Enjoy A Quiet Moment of Contemplation with ‘The End of the Day’ (Review)
By: Edward Mylechreest
Tags: Review, Podplay, New York City

The End of the Day is a short and sweet phone experience designed to be “found” and played at sunset. It’s located on a random set of benches scattered around New York City. On each one, a simple inscription can be read; there’s a phone number and an instruction to call precisely at sunset.

I was quite taken aback and charmed by this guerilla-style approach to immersive theatre. Are the plaques on these benches government approved? Not exactly. As benches are compromised, updates and announcements are made online, to help would-be participants in finding the new locations.

For me, this experience took place on the westernmost edge of Manhattan, looking over the Hudson River onto the New Jersey shoreline, as the sun slowly ebbed and dipped below the buildings. That “skirting on the edge of the law” attitude, a key part of the history of immersive theatre experiences, is perhaps something that is lacking somewhat in today’s more “mainstream” approach to making work. Not that I would explicitly condone such behavior, but there was something quite enchanting about finding this hidden experience, hiding in plain sight.

If you find this call to action and choose to accept it, you will be treated to a beautiful 10-minute reflection and meditation based on the theme of sunsets. You’ll be encouraged to sit and breathe while looking out at the changing sky. The voice on the other end of the phone encourages the listener to contemplate several sunsets: past, present, and future. It is simple but so effective.

So I sat, and listened, and watched. The time seemed to fly by; birds also flew by, above me, to rest. An airplane high above left a vapor trail that seemed to stretch across the entire sky. The colors shifted and melted into the evening. The End of the Day is an oasis of much-needed quietness in the middle of a crazy season, in the city that never sleeps.

In a year when in-person experiences are so few and far between, it was refreshing to have one I could take part in with my significant other, happening in realtime and happening outside. Not only that, but with the added time constraint of having to arrive precisely at sunset (or relatively close to), it was nice to have a show to look forward to, get dressed up for, and actually go to!

The ease of accessibility is a huge plus to this piece, with the only requirement being a telephone (headphones are also recommended)

Looking around, I wished that more people around me knew about this simple yet profound experience. After all, the experience was free and it was right here if only someone would choose to stop and read the plaques on a bench. Others around me were enjoying the last moments of a warm evening, but if only they knew that a beautiful audio experience was waiting for them, right in front of their eyes.

As immersive theatre continues to grow and enters more and more into the “mainstream” consciousness, there is something quite humble and special about an experience like The End of the Day. The unusual, the kooky, the not-Broadway, is still out here and very much present, even in 2020. Creators are continuing to create and are putting their work out there if only the people will engage with it. The End of the Day proves that you don’t need a huge budget, or an elaborate set, or a massive cast to create a stunning piece of immersive theatre. With the right amount of ingenuity and some cheeky avoidance of the law, you can help to engage people not only with nature but with themselves.

To think that the sunset has been there, just waiting for me to experience every single day. It is thanks to The End of the Day that I gave myself permission to sit and enjoy this most wonderful of nature’s gifts. To actively engage with the kind of spectacle that has fascinated mankind for thousands of years. All I needed was for someone to let me in on the secret. I am so glad that this show has done that for me.

So, perhaps you too should go and find the bench with a plaque that looks ever so slightly out of place.

Just make sure you’re there at sunset.