Reviews of Immersive Productions in London

Spy City is immersive theatre meets escape room: but does it deliver a bigger punch than each of these alone? Escape rooms are already taking the sense of agency, so important in immersive theatre, one step further. They place participants right in the centre of the action. This production aims to blend the two: full agency with a strong story carrying it through. … [Read more...]

An evening spent in the company of a gang of ruthless Victorian cutpurses - what could possibly be better? Sarcasm aside, the answer is - not much. For Flabbergast Theatre’s immersive production of The Swell Mob is so much more than just a play about pick-pockets. To begin with, when they say immersive, they really mean it. This isn’t one of those productions where … [Read more...]

As a huge, huge fan of George R Romero’s work and with his sad passing in 2017 (without coming back in the style of his creations, disappointingly), I was excited to see a theatrical adaption of the ground-breaking film Night of the Living Dead advertised at the Pleasance Theatre. As a fan (huge, huge as described earlier), I wasn’t sure how the film would work on … [Read more...]

I love immersive theatre. In my time writing reviews, I have experienced many immersive theatre shows. I’ve survived a zombie apocalypse, hunted for Jack the Ripper, lost my sense of sight and trained as a WWII spy. But of all the immersive shows I’ve been involved with, Operation Black Antler is the most unusual and thought-provoking production so far. For obvious … [Read more...]

Immersive theatre is one of the most difficult to describe in a review. Probably more than any other type of theatrical production, immersive theatre is exceptionally personal to the person experiencing it. So it is with the latest immersive theatre show to hit London, but I will try my best to give you an idea of what it is like to live through The White Plague … [Read more...]

Madhouse re:exit is an immersive theatre experience set in the bowels of ‘Paradise Fields’ a notionally luxury social care facility. Luxury it is not. Madhouse uses true accounts from surviving patients from St Lawrence’s Hospital in Surrey, a ‘madhouse’ of the old kind, and places them behind the scenes in Paradise Fields. The audience, led by the mysterious ‘Patient … [Read more...]

It certainly wasn’t Professor Plum with the candlestick in the ballroom, but that doesn’t mean that something sinister didn’t happen the night Rusty was last seen alive! The old factory just off Borough High Street seems unassuming, but when you knock for entry, make sure you’re ready to jump in feet first because once you’re through the door, you’re in! In 1983, … [Read more...]

Romeo and Juliet is probably one of the World's most performed plays; I have seen at least ten productions over the years - it remains timeless and if performed well, is a beautiful production. When I heard that Colab Theatre were tackling the piece in their own special way I just had to experience the production for myself! Unlike other Colab productions, there is … [Read more...]

Drinks, is currently playing as part of the Basic Space Festival in Peckham. The festival is a site-sensitive theatrical event that is set within two Victorian Safehouses in Peckham. The idea is that the festival enables audiences to open their minds to different creative possibilities in unlikely places. I'd been invited to Laura and Dave's housewarming … [Read more...]