An immersive theatre show which claims to induce an elevated state of consciousness for the audience is set to launch in London this November.
Ground-breaking art-house theatre company Waldorf Project is returning to the capital, after a seven-year break with its most ambitious show to date, Chapter Five: KAIHOGYO – a fully interactive event at a secret north London location.
Clearly it’s not for the faint-hearted though, as the show’s website states:
“This performance is an intense physical and sensory experience, and is not suitable for everyone. Participants are not encouraged to attend if they experience claustrophobia, or fear of the dark, or being touched.”
Also, phones, jewellery, watches and even perfume are banned, and the audience has to change into special uniforms before the performance starts.
The shows run from 19 November to the end of December, and each night 40 participants will be guided through an interactive environment by a team of dancers who serve as guides over the course of the three-and-a-half-hour journey.
The show is inspired by the pilgrimage of the Tendai Buddhist monks of Mount Hiei in Japan, who undertake a 1,000-day walking practice in pursuit of enlightenment. To recreate this gruelling journey a 30,000 square foot warehouse in north London has been transformed into a custom built interactive labyrinth.
During the performance the audience will encounter a series of physical experiences of endurance and meditative practices, and the show’s producer and founder Sean Rogg states that it builds to a finale which is “designed to bring participants into a heightened state of empathic connection.”
Tickets for the show are £85 each and are nearly sold out but there are also some cheaper preview nights at the beginning of the show’s run that can be bought for £30.
Waldorf Project founder Sean Rogg said:
“I have spent the last seven years researching how to access transcendental states of consciousness without the use of mind-altering drugs. Our latest chapter, KAIHOGYO, is inspired by the pilgrimage of the Tendai Buddhist monks of Mount Hiei in Japan, who undertake a 1,000-day walking practice in pursuit of enlightenment. I cannot promise enlightenment, but I have distilled elements of their journey into an experience that uses meditation through movement to guide participants towards an elevated state of consciousness.”
He added: “This is arguably the most intense immersive art experience in the world, it will push participants to the edge of their comfort zones, challenging them physically, mentally and emotionally.”
“As the experience reaches its climax, the physical demands of the journey give way to a radical new kind of human connection in which movement becomes meditation, and individual identity begins to dissolve into a sense of connection with the group. Participants are invited to let go of the outside world and enter a heightened state of awareness, where the boundaries between the self, body and the group begin to fall away.”
The three-and-a-half hour journey starts at 6.30pm and runs until 10pm. Latecomers will not be allowed to participate. You will be sent details of the secret location a few days before the show.
A total of 30 journeys will take place from 19 November to 20 December 2026. Tickets are priced between £30 and £85 per participant. Strictly 18+. Tickets: https://tickets.waldorfproject.com/
