About the Show

A groundbreaking mixed-reality play exploring love, loss, and life’s mysteries, starring Ian McKellen.

An Ark invites audiences on an extraordinary theatrical journey that blurs the line between reality and imagination. Guided by four enigmatic figures, the experience moves through moments of tenderness, wonder, and profound reflection—capturing the full spectrum of what it means to be human, from the spark of first love to the inevitability of loss.

As the first-ever play created for mixed reality, An Ark merges innovative storytelling with immersive technology to create a performance unlike any other. Featuring a stellar ensemble cast including Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings, X-Men), Golda Rosheuvel (Bridgerton), Arinzé Kene (Misty, Get Up, Stand Up!), and Rosie Sheehy (Machinal, Old Vic), this groundbreaking production offers a deeply emotional and visually stunning meditation on the human experience.

Critic Reviews (7)

“Despite the show’s reliance on the feeling of death’s inevitability, and of life flashing before one’s eyes, An Ark just feels like a mirage.”
Read more

“Whether or not An Ark is a truly original experiment, its results are dispiritingly bland.”
Read more

“If ‘An Ark’ were presented as a traditional play, it would be gossamer-thin. Dressed up in the latest digital wizardry, it becomes a memorable, even unforgettable experience.”
Read more

Neither Simons’ lyricism nor Todd Eckert’s pioneering mixed reality will work for everybody. The experiment may not wholly satisfy anybody, but it’s too intriguing and artful for me to dismiss.
Read more

While it’s fascinating to complicate a near-future in which theater can survive without actors physically present, the starry mixed-reality production ‘An Ark’ remains more a proof-of-concept curiosity than a revelation.
Read more

This mixed reality play is haunting.
Read more

The cast is mostly seated throughout, which makes An Ark an elevated radio play
Read more