Theater in Quarantine’s Nosferatu is livestreamed right to your phone in 3D
NOSFERATU, A 3D SYMPHONY OF HORROR
NYU Skirball online
October 27-31, 7:00 & 9:00, $20
nyuskirball.org
www.youtube.com
My 3D glasses didn’t arrive in time but I still got chills from Joshua William Gelb’s livestreamed Nosferatu, a 3D Symphony of Horror, which is being presented by NYU Skirball through Halloween night.
During the pandemic, Gelb converted a 2′ x 4′ x 8′ closet in his East Village apartment into Theater in Quarantine, where he staged virtual dance and drama in the claustrophobic white space. He has now returned with a thirty-five-minute Halloween special inspired by Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula, and F. W. Murnau’s 1922 silent masterpiece, Nosferatu.
The show is meant to be viewed on your cellphone, your own private, portable miniature closet, and listened to on headphones that make it seem like the characters are moving inside your head. An early title card, in a creepy, old-fashioned font, explains, “Nosferatu: Does this word not sound like the deathbird calling your name at midnight? Beware you never say it — for then the pictures of life will fade to shadows, haunting dreams will climb forth from your heart and feed on your blood.”
Gelb portrays the eerie Count Orlock, Nick Lehane is the real estate agent who has no idea what he’s in for, and Rosa Wolff is the agent’s true love, who knows something dastardly is afoot. The scenography is by Normandy Sherwood, with scary sound by Alex Hawthorn and video by Gelb. The closet turns from bright white to deep black as such props as a cross-laden door, bed, window, and miniature ship spur the action. Be sure to stick around for the time-lapse behind-the-scenes montage after the story concludes.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]