“The Twenty-Sided Tavern” on the Broadway Playhouse

“The fourth wall has been shattered,” cries the Gamemaster, contemporary from a shot of Malört. “Now our destiny is in your arms.”

And with that epic cue, a pair hundred individuals stare down at their telephones.

Is that this a cultural revolution? A daring invitation into the seventh circle of digital hell? That, pricey reader, all depends upon whether or not enjoying fantasy role-playing video games is your factor. Extra exactly, it needs to be sufficiently your factor that you just don’t simply need to play them, both on-line in your PJs or within the basement with friends, however you need to watch performers in skinny denims play them whilst you watch. And hoot and holler.

And make some selections in your telephone. “The Twenty-Sided Tavern,” a brand new family-friendly franchise (Malört however) on the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place for the subsequent a number of weeks, is an interactive leisure, a stay model of the sport Dungeons & Dragons, you may say, besides that the present is cautious to keep away from consideration from the mental property attorneys of Hasbro Inc., and thus avoids any and all proprietary phrases. No Dungeon Grasp right here. No Human Paladin. No Wooden Elf Fighter. However these sorts of creatures — Maniacal Apothecary anybody? — abound.

The present does accommodate all of the a number of resolution bushes beloved by avid gamers. In essence, you watch the aforementioned full of life Gamemaster (performed by David Andrew Greener Legal guidelines) and his sidekick, or tavern keeper, Sarah Reynolds. (Reynolds, who sits behind a number of terminals, is the sport designer, whereas the loquacious DAGL is the author.) These two banter as if you happen to have been watching the British quiz present “Pointless,” after which three younger, improv-savvy actors (Carlina Parker is Fighter, Jack Corcoran is Mage and Madelyn Murphy is Rogue) play the function of varied attainable characters (every actor remembers no less than three characters with names, identities and behaviors. Understudies’ heads should routinely explode).

You vote for who they play, as you do for what room they might enter as they head out from the Curious Hedgehog Tavern, and even what they could do once they get there. Customized digital backdrops accompany the alternatives (after the present, Reynolds ran me by means of numerous eventualities I had not occurred to see).

On the night time I did see the present, a pre-opening efficiency, the tech crashed a few instances, which means you needed to rescan the requisite bar code — however it in any other case labored wonderful. Know-how, after all, has now progressed to the purpose the place gamers can see the collective responses in real-time.

My thoughts wandered for a second to all the frantic makes an attempt I’ve seen through the years at making viewers selections a part of interactive stay leisure, no less than past shouting out ideas a la Second Metropolis; the issue (and the majority of the price) was all the time in offering a number of hundred of the particular units to transmit the alternatives. These days, producers might be positive everybody has the precise machine of their pockets, almost certainly already on vibrate.

Reynolds’ tech (Twine, Stream Deck) comes replete with resolution bushes to chart each attainable journey by means of the woods, so to talk. Being of a sure age, I shuddered for a second at how the previous method of doing this type of improv meant a Second Metropolis stage supervisor frantically writing every thing down or maintaining it of their heads. I’m glad Bernie Sahlins didn’t should stay to see the day the place you simply needed to press a button. Only a completely different sort of talent, I suppose.

The sport, which additionally contains in-person volunteering involving the titular multifaceted die, takes about two hours, with a pause for refreshment, and your reporter (sans tattoos and with monotone hair, each a rarity right here) should notice that the cacophonous viewers round him gave the impression to be having a complete blast, not least it appeared because of the pleasure of being surrounded by so many kindred spirits. There are numerous individuals who would, I worry, really feel in any other case, though they aren’t more likely to have learn this far down on this specific evaluation. However for individuals who know who they’re, this clearly felt like an genuine sort of factor, which is not any faint reward, gamer requirements being fairly off the charts. Enjoyable, and a lesson that individuals do depart you midway by means of the wooden.

“The Twenty-Sided Tavern” runs by means of Jan. 15 on the Broadway Playhouse, 175 E. Chestnut St.; 800-775-2000 and www.broadwayinchicago.com

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

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