Algorithm Shaman is a darkly funny theatrical concert exploring the strange ways technology shapes what we see, feel and believe.
Created by Dora Award-winning Canadian theatre-maker Kevin Matthew Wong, Australian composer-producer Corrina Bonshek and Malaysian percussion artist Chunket Chin (Souls Impact), the work combines theatrical illusion, virtuosic percussion, electronics and video in a mischievous journey through the rituals and seductions of the digital age.
Part ritual, part magic show and part live music performance, Algorithm Shaman draws on Wong’s distinctive DIY theatrical aesthetic, where illusion is handmade, visible and charmingly fragile. Rather than hiding the trick, the work invites audiences to delight in its construction while discovering how easily perception can be guided, manipulated and transformed.
Immersive sound, ancestral rhythms and theatrical sleight of hand lure audiences into seductive digital landscapes before gradually revealing the hidden systems shaping attention, desire and behaviour. Playful, unsettling and unexpectedly human, the work explores what happens when ancient impulses meet contemporary persuasion technologies.
At a time when algorithms increasingly shape our choices, relationships and understanding of the world, Algorithm Shaman invites audiences into a mischievous world of ritual, illusion and algorithmic trickery where the audience becomes part of the experiment.
Beneath the glow of screens and the promise of perfect optimisation lies something messier, stranger and profoundly human. Algorithm Shaman peels back the digital curtain to reveal the forces influencing everyday life—and asks what remains when the spell is broken.
Credits:
Performer, projections, writer, director: Kevin Matthew Wong (Canada)
Music performer: Chunket Chin / Souls Impact Percussion (Malaysia)
Composer, concept, producer: Corrina Bonshek (Australia)
Presenter info:
This show is in development in 2026/7 and seeking partners for co-commission and touring in 2028.
Please get in touch with Corrina Bonshek for more information including our show deck with sample music.
