The bad boys of artfully-created-interactive-immersive-games-cum-plays-cum-happenings, the ingenious Swamp Motel were the gang behind The Drop, a brilliant, artisanal escape room style experience in an Aldgate office block. And they’ve pulled something unusual out the bag once more: their latest offering, titled Saint Jude, is an enticing, high-concept mystery.
You’ll enter a mysterious ‘Government building’ in Westminster, between The Ministry of Justice and The Department of Health & Social Care. In this site-specific location you’ll get to know the work of Saint Jude, a company which uses software to communicate with people in lifelong, irreversible comas – reading their brain patterns and translating them into speech.
Now, the company is on the hunt for participants to join the programme, and explore the minds of ‘the sleepers’ – which is, of course, where you come in. You’ll take on the role of a ‘guide star’, and help administer St Jude’s pioneering treatment, in the hopes of awakening a sleeper.
Amazingly, you’ll only see a couple of live actors in the entire show – the rest of the action takes place between you and the patient you communicate with. And for this, Swamp Motel have partnered with Charisma, AI specialists who use cutting-edge technology to bring digital personas to life – a match made in unsettling-science-fiction heaven.
If you’ve ever experienced a Swamp Motel production you’ll doubtless be keen for more – and if you haven’t, now’s the perfect time to dive in. Like all the best ghost stories, it’s relatively short, but unsettling, and will leave you feeling a little creeped out.
Just be swift when it comes to booking tickets – the box office is likely to be swamped.
NOTE: Saint Jude runs until 11th March 2023. You can snap up tickets right here.
Saint Jude | 100 Petty France, London, SW1H 9EA
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