Review: VIKINGS: THE IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE, Dock X

After the recent avalanche of historical exhibitions which have stretched the “immersive” beyond the point of plausibility, is Vikings worth the trek to Dock X? 

Doing for GCSE History what the RSC does for English, the immersive theatre industry has been busy since the end of the pandemic resurrecting past times and places. Powered by technology and imagination, exhibitions in ImmerseLDN and DockX have detailed the impending doom of those in Pompeii or aboard the Titanic as well as the ancient mysteries of past civilisations. Further afield, virtual reality specialists Eclipso and Excurio have allowed their audiences to walk around ancient Egyptian pyramids and see gladiators do battle in Rome’s Colosseum. 

This latest addition from FKP Scorpio Entertainment and Alegria Exhibition (with design by flora&faunavisions) is, despite already having been to Hamburg and New York, initially an underwhelming proposition. The creators refer to it as an exhibition, the title suggests otherwise; an identity crisis is rarely a recipe for success. Moreover, while these events tend to lean towards family-friendly content, the Vikings are notorious for their brutal practices, not least their blood eagle executions and their fearsome head-splitting axes. Not to mention their occasional human sacrifice and their more than occasional use of thralls (slaves from captured lands). Will the ever-present merch stands be selling dolls of One-Eyed Hagar the Friendly Pillager?

Those issues are resolved to an extent by a storyline based on the Volsunga saga. Young, innocent Kraka is busy minding her family’s sheep when Ragnar Lodbrok brings his ship of Viking ravagers to her village. He invites her to join him on his ship and by his side if she can solve a riddle. She of course deals with the puzzles easily and becomes his wife and the mother of three famous sons. Plot twist: Kraka is really the semi-divine offspring of the human Sigurd the Dragonslayer and the Valkyrie Brynhildr (yes, the very same one that Wagner wrote an opera about).

It soon becomes apparent that, as one wanders around this impressively large show that this is both an exhibition and an immersive experience. Those sadists who love nothing better than dragging their loved ones to a museum on Sunday afternoons are well catered for. A few authentic weapons from the era are planted in the centre of the floor with some barebones documentation. A free audio guide is a nifty aid when navigating from section to section, displays explain such things as the ins and outs of Viking runic language and there’s a chance to “speak” to Kraka.

The real treat for dedicated museumgoers will be the touchscreens dotted around. At your own pace, a map can be poked and prodded to explore the deep history of Viking expeditions. From the US and Iceland in the West to Russia and Asia in the East via England, Italy and France, illustrated infographics tell the story of these hardened seafolk’s travels in their search for new lands to pillage and set up home. Zoom in to see how they won, lost and merged into Dublin between the 8th and 12th centuries. Zoom out to appreciate the sheer geographic distances they covered in their sturdy longboats. 

It is two immersive elements, though, that really make Vikings a phenomenal attraction. The first is an eight-minute virtual reality experience which tells how Kraka first meets Ragnar. Sat inside a recreation of the mythological World Tree, Yggdrasil on a stool and with the headphones and VR googles on (they easily fit over glasses once you play with the strap), the video quality is on a par with VR productions seen elsewhere (albeit without the opportunity to walk around) and pulls us into a thrilling adventure racing through forests and the seas. 

The second is arguably the main event. Taking place within an enclosed box, the audience get to sit either within a longboat or around the sides before some beautifully evocative projection mapping and sound design lifts us from a South London warehouse into the ocean air, the roar of loud swooshings as the waves lift us up and down.

When battle is joined, painfully accurate screams fill in any lack of exposition. Wars may have become bigger and the bodycount for each ever more awful but, when the Vikings attacked, the violence was on a Biblical in its gory nature. A smart touch is having the character outlines made up of runes, a nod to the fact that everything we know about them has come through interpreting their thousand-year-old language. Clever video work put us deep inside each of the vivid episodes of this half-hour journey and those with motion sickness may want to sit this one out. 

Vikings doesn’t disappoint. In delivering some truly immersive set pieces which educate as much as they entertain, it lays down a gauntlet to the theatre industry in general. Rather than clogging up prize venues with never-ending runs of exam favourites like Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Hamlet in the name of helping kids engage with language and drama, it asks why more spaces are not allocated to productions like this one that impart valuable lessons about history, geography and economics. 

Vikings: The Immersive Experience continues at Dock X until 31 May.