A collective theatrical game where audience members begin a new life and must decide the best way to spend it. Photo: Sisifo Production Ten Ways to Die Happy is a quiz theatre show that explores how we spend our time while we’re alive. Ten audience members are selected to embark on a new "life" symbolised by a bouquet of flowers. As they spend their flowers – each representing energy and time – on love, ambition, risk, and security, the goal is to discover true happiness before they run out, and it’s game over. Guided by a professional actor in the role of Quiz Master, and with the audience shaping the world around them, participants navigate a blend of games and challenges where every decision changes the course of their existence. Ten Ways to Die is a participatory, funny, and human experience that is different with every performance, offering a closer look at mortality through the lens of the choices we make. Ten Ways to Die Happy is an adaptation of the Italian Dieci Modi Per Morire Felici. Developed at the Fondazione Teatri di Reggio Emilia in a year-long process led by two of Italy's most significant contemporary playwrights, Emanuele Aldrovandi and Jacopo Giacomoni, it has played all around Italy for the past two years to sell out audiences and critical acclaim. Emanuele Aldrovandi said: I wanted to create an interactive show that would genuinely change based on the audience’s choices, while still retaining its dramatic power and without becoming intrusive toward the spectators. Emanuele Aldrovandi is an Italian playwright, director, and novelist working across theatre, cinema, and literature. Trained in Philosophy and at the Paolo Grassi National Academy in Milan, he is one of the leading voices in contemporary Italian playwriting, with award-winning works (Riccione/Tondelli, Pirandello, Hystrio) produced and translated throughout Europe. His connection with the UK includes the London staging of Sorry We Didn’t Die at Sea at Park Theatre (published by Salamander Street) and the inclusion of The Fattest Woman in the World in a 2025 Methuen Drama anthology. As a director, he has collaborated with major Italian National Theatres, while his short films have screened internationally (Bataclan, Silver Ribbon 2021 for Best Italian Short Film). His debut novel, Il nostro grande niente (Einaudi, 2024), received the John Fante Award and the Severino Cesari “Debut Fiction” Award. He is artistic director of Associazione Teatrale Autori Vivi, founder of Sisifo Production, and co-artistic director of LOVE Festival and Teatro del Fiume. He teaches writing at Scuola Holden and at the Paolo Grassi National Academy. Jacopo Giacomoni is an Italian dramaturg and performer whose work explores structuralist dramaturgy, audience participation, and game-based theatrical devices. Graduated in Philosophy with a thesis on the existence of fictional characters, he develops performance mechanisms that interact with chance, collective imagination, and ritual forms. He has won several major awards, including the Riccione Prize 2025 (Italy’s most prestigious award for new writing). He has worked as an author with the Venice Biennale, winning its 2024 call for new dramaturgy, and he is currently dramaturg of Mittelfest. His international experience includes multiple periods of work and research abroad, such as a 2024 artistic residency in Chile, supported by the Italian Cultural Institute of Santiago and the University of Playa Ancha in Valparaíso. As a performer, he combines acting with experimental saxophone practice, exploring free improvisation and non-idiomatic sound. Perla Ambrosini (Orvieto, 1996) is an Italian-British actress trained between Italy and the United Kingdom. She graduated from the Paolo Grassi National Academy in Milan and continued her studies at the Giles Foreman Centre for Acting in London, specialising in the Yat Malmgren methodology. She further trained in musical theatre at ArtsEd in London. Her theatre credits include The Wasp (Milan), which received an Honourable Mention from the SoHo Playhouse (New York) and the Goethe- Institut. Her screen credits include supporting roles in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer and 8 Tage im August, as well as Cariddi’s Graveyard – Tales of Mare Nostrum, for which she received the Best Actress Award at the 2025 Sweden Action Film Festival. She works internationally in English and Italian. Ten Ways to Die Happy runs at Cowbarn at Underbelly, Bristo Square (Venue 302) from 5th to 31st August 2026 at 13:55. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com

Image: Secret Cinema The initial casting has been confirmed for the return of Secret Cinema's critically acclaimed Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, which will run at Evolution London in Battersea Park from 22nd July to 13th September 2026. Reprising their roles from last year, Stephanie Costi and Lucy Penrose return as Sandy and Rizzo, and are joined by Giórgios Michaelídes (Grease, West End/UK tour) as Danny and Archangelo Ciulla (A Knight’s Tale the Musical, Manchester Opera House) as Kenickie. Further cast for Secret Cinema's Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical will be announced in due course. At a launch event for the 2025 edition of Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, Immersive Rumours caught up with Stephanie Costi and Lucy Penrose ahead of rehearsals beginning. Stephanie Costi reflected on the significance of the role, commenting: "Sandy is such an iconic role to step into and has always been a dream role of mine. She goes on such a huge journey in the show, and it’ll