Review: Creature by Peter Broughton
- Immersive Rumours
- 3 hours ago
- 6 min read
Peter Broughton's adaptation of Frankenstein, which plays out for an audience of one each performance, is one of this year's most exciting new immersive productions.
Image: Creature/Peter Broughton
This review contains descriptions of some events within Creature.
Written and directed by Peter Broughton (best known for playing Dionysus in the original Crypt and Hoxton Hall runs of Sleepwalk's Bacchanalia), Creature is an intimate, immersive production for a single audience member. It blends puppetry, binaural audio and immersive performance to create an experience that feels equal parts immersive show and theme park dark ride.
Inspired by Mary Shelley's 1818 gothic novel Frankenstein, this 20-minute-long show places its sole audience member into the role of Victor Frankenstein, kidnapped on his wedding night by the vengeful creature he abandoned. Each performance's single audience member sits in a wheelchair and is pushed and pulled through the space by a masked Igor (Jessica Southwood) while wearing headphones, through which the majority of the show's dialogue and atmospheric soundtrack (created by Hanna Gardner) is delivered.
Alongside the pre-recorded audio is a series of striking visual sequences that see the audience, amongst other things, thrown across the space, looking into the past, and engulfed in flames. The show's centrepiece is an arresting life-sized puppet of the creature (played by Peter Broughton), which is hellbent on exacting its revenge on Victor, and narrates the show in between menacing growls and snarls, commanding every moment of the audience's attention.
In the best way possible, Creature is a hard show to categorise. While it's unequivocally a piece of immersive theatre, it refuses to fit neatly into any of the typical immersive boxes, offering very little agency, no influence over the show's narrative, and no freedom to move around the space as they wish. However, what the audience gives up in autonomy is made up for tenfold thanks to the show's meticulously timed, cinematic approach to storytelling, which is unlike anything else we've ever experienced in an immersive production. To sit down in the wheelchair is to give yourself over to becoming the focus of a terrifying, gothic-infused fever dream.
Photo: Creature/Peter Broughton
The show's initial run, which took place in the Boat Tunnel at COLAB Tower (a venue fast emerging as the de facto home for new immersive work in London) as part of COLAB's inaugural Invitational Theatre Festival, sold out almost instantly. While a scarcity of tickets is often the case with buzzy one-audience-member shows like Creature, this first run at COLAB Tower sold out before the show had even been officially publicised on its social media channels - likely off the back of Broughton's name and die-hard immersive fans' familiarity with their previous work on Sleepwalk's Bacchanalia.
When we sat down with Peter ahead of the show's opening, they cited the work of Jim Henson as the catalyst for their lifelong love of puppetry. While what they've created in Creature is a far cry from the kinds of puppets Henson produced throughout his career and a departure from the style of puppetry audiences might recall from Bacchanalia, Broughton's passion for the form is evident long before the creature's terrifying design is fully revealed.
While we're not going to divulge any specifics about the puppet (which was hand-made by Broughton with additional textile work by Audrey Rodriguez), we can share that when you're sitting in the wheelchair, it towers over you and feels like it could swallow you whole. In the rare moments where its focus isn't on you, and the creature isn't hunched over to meet you at eye level, its head comes perilously close to scraping the ceiling of the show's venue. It's a sight to behold, and when it's looking directly at you, it's incredibly unnerving.
One of Creature's most interesting elements (looming, terrifying puppet aside) is how the audience's attention and field of view are managed while they're sitting in the wheelchair. Throughout the show, every movement is choreographed down to the second, with the show's cast working in tandem to manually shine torches, getting into position for upcoming scenes, and triggering smoke machines and video elements, all in time with the show's evocative pre-recorded audio.
From slow creeps forward to rapid 360-degree circles around the creature as it writhes on the floor, there are very few moments where you're not being moved through the space, and at all times, your field of vision and focus are dictated by those movements and position in the space. Alongside delivering a cinematic, movie-like experience, in which the audience is always perfectly placed for the unfolding scene, the audience's ever-changing sightlines also allow the show's five-strong team to perform some really impactful sleight of hand within the space, swapping out elements of the set when your back is turned, keeping audiences on the backfoot, constantly questioning what else could be happening around them when they're not looking.
Photo: Creature/Peter Broughton
Pre-recorded video content, at times, plays out through TV screens and projections, offering some wider context for both the creature's actions and the show's wider world. Those who attended Sleepwalk's Bacchanalia will spot a familiar face in Elizabeth (Maya McQueen), alongside an unmasked Broughton, who makes a short cameo as a newsreader. The rest of the show's video cast is made up of Mei Mei MacLeod as a second newsreader, Charles Stagg as William and Ben Mallett as the pre-recorded version of Victor.
In immersive theatre, the one-on-one has always been highly sought after. Whether it be self-contained shows like The Manikins or Undersigned, or fleeting, private moments within larger immersive worlds from the likes of Punchdrunk, their impact on those who experience them is long-lasting. Alongside making that one audience member the focus of the performer's attention and placing them at the centre of the experience, below the surface, there's a recognition that everything being performed, regardless of how complex the show is, is for the benefit of one person. It's a humbling position for an audience member to exist in, and the exchanges within these moments, however big or small, often hold more weight purely because it's just for them.
Within Creature, there's an extraordinary amount of effort being exerted for the benefit of that one audience member. None of the show's lighting is pre-programmed - it's all done by torchlight at the hands of the cast. None of the movement and environmental changes are mechanical - they're all done by manually. None of what they experience would exist without the show's cast (made up of Peter Broughton, Jessica Southwood, Alice Elsie Thomas, Elena Sirett and Puck) pulling off every element of the show, in the moment and in unison, just for them. To do all of that, flawlessly, for a single person's applause and appreciation may be somewhat of a thankless task, especially when the team are all masked and it's nigh-on impossible to tell who is doing what in the moment, but the collective impact of that work on the audience's experience can't be understated.
As is often the case with experiences for just one audience member, the ticket price for Creature is high, costing anywhere from £90 to £100 per performance. Despite being a short piece (clocking in at a little over 20 minutes from beginning to end), it's clear that the show's price is a necessity, especially given the cast size, which is nearly twice as big as that of shows like Undersigned and The Manikins.
Photo: Creature/Peter Broughton
Creature is one of the most exciting new immersive productions to have opened in London this year. Much like during Sleepwalk's first run of Bacchanalia at Crypt, Creature's debut outing feels like it has the potential to go on to become a much larger experience if the stars align. While there's no way of knowing what the future holds for Creature, in its current form it's a perfectly realised, fiercely original experience that's unlike anything else out there. If you can secure a ticket, count yourself lucky, because it's one hell of a ride.
★★★★★
Creature will run at COLAB Tower from 30th October to 1st November 2025. Tickets are currently sold out, but you can stay up to date on future performances via @creature.immersive on Instagram.
For more reviews of immersive productions like Creature, check out our recent Immersive Reviews.
Stay up to date on the latest immersive theatre news by following Immersive Rumours on Instagram.