natural way and really sold the whole event with the challenging and dark content. Hats off to them and the rest of BL4KM4SS for producing a thrilling piece of virtual immersive horror, it was worth the very early wake up call for me, and if you can deal with that then it’s well worth checking out their future events.
Further details for BL4KM4SS can be found on their Instagram or Facebook pages.
