Wake the Tiger: ‘somewhere between Mad Max, Willy Wonka and Harry Potter’

We still don’t know much about Wake the Tiger, other than a few photos of fantastical rooms laden with gadgets and gizmos. All that’s for certain is that whatever this “amazement park” is, it carries the energy of Boomtown throughout.

Lak Mitchell, the creative director of Boomtown and Wake the Tiger, says the best way to describe it is “somewhere between an art gallery, a theme park, and a film set”.

“From an aesthetic perspective, it sits somewhere between Mad Max, Willy Wonka and Harry Potter.”

“The best way to describe it is somewhere between an art gallery, a theme park and a film set” – photo: Doug Francisco

Collisions of worlds as visually and thematically striking as these don’t just happen overnight, either. Lak and the team  have been sitting on Wake the Tiger for quite some time.

He tells the story of when they first acquired the space: “We bought this derelict industrial complex in St Phillip’s seven years ago, with this really exciting vision.

“It was hilarious, because when we bought the building, it was completely derelict. We went to the estate agents to pick up the keys, and they were like ‘you don’t have keys, you don’t even have doors!'”

Hear more from Lak Mitchell on the latest episode of the Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast:

Lak said that when the pandemic hit, he and the creative team had the time to reflect on what they wanted to create at Wake the Tiger.

“The whole creative team, we were like, right, let’s do this. Let’s sit, let’s meditate, let’s really dive in and understand what this incredible project can be.”

And while Boomtown isn’t necessarily known for being a great place to take your children, Wake the Tiger aims to differ from this idea.

Lak says that the amazement park is “opened up to all people of all ages. The idea is that there’s no demographic of people that wouldn’t be really interested. It’s about respecting ourselves, each other and the planet, which are the core pillars of Boomtown.”

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Some of the things that we can expect on the journey throughout the park include hidden passageways, ice worlds, and rooms that are upside down to name but a few of the dream-like landscapes that Lak envisions.

“We don’t want to give things away” he says. “But at the same time, I don’t really care. Because actually, there’s no way that you can explain what is here until you come.”

A project this size and with this many completely different, contrasting worlds meeting each other no doubt involves a mammoth team, helping pull it all together.

“We’re like a big family” explains Lak. “You know, we’ve got everything from like the scenic crews, prop making crews, architects, graphic designers, storytellers, robotics, creative and technical lighting, audio and sound design.

“There’s that whole sort of rich picture of amazing people that come together with this unique kind of vision to create this otherworldly experience that for everyone to explore and lose themselves in.”

The attraction contains “hidden passageways, rooms that are upside down and ice worlds” – photo: Wake the Tiger

“There’s way over 100 people down here at the moment working flat out on it, and have been working on it for four months solid. So you can imagine the craziness that’s been built.”

Although the attraction itself isn’t set to open until mid-summer if all goes according to plan, Lak is already considering the future of Wake the Tiger, and what that future might look like.

“Wake the Tiger is a permanent visitor attraction forever more” he said. “We’ve built major infrastructure into the site to accommodate the project. We can go up higher, there’ll be more phases open in the future. Bigger rooms, bigger attractions as more funds come into us…

“Wake the Tiger the is a world first. There’s no other amazement park in the world. We decided on amazement park because it’s a maze so it just felt really right. It’s not an amusement park, it’s not a theme park. It’s an amazement park. It’s a new genre.”

Main photo: Doug Francisco

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