The following is based on a preview performance of Epic Immersive’s The Infernal Motel. Aspects of the show have evolved since then, so this is not a formal review.

I’ve been hearing about San Francisco’s Rathskeller Club long before I ever laid eyes on it. I’d first heard of the tale back when it was the Rathskeller Lounge, home of The Latitude Society, an elaborate alternate reality experience that blurred the line between the real and the fictional.

The space itself is a star, and those who have never had the chance to step over the threshold of the Club — like myself — are in for a rare treat. An unassuming door in The City’s Mission District conceals a compact warren of twists and turns that was custom built to embody The Latitude Society’s elaborate mythology.

When The Latitude came to an abrupt end, the participants took it upon themselves to hold on to the Rathskeller, and since that point in time, it has become a hub for SF’s emerging immersive scene. In the months past, it has hosted a variety of events, but it is only now — in collaboration with Epic Immersive — that the space is being “reskinned” for an all-new experience.

That experience is The Infernal Motel, which draws on stories and beats from The Divine Comedy to ask the question of what would happen if Dante went back to Hell.

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Constructed as a series of encounters along four separate tracks for six guests, Infernal mixes storytelling, dramatic scene work, and for lack of a better term, “meditative encounters” to unfold its narrative, all within the wrapper of the Rathskeller’s crawlspaces and hidden rooms.

The preview I was privileged to see was still baking, with aspects of the narrative frame still being clicked into place. Having both a soft spot for poets doomed to wander the realms of the afterlife and a deep curiosity about Epic Immersive founder Steve Boyle’s work, I’m happy to report that what I saw by and large worked.

Ironically, given the company’s name, it was the quiet moments of The Infernal Motel that worked best for me. A good part of the piece is wrapped up in storytelling segments that get a bit overshadowed by all the dynamic traversal. (That’s all the ducking, crawling, and surprise spaces to those of you who don’t speak immersive nerd.) I’m certain it would read differently to a veteran of The Latitude Society or a member of The Rathskeller Club — this is their home base, after all — but as a newcomer to the space, it was too easy to want to get lost in the details of the space, something the intentionally brief show doesn’t allow much time for.

When The Infernal Motel does slow down to let you catch your breath, it shifts into that deep space that only live immersive can really provide. After a few years of watching Boyle’s work from a distance, it’s good to know he’s got the touch.

Boyle and company establish a world for the audience within heartbeats of them entering the space, and those in San Francisco who aren’t familiar with the more intimate forms of immersive (one-on-ones with gentle physical contact, conversational scenes, traversal) are probably set to have their minds blown. As producers of an experimental piece, Epic Immersive and The Rathskeller Club have hit a rich vein, one worth iterating on.

If the instant sell-out of the initial run is any sign, they will hopefully have the runway to do just that.

The Infernal Motel is scheduled through August 13th at The Rathskeller Club in SF’s Mission District. Currently sold out, tickets for the initial run were $45 dollars. Extensions are rumored, but not yet confirmed.

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