Upper House Opens the Door to a New Kind of Theatre

What if, instead of taking your seat in a theatre, you walked into the story?

That is the idea behind WITHIN, Upper House’s new immersive theatre production created with creative studio ONE HUNDRED. Part of the hotel group’s Art Encounters programme, the series will take place across Upper House properties in Hong Kong, Chengdu, and Shanghai this October, with each House becoming the setting for a different story.

The experience is deliberately intimate. There is no traditional stage separating audience from performer, and no single version of the show that everyone sees. Guests move through the spaces as the story unfolds around them, with movement, light and sound transforming corridors and rooms into something less familiar.

Three Houses, Three Chapters

In Hong Kong, The Dreamer takes audiences on an upward journey towards what is described as a peaceful sanctuary. A week later, the series moves to Chengdu for The Phoenix, a story that travels through time before arriving at a hidden garden. The final chapter, The Collector, comes to Shanghai, where secret encounters and curiosities take centre stage.

The productions were developed by creatives whose previous work includes Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More, one of the productions that helped establish immersive theatre as a genre in its own right. For WITHIN, the team at ONE HUNDRED has taken a different approach to each property, using the character and architecture of the individual Houses as part of the performance.

“Great immersive theatre thrives on intimacy and curiosity,” says Conor Doyle, Artistic Director and Choreographer at ONE HUNDRED. The intention, he explains, is to use performers, movement, light and sound to turn the quieter corners of each House into living stories.

It also fits naturally within the thinking behind Art Encounters. Originally launched in 2019 as Encounters Across Cultures, the programme brings artists and creators from different backgrounds together to explore culture through disciplines including multimedia, technology and live performance. WITHIN continues that idea, but places the audience much closer to the work. Rather than simply looking at art, guests become part of what is happening around them.

Teresa Muk, Head of Brand and Strategic Marketing at Swire Hotels, says the production reflects Upper House’s approach to hospitality and its belief that each House should have its own character. That distinction is particularly important here: Hong Kong, Chengdu and Shanghai are not simply three locations for the same production, but three settings with their own chapters.

And the experience won’t cost anything to attend. WITHIN is complimentary and open to all, although spaces are limited and advance reservations are required. Priority booking for Upper House members opens on 2 September, followed by public bookings on 14 September.

For a hotel group whose properties are known as much for their architecture and interiors as for their hospitality, WITHIN offers an interesting proposition: instead of simply staying in the space, visitors get to see it differently. For three weekends this October, the Houses have another role to play. They become the setting, the scenery and, in some moments, the story itself.

For more information on the programme and reservations, visit the WITHIN page here.

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