A 23-night run at The Cockpit London
including four days of special events
Reality is what you can get away with.
“Cosmic Trigger deals with a process of deliberately induced brain change. This process is called ‘initiation’ or ‘vision quest’ in many traditional societies and can loosely be considered some dangerous variety of self-psychotherapy in modern terminology. I do not recommend it for everybody… briefly, the main thing I learned during my experiments is that ‘reality’ is always plural and mutable.” – Robert Anton Wilson
In 1976 Ken Campbell staged Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea’s trilogy of novels called Illuminatus, an attempt to “do for the state what Voltaire did for the church”; in which they attempted to portray a world in which every known conspiracy theory was true.
Wilson then wrote the non-fiction book Cosmic Trigger in an attempt to explain what had happened to him as a direct result of writing Illuminatus, as well as his other brain-change experimentation.
This book has been changing the lives of those lucky enough to stumble upon it since it was first published in 1977. Daisy Campbell decided to adapt it, both in homage to the mind-expanding philosophy of Wilson, and to her father and his epic production of Illuminatus.
“In researching occult conspiracies, one eventually faces a crossroad of mythic proportions – known as Chapel Perilous in the trade” – Robert Anton Wilson
Turn on, tune in, find the others.
Cosmic Trigger Podcasts
In the run up to the May 2017 performances we recorded four podcasts that delved behind the scenes to find out what a Cosmic Trigger is and what happens when you pull it. Listen via Apple here.
In 2019 Daisy Campbell and David Bramwell plundered the audio archive of theatre maverick and raconteur Ken Campbell to bring you some of his finest monologues and other specially recorded episodes; celebrating one of the most hilarious and unclassifiable talents of our time. Listen via Apple here or via Spotify here or via Google (for Android) here.
Audience Reactions
(full reviews are on the press page)
“The Play has the inherent magical qualities of a collective ritual… a full-throttle magical adventure”
Boing Boing
“A truly divine lesson not only in theatrical reformation but on the nature of reality itself”
International Times
“This one show has more interesting stuff going on than a whole season of other plays” 5/5 London City Nights
“Four hours of great fun… with the glinting edge of relevance to 2017” 4/5 Broadway World
“A sprawling work of multi-layered metafiction… It’s imaginative, often hilarious, and brilliantly bonkers.” 4/5 The Stage
“A theatrical and cultural message in a bottle from another planet” The Guardian newspaper
“The theatrical happening of the year”
Liverpool Confidential newspaper
“Intriguing, ambitious. A genuine voice; compassionate, witty, life affirming. Pure theatre”
Terry Johnson, Olivier Award winning writer/director
“Daisy Campbell is a ‘can do’ shining light in the cautious corners of most current theatre”
Pauline Collins OBE, actress
“Robert Anton Wilson’s ‘Illuminatus’ had a profound effect on me and the Cosmic Trigger Play will no doubt do the same for a whole new generation”
Alan Moore, renowned graphic novel author
See the gallery for photos and videos
