'Burnout Paradise' Off-Broadway review — a to-do list has never been more wildly exhilarating
Read our review of Burnout Paradise off Broadway, an encore run of Australian theatre collective Pony Cam's interactive show first seen in NYC in fall 2024.
Summary
- Burnout Paradise is an interactive show in which five performers race against the clock to complete various everyday challenges with the audience's help
- The show is a chaotic and wildly fun free-for-all in which there are significant but fully voluntary participation opportunities
- The show is recommended for fans of game shows like Taskmaster and American Ninja Warrior; people who can relate to burnout in their own lives; and families with energetic kids looking for something unique to do with them
Theatre is often called an escape, but Burnout Paradise is more of a trade, allowing you an hour away from your own obligations only to spend it helping others complete theirs. So Claire Bird, Ava Campbell, William Strom, Dominic Weintraub, and Hugo Williams — collectively known as Pony Cam — make a deal with the audience: If they don't complete five challenges in under an hour, you can ask for your money back. But you won't want to.
The tasks are bucketed into “survival” (cooking a three-course meal for two lucky audience members) “admin” (submitting a grant application) “performance” (delivering monologues, dance routines, or songs) and “leisure” (nearly 30 mundane activities). Oh, and all are completed on moving treadmills; the fifth challenge is for Pony Cam to beat their combined running-distance record. The result is as overwhelming to watch as to perform, but exhilaratingly so. There's no way not to be engaged when Weintraub is side-skipping on the treadmill while pouring a bag of water into a pot in front of you, TVs are playing video footage above you, and myriad audience members are scurrying around the theatre beside and behind you.
Participatory shows aren't uncommon — heck, there are half a dozen in NYC right now — but what is uncommon is being invited to come to the stage at will to help the performers out, to shout to Campbell (the show's host and the only one not on a treadmill) for a cup of Gatorade while the action is in full swing, to take out your phones and compose emails to Pony Cam mid-show. I wasn't sure whether people would actually feel uninhibited enough to embrace Burnout Paradise's free-for-all vibe, especially in a traditional proscenium space like the Astor Place Theatre, which inherently assumes a level of standard theatre decorum.
But when people all but clambered over their neighbors' laps to join in, I was reminded of a phenomenon dubbed the "mom friend override" for shyness: a willingness to do something potentially embarrassing in front of others to relieve an equally or more nervous friend. I'll admit I did almost nothing to help the Pony Cam quartet, but other theatregoers saw them sweating and stumbling and struggling and leapt into action. Some assisted by chugging a beer or tossing a basketball, while one woman even wrote 100 words on the significance of the Central Park Conservancy for Pony Cam's grant application.
The takeaways are clear: You can't do everything alone, and even your most niche skills may come in handy for someone else. A slight melancholy also thrums beneath Burnout Paradise's delightful chaos, particularly by the end, when Pony Cam recreates OK Go's "Here It Goes Again" music video on their treadmills. It's ostensibly a silly, fun cooldown — no timer, no pressure — but the quartet just looks exhausted. And after all that, they failed at my performance on the tiniest technicality, completing the four main challenges but tying, not beating, their running record. Was the burnout worth it?
A simple, impromptu moment toward my performance's end rung most memorable in that regard. One audience member enjoying the three-course meal revealed it was the first food he'd eaten all day; our show started at 7 p.m. It's one thing to gleefully gamify the experience of burnout, to caricature it with over-the-top feats of multitasking. It's another to be reminded that it more often manifests in quieter ways.
Burnout Paradise summary
Burnout Paradise is a highly interactive theatre piece in which the five performers of Australian theatre collective Pony Cam must complete five challenges across four 12-minute blocks with the audience's help. If they fail to finish all the tasks, theatregoers are entitled to a refund.
This production marks Burnout Paradise's second NYC run after an acclaimed 2024 debut at St. Ann's Warehouse. Earlier that year, the show had also run to rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
The show is unaffiliated with the video game of the same name.
What to expect at Burnout Paradise
Expect 75 minutes of pure bedlam — maybe more, if you count the fact that the actors are already busying themselves around the stage by the time you enter. Even if you don't participate, you're still in for a fantastic time watching the proceedings swirl around you. There are no less than five different things going on at any given moment, but the Astor Place Theatre's narrowness makes it easy, or at least easier, to keep one eye on it all and get to the stage quickly, even from the mezzanine.
To that point, don't feel awkward about volunteering even if you're far from an aisle. If my audience is any indication, no one will mind. They know we're all in this together.
What audiences are saying about Burnout Paradise
Audiences praised Burnout Paradise's previous run on Show-Score, and they've echoed that feedback about the current run on forums like Reddit and the Mezzanine app.
- "It's not really a play - more of a game show? [...] I'd definitely try to get an aisle seat and/or as close to the front as possible (if you actually want to participate, of course). I was sat all the way against the wall and I still got up on stage once, which was very cool." - Reddit user u/Last-Laugh7928
- "THE MOST CHAOTIC FUN YOU'LL HAVE AT THE THEATRE." - Mezzanine user Sarah Derderian
- "I saw this at St Ann’s Warehouse and was super impressed but would not go again. The anxiety level is sky high (yes I know that’s the point). On the other hand, if you loved the movie Uncut Gems then this is probably for you." - Reddit user u/gp2115two
- "This show is hard to describe - it is full of creativity, spirit and energy, which you have to experience to truly appreciate. [...] It's exciting to see something so unique and you can bring the whole family if you want. The time flies and it's over in a flash..." - Show-Score user Kim G City
- "I was unabashedly invested in each of [the performers] -and somehow, in the audience too. I need to see it at least 36,833,638 more times." - Show-Score user Sara
Read more audience reviews of Burnout Paradise on Show-Score.
Who should see Burnout Paradise
- If you're the kind of person whose mind and body are always racing, you'll either find Burnout Paradise vividly relatable, extremely overwhelming, or both at once.
- Burnout Paradise is a great show for people who don't think they like theatre because it's so wildly different from a traditional show. It's closer to a cross between Taskmaster and American Ninja Warrior.
- If you like any of the other interactive shows in NYC right now — from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee to Every Brilliant Thing to Masquerade — Burnout Paradise offers another chance to get in on the action.
- Burnout Paradise could be a great, unique option for a day out with the kids. You won't have to worry about them not being able to sit through an entire show, because they can get up and join in at any time, and all the content is family-friendly.
Learn more about Burnout Paradise off Broadway
Wildly fun and unlike anything else on stage right now, Burnout Paradise is a singular theatre experience. But more importantly, it's a communal one. After all, not pitching in would make you much more likely to get your money back — but people do it anyway.
Photo credit: Burnout Paradise at the Astor Place Theatre off Broadway. (Photos by Austin Ruffer)
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