Year In Review: Immersive Rumour's Top 5 Shows of the Year (2025)
- Immersive Rumours
- Dec 31, 2025
- 2 min read
We recap our picks for 2025's best immersive shows as part of our Year In Review series.
#5 - Bacchanalia (Sleepwalk)
Hoxton Hall, March to April 2025
Photo: Akil Wilson
Sleepwalk's 2025 staging of Bacchanalia was one of the most anticipated shows of the year, with the show's initial runs at Crypt in Bethnal Green garnering rave reviews and multiple sold-out runs. Thankfully, their updated staging of the Greek tragedy managed to exceed the already high expectations placed upon it, thanks to a hugely talented cast, an expanded storyline, and a space much better suited to housing such an epic story. Those looking to scratch that Punchdrunk itch found themselves well looked after, too, with plenty of sprinting up and down stairwells, numerous world-class performers, and, of course, additional one-on-one interactions for a lucky few.
#4 - Phantom Peak (The League of Adventure)
Canada Water, January to December 2025
Photo: Alistair Veryard
Phantom Peak's ongoing narrative continued to outshine nearly every other immersive show out there in 2025 with another exceptional year of seasonal updates. Engaging and accessible for first-time visitors, while being deeply rewarding for long-time tourists, the show's ever-changing line-up of genre-bending trails form the backbone of a one-of-a-kind experience that isn't being replicated anywhere else. In years to come, it'll be looked back on as one of the most ambitous pieces of immersive work ever produced.
#3 - Creature (Peter Broughton)
COLAB Tower, September to November 2025
Photo: Creature/Peter Broughton
Peter Broughton's Creature delivered an experience unlike anything else we've ever seen. Fusing puppetry with immersive elements and binaural audio, it's a wildly cinematic thrill ride that offers more jaw-dropping moments in its 20-minute runtime than most shows achieve in multiple hours. It's 2025's best immersive debut, and we can't wait to see what the future holds for it.
#2 - The Key of Dreams (Lemon Difficult)
Treowen, Wales, January to December 2025
Photo: Lemon Difficult
This 24-hour-long immersive experience, created by Lemon Difficult, is rightfully regarded as one of the county’s best. Thanks to a dense narrative, a huge amount of audience agency, and terrific performances from a cast that stays in character for upwards of 12 hours at a time, attendees find themselves slipping deeper and deeper into the show’s world with every passing hour. By nightfall, the intensity ramps up to an almost unbearable level, and every decision, regardless of whether it’s big or small, carries huge weight and even bigger consequences. A must-do for immersive theatre fans everywhere.
#1 - Undersigned (Yannick Trapman-O'Brien)
COLAB Tower, July 2025
Photo: Lyra Levin
After several years of touring the United States, Yannick Trapman-O'Brien's Undersigned made its long-awaited UK debut in 2025 with a short run in London before moving to the Edinburgh Fringe. Using little more than a blindfold, a candle and a notepad, this intimate piece of immersive theatre for an audience of one deftly balances being both emotionally devastating and wonderfully uplifting at the same time. The show has the potential to be life-changing, and for us at least, it has fundamentally altered how we see ourselves.
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