DELUSION: THE BLUE BLADE Review
Sean Decker
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With writer and director John Braver’s live interactive play currently mounting its impressive sixth year, we visited Delusion on Thursday, October 11 in Los Angeles, CA, for its 2018 iteration titled The Blue Blade, and came away quite simply enthralled by both its story and execution. Great news, given that Delusion has for the first time ever extended its run into spring of 2019. Read on!
Having launched the concept in 2011 with Delusion (and having returned in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016 with the follow-ups Delusion: The Blood Right, Delusion: Masque of Mortality, Delusion: Lies Within, and Delusion: His Crimson Queen, respectively), stuntman-turned-writer/director Braver, along with new executive producer Carl Choi and The Great Company, have this year staged Delusion: The Blue Blade at Cafe Club Fais Do Do. It’s a new location for this year’s narrative (away from the mansions which have for the most historically housed the play) which of itself is new: an Indiana Jones meets Blade Runner-style experience, which invites guests to a present-day world left erratic since the disappearance of the rare artifact The Blue Blade, which allows its holder to travel through time.
Make note, Delusion: The Blue Blade isn’t per se a haunted attraction or an escape room, although it will indeed get your heart-racing as if it were both. And while decidedly less spooky than year’s past, The Blue Blade does fully embrace its unique and ambitious action-adventure narrative, which has an elite group of historians called The Safeguard Society dispatch attendees (that’s you) on a mission to track down central figure Evelyn and The Blue Blade with which she’s absconded, through multiple time frames and locations, in order to return her and it to safety.
For 2018, Delusion’s consistently jaw-dropping level of production design has happily once again returned, as evidenced by compelling vignettes including a 1930’s garage, a harrowing trip to a Nazi stronghold and a journey to a lush Mayan jungle in which murderous natives and a stone giant await, just to name a few (how Braver and his production team were able to create such a seemingly extensive world in such a limited space is a testament to their combined talents). Also returning for 2018 is the caliber of performance by Delusion’s entirely committed acting troupe, as well as the production’s score and sound design and surprising wire work, all of which remain top-notch. To spoil anymore would be a disservice, as Delusion: The Blue Blade is best experienced sight-unseen.
Tickets for Delusion’s live, interactive performance of The Blue Blade (which has been extended until June 30, 2019) start at $95, going up to $115 depending on the day of the week. VIP packages, which cost $185 each, are available to up to four ticket holders at the 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. show times each day and include the play, a behind-the-scenes tour, two drinks, a signed poster and a discount code for Delusion merchandise, as well as a souvenir ticket. Additionally, for those arriving early to the show, or for those who decide to linger after, Café Club Fais Do Do’s kitchen serves up tasty Cajun-inspired cuisine. We recommend it.
For more tickets and more information, visit the Delusion website, ‘Like’ them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter and Instagram at @EnterDelusion.
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