COLAB Invitational Theatre Festival announces full lineup for September 2025

Immersive Rumours
Sep 8
8 min read

Updated: Sep 18

An empty theater stage with a spotlight on a red chair. Text reads "Invitational Theatre Festival." Mood is formal and dramatic.

Image: COLAB Theatre

Step inside a new era of theatre at the Invitational Theatre Festival this September at the COLAB Tower. Over one extraordinary weekend, discover boundary-pushing performances that don’t just immerse you—they invite you in. This pioneering new form of theatre places the audience at the heart of the story, not as passive spectators, but as welcomed participants in a shared narrative. From intimate encounters to daring large-scale experiments, the festival showcases bold creators redefining how stories are told. Whether you’re an artist, a theatre-lover, or simply curious about what comes next, the Invitation Theatre Festival is your chance to be part of something truly revolutionary.

The Shop for Mortals and All Fools by Vinicius Salles

Woman in dim light sits at a table with a decanter and papers on a red cloth. She looks contemplative, creating a mysterious mood.

Photo: James Lawson

Old relics, curious finds, hidden trinkets, and heirlooms – treasures that whisper forgotten stories. In this enigmatic shop, a select audience is invited to an exclusive preview of its mysterious collection. Step into a world where gods and mortals clash, and chaos reigns supreme. Where the memories you thought were long forgotten still linger, haunting your every step. The Shop for Mortals and All Fools is a site-responsive and immersive physical theatre experience conceived by Vinicius Salles. Inspired by Euripides’ The Bacchae, this bold production delves into one of the greatest tragedies ever written, weaving an original and compelling narrative that explores power, vengeance, and the fragility of the human spirit.

Photos: James Lawson

Click here to read our ★★★★½ review of The Shop for Mortals and All Fools

💰 From £22.00 🕒 13th September - 3rd October 2025 🎟️ Book via tickettailor.com

CREATURE by Peter Broughton

A spotlighted wheelchair on a dim stage with debris. Text: "Creature" in red, event dates, location, and "LIMITED AVAILABILITY." Eerie mood.

Image: Peter Broughton

Creature - the most exclusive immersive experience in London this year. One audience member. One experience. From Peter Broughton (Co-Creator and Associate Director of Bacchanalia) comes a fusion of puppetry and immersive theatre, inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Take a seat in a wheelchair, guided into darkness by a gas-masked figure, and don headphones that plunge you into a world of shadows, sound, and tension. Confront the phenomenal, towering puppet in an intimate, one-on-one encounter with the unknown. "I told you I would be with you on your wedding night. And here I am, as promised."

💰 From £102.00 🕒 26th - 27th September 2025 🎟️ Book via tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk

Uncle Barry's Birthday Party by UNCLE BARRY

Group of seven people wearing party hats celebrate with balloons and a cake. Colorful hats and balloons create a festive mood.

Photo: UNCLE BARRY

What makes for a fun party? People (you’re invited), gossip (someone has to spill the beans), booze (obviously), dancing (optional), flirting (encouraged), cake (yes), a good playlist (please)... and Uncle Barry! You're invited to share an evening with us, celebrating Uncle Barry's Birthday. We know he'd love to have you.

Photos: UNCLE BARRY/James Lawson

Interview: Ariana Aragon and Mia Foster on Uncle Barry's Birthday Party

💰 From £19.20 🕒 26th - 27th October 2025 🎟️ Book via tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk

The End by COLAB Theatre

Person in yellow hazmat suit holds torch in dim room, large text "THE END" in background, creating a tense, apocalyptic mood.

Image: COLAB Theatre

The world outside is lost — the husks roam, the infected devour, and every choice means life or death. Humanity’s last survivors have gathered in the bunker, but safety comes at a price. Trust is fragile. Secrets run deep. And sabotage is never far away. Apocalypse isn’t just a game. It’s a live-action survival horror experience where you and your fellow survivors are thrown into the final days of civilisation. You’ll forge uneasy alliances, solve desperate challenges, and fight to prove your worth — because when the bunker doors close, not everyone gets to stay inside. Step into a world of fear, strategy, and betrayal. Feel the tension rise. Hear the husks scratching at the walls. When survival is on the line, how far will you go?

💰 From £12.00 🕒 26th - 27th September 2025 🎟️ Book via tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk

Medea by Robert Halvorson and Adelaide Leonard

Close-up of a person touching their chest with hands. The word "MEDEA" in bold yellow text overlays the image, set against a neutral background.

