Review: CRYPTIC at Oddknock

Cryptic, co-produced by Fictive and OddKnock Productions turned a warehouse space into an immersive production that felt more like a fast-paced amusement park ride. Without spoiling too much, the premise is that a chipper tour guide (on my night played by Beau Fisher, though the role may alternately be played by Deanna Schaekel) geeks out to an audience of ten about an ancient roadside mystery (previously visited by the likes of Dolly Parton). When an ancient tome is uncovered, the tour, and tour guide, take a turn for the dark and mysterious. Highly attuned artistry from the director/choreographers, performer, and especially multimedia designer turned a somewhat schlocky premise with limited resources into a 45-minute adventure that swept its micro-audience into the center of the action.

The character most central to the unfolding of Cryptic’s adventure was Cody Borst’s technical design. It played the role of the wicked, corrupting tome as well as all of the havoc the tome reaped upon the mystical “Cryptic Keep.” Projections on surprising surfaces, animation, laser light shows, clever walkie-talkie sound design, escape-room-esque electromagnetic doors, and knee-deep fog all worked together to bring the Keep and its supernatural master to life. This use of clever multimedia design is, generally, sorely lacking from Colorado’s theatrical landscape—immersive or otherwise. It was exciting to see a dedicated artist in this field stretch his muscles a little, and following his path in the Colorado arts scene will undoubtedly result in more delights.

Beau Fisher’s tour guide started the production as a somewhat cloying, earnest guide in the vein of the Universal Studios tour or Disney’s Jungle Cruise. In the spirit of immersive productions, he lived for audience eye contact and was able to single out those audience members (me) more susceptible to increased participation. This initial foray into the Keep was probably the weakest part of his performance, as the vigorous blocking—leaping up on crates to gesture to visual aids—accompanied by his bright affect created some distance between the performer and his audience confidants. After his radical transformation in the second half of the production, Fisher was able to share his talents as a mover to great effect. His physicality created a realistic torn conscience and psyche, and it was fun to be so close to someone performing such athletic, artistic movement feats.

The immersive nature of the production was aptly described as “on the rails” by its OddKnock devisers. There was no poking around in little cabinets, nor one-on-one interactions between specific audience members and characters. This made the experience far more approachable for those new to immersive theatre—moreover, everyone left having shared the same journey, eliminating the lingering sense that one might have missed something. The weakest element of the immersive design was the puzzle-solving. The puzzles themselves weren’t particularly challenging, but solving them placed one or two audience members on the spot, asking them to work through a problem in front of a room full of strangers. Even a seasoned escape-room enthusiast might balk at that kind of social pressure. In contrast, the group dance was especially effective: the audience became complicit in the unfolding events, moved their bodies, and—crucially—were so focused on following the tour guide that self-consciousness fell away. For an “immersive-lite” production, it was exciting to see OddKnock’s small but thoughtful strategies for engaging its audience—familiar gestures that, across their work, are beginning to read as the early formation of a distinct artistic identity.