Current, Rising – Royal Opera House, London (LAST CHANCE TO SEE)

A review of Current, Rising, an immersive experience in the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre. Wow! The world’s first hyper-reality opera does not disappoint!

Current, Rising

Oh my goodness, this thing is amazing! I’ve packed in quite a few performances and exhibitions since this latest reopening (including one already at the Royal Opera House), but this is the first time that I’ve spoken to strangers about how good it was. Personally I will try pretty much anything once, so when I saw “the world’s first hyper-reality opera” was part of the ROH’s reopening season, I wanted to give it a go. But just what is a hyper-reality opera?

Well, the key part of the experience is a virtual reality headset and headphones. This isn’t entirely new to me, I’ve done a bit of VR before at this Modigliani exhibition and in theatre form at Stratford East last December. Plus a shout out to Mona and Al, at whose flat I tried out VR games for the first time just last week. But, ‘walking the plank’ at Mona’s aside, the other VR experiences I have had have all been quite static. Generally you sit down in a seat and can look around, but it’s too logistically challenging to have you moving around, particularly when there are other visitors.

Not for the ROH! Kudos to the (female-led) creative team: video pioneer Netia Jones, designer Joanna Scotcher, composer Samantha Fernando, libretto by Melanie Wilson, and singing by Anna Dennis. They have pulled off an amazing accomplishment – the first VR experience I have been in which felt genuinely immersive. For once I wasn’t thinking about whether my eyes were focusing properly or not, but was peering over the side of a platform at a seascape. No, a city scape. No, a space of pure energy. Just wow!

So How Does It Work?

Well, first of all I should say the experience itself is 15 minutes, which is about right. You are told to arrive 10 minutes before your time slot. ROH staff greet you, and brief you on what to expect. You drop your things off in a (sanitised) locker. You then head into an impressive space built into the Linbury Theatre.

Once inside, you get kitted out in a backpack with a computer, VR headset, and headphones. You then move into a small room. When you are told to put your headset on properly, you see the same room, only your hands and the other participants (up to 4 including you), appear as ghostly spectres. The best part is that because you can see the space, and yourself/each other, you can move around. There are cues at a couple of points to move into a different room, or onto a platform. The ‘platform’ is probably only a spot on the floor, but helps with distancing and makes the visuals much more impressive.

The story, such as it is, is inspired by Ariel at the end of the Tempest. I can’t say I actually remember that story whatsoever (although I’m seeing it at the Globe soon so that’s good). But it doesn’t really matter. The creative team between them construct an emotional landscape and connection whether or not you are paying much attention to the words themselves or the storyline. At the end you are encouraged back into the space where you started, so you never see ‘behind the curtain’ so to speak. The spell remains unbroken.

Now This Is The Future Of Virtual Reality. Or Opera.

I am pretty sure my enthusiasm for Current, Rising is coming across. It had none of the drawbacks I’ve found with other VR experiences (eg. neck strain from sitting in one spot trying to follow the characters in Petrichor. Instead, as the VR landscape is 360 degrees, you can choose how much you want to explore it.

Current, Rising is genuinely interactive and fun. The fact that it is an opera gave it a certain weight. And the right emotional intensity and arcs. It must be expensive to run by the time you’ve developed it, kitted it out, and taken over a performance space for something only a handful of people can do at once. But in that sense this is the perfect time to do it – you can’t have that many people together anyway so why not push the boundaries?

It’s running all day long right now, so if this has piqued your interest at all then check the website for tickets. I really hope to see more events like this either from the creative team or the ROH!

Salterton Arts Review’s Rating: 5/5

Current, Rising on until 10 June 2021

Find out what else there is to see and do in London in our weekly newsletter: