Now in its third year of operation, the stately pleasure dome of Phantom Peak – decreed in Canada Water by Nick Moran, Glen Hughes and their team – recently launched a fresh season.
The fully immersive townscape, complete with canals and platypuses, has welcomed some 83,000 guests to its 30,000sq ft playground.
Part role-playing game, part escape-room, part platypus, the show has seen visitors wind their way through more than 100 storylines split into 11 seasons with live actors and digital counterparts on hand to weave the pleasant fictions.
Having recently celebrated its 400th show, the venue is currently hosting JonaCon.
Its 12th season sees the town all shook up with the arrival of buff and marvellous Jonas, founder, director and celebrated figurehead of JONACO, the company that runs pretty much everything in a completely unsinister way.
Despite being the townsfolk’s supposed saviour, this is the first time Jonas has appeared in person at Phantom Peak’s actual performances and visitors will quickly pick up on the tensions, unrest, secrets and rebellious fervour.
Indoors, outdoors, Phantom Peak is a whole world to explore including a network of black canals – image by Alistair Veryard Photography / alistairveryard.com
a world to discover
Mysteries that demand examination abound.
The latest season includes 10 new stories to explore as JonaCon features exclusive Q&A sessions with key figures, teasing tales such as The New Adventures Of Jonas and The Real Househubbies Of Phantom Peak.
As ever, performances start with a grand opening ceremony and close with a finale performance.
In between, visitors are free to explore the open-world environment, taking advantage of the attraction’s various hospitality options as they see fit.
There’s a reason Phantom Peak has won a multitude of awards since opening, with many guests returning time and again to discover fresh stories, puzzles and silliness.
The experience is ideal for groups and inquisitive minds – image by Alistair Veryard Photography / alistairveryard.com
key details: Phantom Peak
JonaCon will run at Phantom Peak in Canada Water until May 11, 2025.
The attraction is open from 6pm-10pm on Thursdays and Fridays, from noon-4pm and 6pm-10.30pm on Saturdays and from noon-4.30pm on Sundays.
Tickets start at £42 per person. Wharf Life readers can get 10% off with code WHARFLIFEat the checkout.
…we’re on the trail of a missing package, but something sinister is going on. There’s blackmail, a robotic AI doctor that’s scathing about our putrid human bodies, a curious undertaker, odd business cards, a disgusted scientist and TVs that play sinister messages when tuned to the right channel. Oh, and there’s something just not quite right about that mayor…
Welcome to the strange, uncanny world of Phantom Peak.
The comic book adjectives seem appropriate for an immersive experience that aims to place those attending right in the middle of a larger than life narrative.
Located a short walk from Canada Water station inside and outside a disused industrial building, the venue promises a fully realised steampunk town complete with canals, waterfalls and residents to interact with.
But things don’t stand still.
The place may have opened a little over a year ago, but it’s just launched its fifth season – the latest chapter in a complex, involved saga designed to keep people coming back for more.
Each time it resets, there are fresh characters to meet, new mysteries to solve and adventures to go on – an approach that for co-founder Nick Moran is akin to another medium altogether.
“When you come to Phantom Peak, you’re essentially coming to a real-life, open world, role-playing video game,” he said.
“It’s up to you whether you walk to the hills and carry on walking or spend your time crafting minerals – you can do what you like.
“It’s all about player agency, creating a world where people can explore and experience many different things.
“You can do all the events that the townsfolk run all day, or you can follow the trails and the stories.
“It’s not like immersive theatre where you don’t know what you’re doing – you’re guided through the experiences.”
The setting is Phantom Peak, a cultish sort of town in the grip of corporate entity Jonaco, which rebuilt the place after a suspicious blimp accident, founded and controlled by the buff, messianic figure of Jonas.
Part of the vast Phantom Peak installation in Canada Water
Visitors are encouraged to download an app and answer questions to find a quest to follow – although everyone is equally free just to wander around chatting to the townsfolk, playing games and indulging in the street food and beverages on offer from the various outlets.
It’s extensive, expansive and – because of the myriad paths on offer – filled with eager puzzle-solvers hunting solutions, intrigue and adventure.
Oh, and there’s a platypus hooking game in honour of the town’s peculiar mascot.
“This place was an abandoned warehouse and a car park when we came here,” said Nick.
“We’ve transformed it and it’s impossible to do everything at Phantom Peak on a single visit.
“Each time – whether you come with your friends or your family – it will be different, with new stories and trails to explore.
“Then, each season, we create a new chapter in the life of the town – some characters may have gone, others will remain, but there will always be something new and it allows us to move forward or backwards in time with the narrative. “
That’s an aspect Nick and the team take extremely seriously.
Following a degree in classics he trained in writing for the stage and screen before working to create live experiences around newly published books.
This led to a job as creative director of Time Run – a pair of escape room-style games that welcomed thousands of competitors through their doors.
He then performed the same role for The Game Is Now, an immersive experience – officially tied into TV series Sherlock – which he co-wrote with Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat.
The puzzle, which features Gatiss, Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman and Andrew Scott, continues to run in west London.
But, having teamed up with set-building expert Glen Hughes, Nick wanted to create something that went beyond the medium of escaping from a room.
“We decided we wanted to do something that would combine all the things we liked about immersive experiences – gamification, storytelling, open world, choice and being able to sit and relax too,” said Nick.
“Escape rooms are all about high engagement, high throughput and pushing people from one thing to the next.
The level of detail at Phantom Peak is phenomenal with much attention paid to props, characters and design
“Phantom Peak isn’t like that. It’s about being as engaged as you want to be. It’s all about stories – less a fundamentally passive theatre experience than a place where you can take on a role.
“We wanted it to be a world of play – man-made canals, platypuses, a huge muscular impresario named Jonas.
“From there the stories write themselves – but we take it seriously. It’s like making a TV show.
“There’s a writers’ room where we think about the characters and how we can make the narratives resonate with people.
“It’s novelistic – a place that has real depth, where there’s lots to explore but also lots to do.
“It’s like the platypus itself, the mascot of the town. It’s neither one thing nor another – not quite a mammal, not quite a bird.
“But it’s the symbol of the place and the townsfolk love it.
“Some of the actors we have working here have been with us since we opened and they’ve really grown with the town.
“They are as much a part of the place as anything in the stories and it’s been a real pleasure to see it develop that way.”
Nick and Glen are currently raising funds to expand Phantom Peak globally.
Tickets for Phantom Peak start at £19, with experiences lasting up to four and a half hours. Use code WHARF20 for 20% off. Shows take place on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
