The Ceremony is like nothing you’ve seen before. And that’s because every night an original one-hour ritual is born anew – thanks to our Emcee, Mr Ben Volchok and the flock of audience at his command. Part preacher, part therapist, experienced touch typist and manic mimic, Ben looks like your parents’ accountant or the help desk of a government IT department. But what he lacks in fashion sense and vocal prowess, he makes up for with the ability to play an audience like a symphony conductor.

As someone who actively avoids interactive, improvised theatre, I went to this performance with deep-seeded dread. But fear not my fellow wallflowers, Ben’s instructional PowerPoint gives you written permission to choose your own comfort level. But, I challenge you not to get involved. Because - like most good cults (it’s not a cult!) - by the end of it you’re hooked on what Mr Volchok is preaching (he’s not preaching) and you walk away with a strange feeling of enlightenment.

What starts as an elaborate but silent game of Simon Says transmutes into a group therapy session, a karaoke singalong and finally a deep pondering on the philosophy of life … oh and we also learnt how to tie a Trucker’s Hitch Knot – and like life, it’s hard but worth it in the end. I walked away from this performance feeling all the feels. It was funny, uplifting and mad but it was also reflective and deeply moving. I truly felt, as an audience, we had shared an hour in time as a community … or maybe a newly formed cult still finding its feet. This show deserves the fivest of five stars. And what’s great about this rating is that, as an audience, you earn those stars alongside the whippet-fast mind and wit of Mr Ben Volchok.

The Ceremony only begins when you commit and ends like many religious (not religious) gatherings do – with an evangelical, upbeat hymn to life sung in full voice with a little headbanging thrown in. Just go.