The New York Times described The Encounter as “a journey to the centre of your mind that begins in your auditory nerves and keeps burrowing deeper”, hailing it as “one of the most fully immersive theatre pieces ever created.” For The Independent, it was “a five-star hallucinogenic trip”.

The Encounter is the latest production from groundbreaking British theatre company Complicite. The mind-bending, one-man performance uses state-of-the-art binaural technology to alter your perception of time and space, and create aural illusions that defy what your eyes are telling you. Created and performed by Complicite’s Artistic Director Simon McBurney, in collaboration with sound designers Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin, the work is based on Petru Popescu’s 1991 book Amazon Beaming about National Geographic photographer Loren McIntyre, who became lost in the Amazon rain forest in 1969, where he spent time with the isolated, mystical Mayoruna people.

Performed by an actor alone on stage in a foam-walled studio with lots of microphones, audiences watch wearing headphones, which immerse you in a complex matrix of live and recorded sound, filling your ears with the sounds of the jungle, the roar of the Cessna plane leaving McIntyre there, the chatter of...