Image: Robert Halvorson and Adelaide Leonard

Euripides’ play Medea serves as the point of departure for this one-woman show that can be performed with multiple actors. Maddy’s expectations of Santa Fe, New Mexico, are falling short. She’s isolated, her YouTube channel is stalling out, and her husband, Jay, is leaving her for another woman. All without a second thought for their daughter, Bella, who Maddy feels further away from than ever right at the moment Bella begins puberty. In rage, Maddy acts out and puts her family in danger. With those she cares about most remaking their lives without her, Maddy starts plotting her revenge - sleeping with a long-time protege, lashing out at lawyers, and opening up old wounds. Teetering on the edge, Maddy clings to her spiritual practice. When it becomes clear Jay will not take her back, she chooses to do anything, including taking a life, to prove she’s worth it.

💰 From £9.60 🕒 16th - 27th September 2025 🎟️ Book via tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk

Spy of the Year by Tom Black/Arlo Howard/Chloe Mashiter/Hannah Raymond-Cox

Black notebook on papers labeled "Morgan Hogg" with awards "Spy of the Year," "Top Secret," and "Wildcard Award." Trophy symbol visible.

Photo: Spy of the Year

The Spy of the Year Awards is the most important night in any spy’s calendar, but this year’s celebrations are threatened when a shady organisation begins leaking top secret information. Even worse: one of the agents at your table is the leak. Together, can you get past personal vendettas, messy histories and emotional revelations to uncover the leak before the end of the night? Fresh from sold-out runs in LA, Chicago, and London’s own Voidspace Festival, Spy of the Year is an original Jubensha led by a live actor, blending role-play with puzzle solving and hidden traitor games. A strictly limited capacity of six players will face challenges, swap secrets and solve mysteries as the clock ticks down. Whether you’re a James Bond, an Ethan Hunt or a George Smiley, get ready to uncover the truth…

💰 From £12.00 🕒 26th - 27th September 2025 🎟️ Book via tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk

Timonopoly by Brite Theatre

A person with short hair and red lipstick, in white attire and pleated collar, holds small blocks over eyes against a dark background.

Image: Brite Theater

Come Fortune! Let’s play a game. It’s only money... Inspired by Timon of Athens, one of Shakespeare’s least known works, Timonopoly is a unique experience, a game, a show, an event. Play a game with Fortune and see how easily any of us can fall through the cracks of society... whoops! Brite Theater continue to push the immersive envelope, creating ever more daring audience-specific work and bold adaptations of classical material. The long-anticipated final instalment of the multi-award-winning Coward Conscience trilogy, following Richard III (a one-person show) and Hamlet (an experience), Timonopoly is fresh from a successful first run at Edinburgh Fringe.

💰 From £18.00 🕒 26th September 2025 🎟️ Book via tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk

DREAM CAGE by King Lexie

A person inside a wire dome reflected multiple times, under neon signs reading "Dream Cage" and "One to One Performances on Dreaming."

Image: Dream Cage

For twenty minutes, in a dreamworld built for two, a performance unfolds. Not of spectacle, but of attention and curiosity. DREAM CAGE is a tender framework for an intimate encounter, treating the landscape of a dream as the most precious of materials. It is a one-to-one ritual that asks: What happens when the sound a dream makes is given a voice? An interaction with dreaming and the spaces in-between awaits.

💰 From £18.00 🕒 26th - 27th September 2025 🎟️ Book via tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk

Strangers: A Magic Play by Joe Strickland

Graffiti of a magician with wand and hat crossed out in red circle on a concrete wall. Text reads "STRANGERS A MAGIC PLAY."

Image: Joe Strickland

To celebrate its ten-year anniversary, Strangers is returning with a brand new interactive storytelling magic show. In the same way that a musical blends theatre with music and lyrics, Strangers: A Magic Play blends theatre with magic and illusion. Stories are interwoven with magic and audience collaboration to create an audience experience which challenges what and how we think about magic and performance.

💰 From £18.00 🕒 27th September 2025 🎟️ Book via tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk

The Evil Ex Game by Jet Vellinga

Pink stars and a teacup with splatters on a black background. The text above reads "The Evil Ex Game" with a pink lipstick print.

Image: Jet Vellinga

Madame X invites you to her tea parlour for an intimate evening of storytelling, gossip, and connection. She’s offered to facilitate a special version of “The Evil Ex Game”—an obscure party game she came across this past July.* According to its rulebook, players must “share the best stories about their worst dates.” How provocative! At its heart, the game is simple: Draw a card, overshare, vote for the best story, rinse and repeat. However, as with everything that piques Madame’s interest, there’s more to this game than meets the eye. Perhaps your neighbor steals your card, or worse, your story! And speaking of stories... Bear in mind that Madame only serves tea to patrons with particularly scandalous (hi)stories. Will you spill the tea? RSVP now. *Despite its title, The Evil Ex Game is about romance and dating in general and (Evil) Exes are not required to play.

