The Encounter

Overview

The story goes that, in 1971, National Geographic's Loren McIntyre found the source of the great Amazon River. Earlier this year, author Petru Popescu published his version of the story, called Amazon Beaming, in which Popescu details how McIntyre found a tribal chief with whom he was able to communicate — telepathically. That is, with their brains. Yep.

This instance of multimedia theatre, showing at the Opera House, really challenges the audience to approach the production holistically, in terms of their senses. Taking the idea of telepathic communication, legendary director Simon McBurney and theatre stalwart Richard Katz project all the sound from the piece straight into the ears of their audience through headphones. McBurney pushes the audience's imagination to immerse themselves into the humid and mysterious environment of the Amazon.

This is one of 15 next-level events to see at Sydney Festival. Check out the whole list.