London's longest-running immersive experience invites visitors to witness the Martian invasion of the late 1800's, using a mix of live actors, detailed sets and virtual reality.
Photo: Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds: The Immersive Experience
Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience is a pretty out-there concept for an immersive show. A reimagining of the 90-minute long prog-rock concept album from 1987 (which itself is a reimagining of H.G. Wells's original science-fiction novel from 1898), the album is best known for Richard Burton's iconic narration and the sweeping, epic scores that combine orchestral pieces with electronic music. Drawing inspiration from the original novel, Jeff Wayne's musical re-interpretation, the show incorporates VR and projection mapping, amalgamating 19th-century literature, 20th-century music, and 21st-century technology.
Spanning across 24 interconnected spaces, and covering 22,000 square feet, the 110-minute-long experience recreates the story of George Herbert's perilous journey through Victorian London and Surrey during the Martian's invasion of South East England.
Photo: Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds: The Immersive Experience
From sneaking into houses through propped-open windows, escaping through secret passageways, ducking under wooden beams in war trenches, and sliding through the arms of a defeated Fighting Machine into the sewers, it's a surprisingly physical immersive experience that covers a lot of ground. At a rapid pace, groups of 12 encounter a string of actors, all of whom are ready to help them along their journey - from professors to artillerymen, maids to ferrymen. These fleeting moments with the show's live-action cast all put the focus squarely on those who lived through the invasion of the late 1800s, detailing the fear that swept through the capital and surrounding counties. During our visit, the cast were all excellent in their respective roles, leaving a lasting and memorable impression of the group regardless of how long they survived in our company.
Photo: Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds: The Immersive Experience
Fans of the original album will be pleased to hear that the experience does it justice. With Jeff Wayne's name front and centre on the poster, it's little surprise that he was heavily involved in the show's development, having reworked and remastered nine of the album's tracks for the experience and well as overseeing everything from the script to merchandise.
On the whole, every track featured has been condensed to keep the show's pace fast moving. 'The Eve of War' has been wonderfully remixed for the show's opening title sequence, which uses 360° projection mapping to cover all four walls of a Victorian theatre with animations of Fighting Machines wreaking havoc on a woodland, and the climax of Side A - 'Forever Autumn' and 'Thunder Child' - have been combined to soundtrack guests daring escape from London down the Thames.
One other notable change from the concept album comes by way of Richard Burton's original narration, which has either been confined to the VR portions of the experience or removed entirely to allow those narrative moments to be acted out by the cast in front of guests.
Photo: Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds: The Immersive Experience
The story's biggest moments, including the Fighting Machines descending upon Central London, the sinking of HMS Thunder Child, and the Martian's eventual defeat, are all reserved for virtual reality. The scale of these scenes is far beyond anything you could effectively convey with physical sets and offers guests the chance to witness these key moments from unique perspectives.
While these sequences are no doubt the most thrilling moments in the experience, you can feel the limitations of the technology pushing back against the show's ambition. Considering these VR sequences were all originally developed in 2018/2019, they're beginning to show their age in terms of graphical fidelity, and the resolution of the show's VR sequences is nowhere near what modern-day consumer VR headsets can now offer.
Photo: Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds: The Immersive Experience
With an iconic soundtrack scoring the show, a huge number of scenes to experience, and some ambitious technology on display, Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience and producers Layered Reality have carved out a unique corner in London's immersive scene in the five years since the show first opened. It's a hugely enjoyable experience, even for those unfamiliar with Jeff Wayne's original concept album, and will have you humming 'The Eve of War' not just on your journey home but for many days after.
★★★★
Photos: Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds: The Immersive Experience
Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience is currently booking until September 2025 at 56 Leadenhall Street near Aldgate.
Ticket prices start at £43.00 and can be purchased via thewaroftheworldsimmersive.com
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