What exactly is an “Immersive Experience” and how immersed can you get in it’s immersivity? I fully immersed myself to find the answer to this immersive question.
“No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own…”
H.G. Wells – The War of the Worlds
And so begins the story of The War Of The Worlds by H.G. Wells. The Immersive Experience though is another matter entirely. It is billed as 5D multimedia which places you (yes, you!) in the heart of the action. So, if you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to wander the suburbs of Victorian London whilst under attack from Martian War Machines, then this most definitely is the place for you. And if you haven’t, it still might be the place for you anyway.
It’s based in the City of London and takes about 2 hours to complete (although that does include a 20 minute stop off at the bar, which I don’t believe happened in the original).1 It includes Virtual Reality (VR), a slide (hurrah!), actors, sets, special effects, holograms, Martians and the music of Jeff Wayne. Oh, and darkness. Quite a lot of darkness in fact.
City of London
The WotW IE is based at 56 Leadenhall Street, which is about a 10 minute walk from Liverpool Street Station. Basically, you wander down Bishopsgate until you reach Leadenhall Street, then you turn left. That’s it really. We were invited along by Vikki’s step-brother Giles and his wife Laura who gave us tickets as a gift. And what a gift it was too! They were going with friends and family so there were about 8 in our party. A maximum of 12 can go round the show at any time and the shows run every 20 minutes or so.
So, what is an immersive experience and how is it 5D? Well, I’ll explain. You know the story War Of The Worlds by H.G. Wells? No. Ok, so you know the album Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds then? You don’t? Have you seen the 2005 blockbuster War Of The Worlds starring Tom Cruise? You have? Great. Well, forget that, it’s nothing like it.
5th Dimension
Unfortunately I didn’t experience a “living in the 5th Dimension spiritual experience” and if I’m honest I would’ve known because I’ve already had one.2 But that’s not really part of this story (or is it?).
When you arrive, the first thing you have to do is sign your life away to ensure the owners aren’t inundated with fake insurance claims (have you had an injury at the War Of The Worlds that wasn’t your fault? call immersiveexperienceinjurylawyers4u now). Then you put all your personal belongings in a locker and you’re ready to go. There is a bar in the waiting area so if you’re early or nervous then you can always have a drink or two to calm your nerves.
The Eve of War
Once inside the ‘experience’ the actors lead you through the story and take you to your next destination. It starts with a little housekeeping i.e. what to do if you feel unwell, or if the Virtual Reality headsets aren’t working, stuff like that. Then you’re off into a little cinema where you meet Mr George and Carrie Herbert (or at least you get to meet their holograms because they don’t actually exist in physical form) who explain the beginning of the story.
There is also music from the Jeff Wayne double album too, just to set the mood. Next you make your way down some dimly lit corridors to meet the astronomer Ogilvy who, despite his impressive intellect, is a bit of an old duffer. After all, he was the one who calculated “the chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one”. Yeah, and still they came. Then he got sizzled by a Martian heat ray, so that worked out well for him didn’t it. Personally I think the Martians overdid it with the heat ray gizmo but perhaps they preferred their dinner well-done because they feared the debilitating effects of Salmonella. But as it transpired, Salmonella shouldn’t have been their primary concern.
Horsell Common
So, now you’re part of the story, you’re in the story and you’re in the experience. The Immersive Experience. Are you feeling suitably immersed? Probably not. You know how it is. You had to be there.
In the original novel by H.G. Wells, all the initial action takes place in Woking, Surrey. On Horsell Common, to be precise. These days if you visit Woking you can see the occasional reference to the great man’s work.
In the Wells version the narrator details the crash landing of Cylinders around Woking and then after depositing his wife with relatives in Leatherhead, goes back to Woking to help fight the invaders. Later, the book also details his brother’s escape via North London, Chelmsford, Maldon, and The Blackwater. At which the ship HMS Thunder Child strikes out against the tripodulated nemesis but takes a battering herself.
Ulla Ulla
The narrator then travels on foot into London and discovers (Spoiler Alert) the carnage that has taken place before also discovering the “Ulla Ulla” ululation of a dying Martian in Regents Park. Yes, although the Martians had the technical ability to fly across the 140 million miles of space between Earth and Mars within a couple of days, they hadn’t reckoned with viral infection. Indeed, in 1897, when the book was published, COVID-19 wasn’t considered a thing worth discussing in polite company.
The Jeff Wayne musical version plots a similar route to the original novel and so, by association does the Immersive Experience. There’s lots of moving about between different locations, sets, and rooms, with different characters providing updates on the ‘fight’, and ‘shockingly’ asking you direct questions on where you have been and who you have spoken to. The Virtual Reality (although apparently a few years old now3) is quite impressive all the same, with the backdrop of London under attack and the Jeff Wayne music Forever Autumn blasting through the headphones as you splash along a choppy River Thames.
A Confusing Avatar
Be careful though, because if like me you’re holding the hand of your nearest and dearest while the VR carnage plays out around you and you look lovingly into her eyes only to discover her avatar has turned her into a man with a moustache and flat cap, you can safely say this discovery might be treated with a little surprise. It feels like her hand, it just doesn’t look like her hand. Helllp!!! I’m all for Non-Binary Gender Equality but come on, in the middle of a Martian attack? Luckily the next stop was The Red Weed bar where I thought I might need a solid drink.
There are other things going on on these sets too. There’s the thing that touches you in the darkness, the splashing of the water in the river and the Martian trying to grab you when you’re wearing the VR headset. I really can’t do it justice so you’ll have to go and experience it yourself.
And the unfathomed poetic irony of the whole episode? Well, in the Wells story, the Martians were stopped in their tracks by a virus; in London the Immersive Experience was stopped in its tracks by a virus, and then to top it off Vikki and I both received messages to say we’d been in contact with someone who had ‘a virus’. Thankfully we didn’t have it though. Well, not yet anyway.
Tix
Tickets are from £40 although there are occasional ‘special offers’. So, it’s not the cheapest couple of hours but still cheaper than going to see Tottenham Hotspur and generally with a better outcome too4. But, by far the best way to see it is if someone just gives you free tickets.
Details on the ‘experience’ can be found here…
The War of The Worlds: The Immersive Experience
Back to blogs – Here
- The nearest anyone gets to drinking in a bar in the H.G. Wells version is when the narrator finds the local pub landlord dead in the road after a Martian attack, so I don’t think that counts.
- In spirituality terms, 3D is being aware of yourself in a physical way. 4D is beginning to understand all things are connected, being more compassionate and recognising the importance of things like diet, meditation and lifestyle. 5D is accepting good and bad doesn’t exist, things just are. Everyone is equal in this higher state of consciousness. But none of that happens in the War Of The Worlds 5D sadly.
- A few weeks old is out of date in VR terms
- At the time of writing, they’ve just beaten the mighty Bees 2-0 and in Antonio Conte they have a manager who is a serial winner. Although I recall we said that about Mourinho and we all know how that turned out. I guess, as usual, we’ll just have to wait and see #COYS