Psychic Self Defense NYC Reviews and Tickets

69%

(4 Ratings)

Positive

50%

Mixed

25%

Negative

25%

Members say

Quirky, Dizzying, Enchanting, Funny, Ambitious

About the Show

A new immersive experience blurring boundaries between reality and abstraction.

In this immersive experience, audiences step into the performance via portals adorned with drapes and corridors illuminated by chandeliers. After navigating multiple layers, attendees find themselves in what seems to be a quaint, haunted stage. Tension builds as curtains unfurl with flourish—then more curtains follow suit—unveiling and cloaking characters, items, and scenes in mesmerizing sequences. This rhythmic revelation and concealment transports both performers and viewers to psychic domains. As the curtain choreography evolves into abstraction, thread-based beings emerge, characters meld into the set, and scenic elements come to life. The theater consumes and absorbs its participants.

Show-Score Member Reviews (4)

Quirky, Great staging, Dizzying, Ambitious, Enchanting

See it if you'd enjoy a psychedelic theatrical tone poem

Don't see it if you're looking for traditional theater or dislike curtains Read more

Quirky, Edgy, Dizzying, Funny, Enchanting

See it if you enjoy short, innovative pieces of visual theater, curtains of all kinds, a few mime-like characters, no plot, odd music & sound effects

Don't see it if You like shows with linear plots, don't like being dropped into an unexpected, disorienting world with odd visual jokes & references

Confusing, Chaotic, Clever staging, Dizzying, Weird

See it if You're okay with a show that deliciously tickles your senses but in the end is about nothing in particular

Don't see it if You need a plot or even a simple storyline

Great fabrics, Slow, Quirky, Indulgent

See it if you love all things fabric, enjoy small cramped spaces, and the ticket is free.

Don't see it if you expect to be involved in any way with what is going on. Sometimes an hour can be an eternity.

Critic Reviews (5)

" 'Psychic Self Defense' is an exuberant reminder that theater makers don’t have to be teachers or missionaries. Sometimes, they can create extraordinary things by embracing pure imagination."
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Despite being immersed in its imagery, imagination, and otherworldly cacophony of bells, bongs, tinkling, whistles, static, and buzzing, I was not unhappy when the final curtain fell on Psychic Self Defense. It’s cleverly concocted, visually engaging, technically complex, and excellently executed; these positives, though, aren’t enough to overcome its excessive ambiguity, which weighs too heavily on its reception. I must report that the audience at the preview I attended clapped and clapped and clapped. I merely clapped.
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“Beyond even the sheer magical weirdness of what you’re seeing, the experience puts viewers in a state of mind that’s unlike anything I’ve experienced in the theater before; my brain disgorged thoughts and went places while hypnotized, mesmerized, and/or bemused by it that made me consider whether there were legitimately hallucinogens in the air ducts.”
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Gorgeous, impish and enveloping…It has few of the oft-quoted Aristotelian elements of drama…But it has an abundance of one element that has defined the legitimate stage for hundreds of years: Theater curtains. The show is alive with a huge variety of theater curtains…always in motion…I can’t say I never drifted, but the show seemed designed to encourage us to do so; to promote our own reverie.
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Its hour of upbeat surrealistic vignettes is realized through grand stagecraft. Spoken word is minimal, but vibrant curtains are plentiful during the presentation. Some attendees could spend the time pondering the show’s meaning, while others could simply revel in the engaging enigmatic high theatricality before them. Chuckles and wonderment abound.
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Trailer

Creative team