Review: Doin' The Lambeth Walk (Oi!) by Minimum Labyrinth

Image: Minimum Labyrinth

For over a decade, Robert Kingham and Rich Cochrane's Minimum Labyrinth have been hosting walking tours through London that explore the capital's rich history and lesser-known corners. With previous tours having delved into the past of areas including Drury Lane and Bloomsbury, the pair have built up a loyal following of fans, a regular cast of collaborators, and have previously worked with the likes of the Museum of London to shed light on the forgotten corners of the city.

Their latest experience, Doin' The Lambeth Walk (Oi!), turns its attention, unsurprisingly, to Lambeth. It's their most ambitious production to date, featuring a cast of four performers, and it's as much a walking tour as it is a piece of utterly surreal promenade theatre. Over three hours, the tour covers several kilometres of tunnels, parks, estates and alleyways, as well as two pub stops for those who've both worked up a thirst and need time to process everything that unfolds.

Photo: Immersive Rumours

We're sworn to secrecy concerning a lot of the specifics in Doin' The Lambeth Walk, and wouldn't want to detract from the joy of discovering exactly what the tour involves for those who attend, but it's fair to say that it's a far richer experience than the dry, fact-heavy style of walking tour common elsewhere in the city, and is unlike anything else we've ever done.

As expected, there are heaps of interesting titbits about the history of Lambeth throughout, including nods to Charlie Chaplin and Admiral William Blythe, whose pasts are both tied to the area. There's also numerous detours that explore everything from the 'dead railway' that ferried bodies between Waterloo and Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey to the cholera epidemic that plagued the area and killed nearly 2,000 people between 1848 and 1849. The focus shifts constantly between both the buildings and the geographical features of Lambeth, and the people who made the area what it is, showing us how the two have impacted each other, and how, ultimately, a place is made by those who inhabit it.

On top of this, though, are the performative elements of Doin' The Lambeth Walk, which have been designed in a way that means those who attend are never quite sure what's going to happen next. There's a wonderfully bizarre overarching story woven into the walk's narrative that has nothing to do with the area's history, but frames every interaction the group has with the sights and sounds of Lambeth and before long, those who attend have seemingly stepped through the looking glass, unable to return to reality.

With the streets of London also acting as the stage for this tour-cum-theatre experience, passers-by often look on, unsure of what they're witnessing, and the ever-present risk of the tour colliding with reality creates some wild interactions with the general public that heighten the show's surreal feeling.

Photos: Immersive Rumours

With some hilarious moments woven into the tour's script courtesy of Robert Kingham and Alice Merivale, who lead the experience, and with a host of characters played by Howard Horner and Will Henry popping up en route, every twist and turn on the tour's route holds the potential for another unexpected encounter. By the walk's conclusion, we've grown quite comfortable stepping out of time with the rest of the city, and after returning to reality, we had a new appreciation for those who have made the city what it is. Oi!

★★★★

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Doin' The Lambeth Walk takes place across Central London on selected dates in September 2025. Tickets are priced from £37.50 and can be purchased via minimumlabyrinth.org