💰 From £6.00 🕒 26th - 27th September 2025 🎟️ Book via tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk

Cool Lab

Office of Terrestrial Confusion - Tunnel 1 A debriefing on Earth’s most unstable export. Welcome back to HQ. Your exposure to the human construct known as “COOL” has been confirmed. You arrive here as both expert witness and data point. Preliminary findings remain inconclusive. Contradictions persist. Some insist “COOL” is a resource, others a performance, a weapon, or simply an elaborate Earth joke. Your testimony will decide which version survives. Your mission is to distil its components and trace its patterns: where it appears, who names it, who carries it, how it mutates across borders, fashions, and generations. Working in pods under live supervision, you will classify specimens, perform field tests, and debate paradoxes. Will you argue? Will you contradict each other? Will you contradict yourselves? This is a participatory research facility. All findings will be archived by the Office of Terrestrial Confusion to prepare the next upcoming missions to Earth. Observation commences now.

💰 From £24.00 🕒 26th - 27th September 2025 🎟️ Book via tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk

Andy's Coming by Chronic Insanity

Toy blocks spell “ANDY’S” on a sky background. “COMING” drips in red below. Text: An RPG adventure about nostalgia, childhood, and revenge.

Image: Chronic Insanity

Toy Story meets Kill Bill, the audience becomes the revenge seeking childhood toys of a university student after they've been abandoned at a charity shop. With the guidance of their magic 8 ball, the toys plot their comeback in this fully interactive TTRPG theatre show. Journey through the high street to find allies and supplies, before confronting your one time owner in a thrilling climax.

💰 From £18.00 🕒 13th September 2025 🎟️ Book via tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk

TATE Accompli by Chronic Insanity

Stick figures move within a grid of red, blue, yellow, and white squares, resembling Mondrian art. Emphasizes motion and geometry.

Image: Chronic Insanity

You've gotten the gang back together for one last heist, and the prize is a big one; the centre piece of the brand new exhibition at the Tate Modern. However, when you break into the gallery that evening, the clock strikes midnight and something changes in the air. It's like you've crossed over into some other reality where up is now down, the sleeping have awoken, and nothing will be the same again. Tate Accompli is the new TTRPG live show, from award-winning theatre company Chronic Insanity, about what happens if you try and steal art from the public for your own private gain.

💰 From £18.00 🕒 27th September 2025 🎟️ Book via tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk

Imprisoned with the Pharos by Chronic Insanity

Text "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs" over pyramids with a reflective water surface. Monochrome, moody atmosphere.

Image: Chronic Insanity

Chronic Insanity invites you into an immersive horror experience inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s Imprisoned with the Pharaohs. As magicians and archaeologists exploring a pyramid, your choices will determine the story’s twists and turns. Will you confront the ancient foe or escape to safety? Every performance is uniquely crafted by you; How you respond to the adventure, how it responds to you, and whether the tower of bricks at the centre of it all, ready to be excavated, will instead topple and seal your fate. This is a TTRPG theatre show from award-winning theatre company Chronic Insanity.

💰 From £18.00 🕒 20th September 2025 🎟️ Book via tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk

The Clocktower

Image: The Clocktower

Step into the heart of a storm-battered oil rig, where steel walls groan, machinery hums, and suspicion lurks in every shadow. Clocktower is a social deduction game in a gritty, nautical setting. Over the course of the game, you and your fellow players will take on key roles aboard the rig — each with unique abilities that could save the crew… or sabotage it. Together, you must uncover who among you is working against the group before it’s too late. If you enjoy Werewolf, Mafia, Traitors or Blood on the Clocktower...you're gonna love this! The setting creates a tense, industrial atmosphere: a common space where alliances form, secrets unravel, and trust is tested. As the game unfolds, expect bluffing, bold accusations, and clever strategy — with no one ever fully out of the action. Whether you’re a seasoned social deduction player or brand new to the format, Clocktower promises a thrilling experience of mystery, betrayal, and high-stakes decision-making deep at sea.

💰 From £20.50 🕒 22nd October - 1st November 2025 🎟️ Book via tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk

COLAB Invitational Festival runs at COLAB Tower near London Bridge from 26th to 27th September 2025, with select shows running across various other dates in September and October. For more information and to book tickets, visit tickets.colabtheatre.co.uk