A Shift at ‘Saint Jude’ (Review)
Swamp Motel’s coma clinic interactive audio narrative is now taking in-person appointments in London
By Shelley Snyder, London Curator
Situated in an anonymous civil service building stands the offices of Saint Jude, a volunteer organization which thanks you for your service in telecommunicating with long-term coma patients. From your personal pod via headset, microphone, and digital display, you are generously providing a vital social service to those who are desperate to speak to someone, anyone, about everything they’re experiencing. Aren’t you lovely?
And of course you’ll judiciously make clandestine notes of particularly personal details, in case the doctors need them. And any hint of triggering issues, of course. Or confidential information, without making the mistake of sharing any of your own. And you’ll pass that along, up the chain, to the people in charge.
Of course it’s all above-board.
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Isn’t it?
Swamp Motel sets out to provide a widely accessible and easily tourable production with Saint Jude. Boasting all the slick production quality of 2021’s The Drop but in a more capsular format, guests this time are less physically active — you’re sat in your pod for the majority of the 60-min run — but more implicit in the questionable behavior they’re encouraging. While you chat with your “sleeper” (the person in the coma whose thoughts are being digitized and communicated), you’re encouraged to keep them talking while reporting both identifying details as well as deeply upsetting topics. The self-styled medical center and its methods raises moral questions about data mining and phishing tactics in the 2020’s, and tacitly calls on us to pick a side and take action either for or against the practice.
The show is run in groups of twenty but experienced individually — great for solo-run enthusiasts. As the pod setup runs on a computerized predictive response script (either spoken or written, from either end), there’s surprisingly little roleplay required from guests and the script is refined daily with updated responses to ensure that the audience experience will get smoother over the run. There’s even one or two in-world side-missions that might be triggered (narrative progression dependent) and three different endings possible, so repeat visits and varying group experiences are worthwhile. My side mission happened to be opportunely timed so that I ended up not having any trouble completing it undetected, but I saw a couple folks having to sneak their way around the space and having fun with it; personally I would have liked more time to explore the environment to admire the elegant scenic design and engage more with the single live actor. Unfortunately the current production structure doesn’t allow for this.
Swamp Motel continues to live up to their expectations in the industry with Saint Jude, providing an excellent option for an individual, friends/bachelor/ette, or work outing with solid bang for the money, and offers promise that if you aren’t located in London, you can look forward to them potentially opening a questionable volunteer clinic near you soon.
Saint Jude tickets start at £20 and runs at 100 Petty France, London, SW1H 9EA; Tues-Sun through 12 March 2022.
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