be incredible to recreate that." For Lucy Penrose, who also previously played Rizzo in Secret Cinema's 2023 production of Grease in Birmingham, it was a return to a role that she loved. "It was one of my favourite jobs I've ever worked on. I think the Secret Cinema fans are the best. They are so engaged, and they give so much, so I’m very excited to see everybody in the world again." Stephanie Costi as Sandy. Photo: Luke Dyson Each performance of Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical is a two-hour-and-fifteen-minute spectacular. From ‘Summer Nights’ to ‘Greased Lightnin’ to ‘We Go Together’, every iconic song from the beloved 1978 Paramount Pictures film comes to life as a knock-out cast and live band perform against multiple movie screens. From the moment they enter this modern live experience, audiences step into the world of the movie, exploring the iconic locations including Frosty Palace, The Autoshop, and The Carnival and immerse themselves in school spirit, training with Coach Calhoun, cheering on the T-Birds, taking part in a choir practice, and even tasting 1950s American diner-style delights. Lucy Penrose as Rizzo. Photo: Luke Dyson The innovative production is brought to life by the multi-award-winning creative team of director Matthew Costain, set designer Tom Rogers, choreographer Jennifer Weber, lighting designer Howard Hudson, sound designer Gareth Fry, and video designer Ian William Galloway. Due to popular demand, the 2026 iteration of the production will feature even more themed Roam and Return seating, allowing audiences to explore the experience and return to dedicated seating at Frosty Diner or The Drive-In. Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical will run from 22nd July to 13th September 2026 at Evolution London in Battersea Park. For more info and to get tickets, visit greasetheimmersivemoviemusical.com

Photo: Eclipso/Space Explorers: The ISS Experience Leading VR company Eclipso has confirmed that Space Explorers: The ISS Experience will launch at its London venue next month. The experience, which will run alongside Titanic: Echos from the Past and Colosseum: The Legendary Arena, will offer audiences the chance to take the ultimate journey beyond our world. Beginning on 19th June, the residency at Eclipso marks the European premiere of the experience, inspired by the acclaimed immersive series Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, created and produced by Felix & Paul Studios. Rooted in real-life space missions conducted in collaboration with NASA and leading international space agencies, the experience presented by Eclipso has been developed by PHI Studio, Infinity Experiences, and Felix & Paul Studios to transform this landmark space storytelling project into a collective free-roaming immersive experience. Photo: Eclipso This free-roaming immersive experience is adapted from Space Explorers: THE INFINITE — the internationally acclaimed production co-created by PHI Studio and Felix & Paul Studios, which has welcomed more than 500,000 visitors worldwide since 2021. Fewer than 300 people have travelled to the International Space Station over the past two decades. Space Explorers: The ISS Experience offers visitors extraordinary access to life beyond Earth through one of the world’s most ambitious free-roaming VR experiences, dedicated to space exploration. The groundbreaking experience captures the daily life of real astronauts in the largest media production ever filmed in space, delivering an unprecedented journey with custom-engineered camera systems designed to operate both inside and outside the station. Using cutting-edge free-roaming VR technology and through blending a detailed 3D model of the ISS with filmed footage, guests can explore in stunning 3D 360°, walking alongside astronauts and gaining access to their daily lives, spacewalks, and sweeping views of Earth from low orbit. Space Explorers: The ISS Experience delivers the closest sensation yet to being in outer space without ever leaving the ground. Photo: Eclipso/Space Explorers: The ISS Experience During the experience, visitors are transported nearly 250 miles above Earth, moving in and out of the ISS itself. The journey goes beyond observation, offering intimate encounters and interviews with real astronauts featured in the experience, alongside quiet, awe-inspiring moments of Earth-gazing that evoke the "overview effect", the overwhelming feeling astronauts describe when seeing Earth from space. Antoine Lieutaud, Founder and CEO of Eclipso, said: Space Explorers: The ISS Experience is unlike anything we have ever brought to our audiences, and there is nowhere more fitting than London to make that leap, as one of the world’s cultural capitals, the city is a place where art, science, and ambition come together. By placing visitors inside the International Space Station alongside real astronauts, we are offering a perspective that very few people have ever known. It is humbling, awe-inspiring, and deeply human, and we are proud to be bringing it to London for the very first time. Eric Albert, CEO of Infinity Experiences, added: Audiences no longer have to simply watch stories about space exploration. With The ISS Experience, they become participants. It's about offering a deeply human experience—one that inspires curiosity, humility, and a renewed sense of our shared place in the universe. Since the international premiere in Montreal in 2021, Space Explorers: THE INFINITE has garnered legions of fans during stops in Houston (Texas) Seattle/Tacoma (Washington), San Francisco/Richmond (California), Vancouver (British Columbia), Denver (Colorado), West Palm Beach (Florida), Charlotte (North Carolina), Edmonton (Alberta), Mississauga (Toronto), Atlanta (Georgia), Shanghai, and Singapore. London now joins this list of global destinations, underscoring the city's growing role as a cultural and creative hub. Space Explorer: The ISS Experience opens at Eclipso on Camden High Street on 19th June 2026. Tickets are priced from £34.00 per person. For more information and to sign up for the waitlist, visit spaceexplorersexperience.com

Image: Little Lion Entertainment Little Lion Entertainment, the UK’s pioneering force in immersive live entertainment, have announced that Arcade Arena London will open on the South Bank in September. Situated at 26 Lambeth High Street, SE1, Arcade Arena London is the Flagship realisation of a concept that Little Lion Entertainment has been building towards since its inception: a giant, purpose-built live gaming venue in which multiple world-class video game experiences play out simultaneously, at full arena scale, in one central London location. The venue launches with three headline experiences. CHAOS KARTS - Little Lion’s runaway smash hit - puts players behind the wheel in a real-world, kart racing battle, The PAC-MAN LIVE EXPERIENCE, developed in an industry-first partnership with Bandai Namco Entertainment, where the world’s most iconic video game is transformed into a fully immersive, augmented live event and making its debut at Arcade Arena London: ALIEN INVASION - a genre-defining new experience that fuses the intensity of laser tag combat and drone technology within a breathtaking sci-fi arena. Players aren’t just playing a game. They’re inside one. Image: Little Lion Entertainment Tom Lionetti-Maguire, Founder and CEO of Little Lion Entertainment, said: Arcade Arena was always conceived as something more than just a venue - it’s a platform. The idea, from day one, was to build the ultimate live gaming space: in which you can insert any video game experience and have it play out at genuine arena scale. What that gives you is something the entertainment industry has never really had before: a format with truly infinite content and real repeatability. People don’t just come once. They come back because the Arena keeps changing. The Southbank Flagship is the fullest expression of that vision we’ve ever built, and I am incredibly proud of what the team has created here. Three simultaneous games. Three world-class experiences. One extraordinary venue. London is going to love this. The launch follows a remarkable period of growth for Little Lion Entertainment. Having first proven the live gaming model with The Crystal Maze Experience - now celebrating its 10th year in London and Manchester - and subsequently building CHAOS KARTS and the PAC-MAN LIVE EXPERIENCE into two of the UK’s most celebrated new entertainment concepts, the company arrives at the Southbank with both the ambition and the track record to match it. Arcade Arena London will open at 26 Lambeth High Street in September 2026. For more information and to book tickets, visit arcadearena.co.uk

Image: Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience The universe is within reach, as London will become a gateway to the cosmos with the arrival of Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience, opening on 26th June at the Science Museum, the home of award-winning exhibitions, iconic objects and stories of incredible scientific achievement. This free-roam, interactive journey invites visitors to witness the birth and death of stars, explore distant galaxies, and come face-to-face with a black hole, all without leaving Earth. Developed in collaboration with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), the pioneering research centre founded in 1890, Starstruck draws on decades of astronomical research to translate scientific data into a fully immersive, interactive and walkable virtual reality universe. Built from real astronomical data, Starstruck is far more than an exhibition; it is a cosmic journey that dissolves the boundary between observer and observed, allowing guests to activate their senses as they touch, hear and navigate the wonders of the universe like never before. During the experience, guests travel alongside some of humanity’s most powerful observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the Chandra X‑ray Observatory, journeying far beyond Earth and deep into the cosmos. Along the way, they encounter extreme exoplanets, witness the life cycle of stars and explore the immense scale of galaxies and black holes, gaining a deeper understanding of humanity’s place in the universe. Image: Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience Denise Elliott, Acting President of Smithsonian Enterprises, said: Smithsonian Starstruck reflects years of thoughtful collaboration across the Smithsonian. By working closely with SAO and Fever, we’re extending Smithsonian science and storytelling into an immersive format that reaches new audiences while supporting our mission. Randall Smith, Associate Director for Science at the Center for Astrophysics at SAO, added: This project demonstrates how immersive experiences can make complex scientific ideas more tangible and engaging, It’s exciting to see astronomical data translated into an experience that encourages curiosity and exploration. Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience begins atop SAO’s Whipple Observatory, where a cosmic guide, Astro, awaits. From this summit, the journey launches into deep space aboard the world’s most powerful telescopes (Hubble, JWST, and Chandra), revealing the vastness and wonder of the universe like never before. Drift through a breathtaking 3D expanse, gliding past thousands of galaxies, racing through the Milky Way, and soaring close to the Sun to witness its immense energy. Along the way, encounter extreme exoplanet worlds, a dying star, and the edge of a supermassive black hole, capturing the scale and beauty of space. Image: Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience honours centuries of scientific curiosity and innovation, demonstrating how curiosity and exploration continue to expand our understanding of the universe. From the Milky Way to black holes and the solar system, the experience places visitors within the story of discovery itself, illustrating that humans are not just observers of the cosmos, but part of it. Bringing Starstruck to the Science Museum in London marks the latest addition to Fever’s growing portfolio of immersive cultural experiences worldwide. This expanding lineup reinforces the company’s mission to increase access to the extraordinary and make culture accessible through technology, transforming the way people learn, connect, and engage with history, science, and art. Alex Winterbotham, Global Director of Production for VR at Fever, commented: We’re proud to have developed this new immersive experience in collaboration with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), the largest astrophysics research centre in the world. This partnership has enabled us to ensure scientific accuracy down to revelatory details to make the observatory’s incredible research within reach to audiences in London. Bringing Starstruck to the Science Museum highlights the project’s ability to educate and engage visitors of all ages, from children to adults, while remaining highly entertaining. Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience opens on 26th June 2026 at the Science Museum near South Kensington station. For more information and to sign up to the waitlist, visit feverup.com

This immersive dining experience, set in the infamous Torquay hotel, perfectly captures the charm of the classic sitcom and delivers an evening of laughter that may leave your sides aching. Photo: Rosie Powell Faulty Towers - The Dining Experience, which runs out of the President Hotel near Russell Square, is an interactive dinner show based on the classic seventies TV series. While the experience has been running in London since 2009, its origins date back to 1997 when its creators, Alison Pollard-Mansergh and Andrew Foreman, first staged the show in Brisbane, Australia. While the dining experience isn't an officially licensed adaptation of the original series (something that Cleese was pretty vocal about back in 2016), all of the show's main elements have been carried over. Hotel owner Basil is still exceptionally short-tempered and neurotic; his wife, Sybil, continues to be the dominant one in the relationship, bossing her husband around while tolerating his increasingly erratic behaviour, and Manuel, the hotel's recently hired Spanish waiter, consistently misinterprets every instruction given to him. Photo: Rosie Powell Before guests even take their seats, the trio of performers greets them in the President Hotel's lobby bar. With Manuel quickly misconstruing Basil's request to 'collect the glasses' and 'serve the nuts,' things get off to a chaotic start with guests having to redistribute their eyewear once retrieved and dodge projectiles. While true to form, Basil shows a healthy amount of contempt for the riff-raff gracing his hotel for the evening; several groups - all referred to as 'Lords' - get the proverbial red carpet rolled out for them as they're called to their tables in the dining area. The less said about his view on vegetarians, the better.. Once seated at shared tables (which sit up to 10 people), guests are treated to a rapid-fire barrage of comedic moments inspired by the series, alongside improvised interactions with the cast, who all constantly move around the room. Those unfortunate enough to be in the proximity of Manuel (Jacob Tanner) can expect to have bread rolls lobbed their way, be lumped with a pile of soup bowls collected from the surrounding tables, or be coerced into charging at him while holding a pair of forks above your head as he reminisces on how he wanted to be a bullfighter as a child. Photo: Rosie Powell For Basil (Stanley Eldridge), it appears that every moment of the evening pushes them closer and closer to a nervous breakdown. Whether he's diving behind tables to avoid another telling off from his wife or trying to sneakily place a bet on the horses, it's clear that he's a man who's often pushed to the absolute brink, and watching him teeter on the edge of madness is a consistent delight. While Manuel and Basil handle the majority of the evening's comedic moments, Sybil (Nerine Skinner) remains a constant presence, lamenting her life choices and acting as the straight man as Basil and Manuel engage in slapstick-heavy fights. Across the trio, their mannerisms are a near-perfect match to the characters portrayed by John Cleese, Prunella Scales, and Andrew Sachs in the original TV series, channelling all of the characters' idiosyncrasies wonderfully. While they're by no means small shoes to fill, the experience's cast is more than up to the job, so much so that one of the guests at our table leant over at one point and whispered that they outshone their West End counterparts, which is high praise, considering the Apollo Theatre production had Cleese's direct involvement. Photo: Rosie Powell A dining experience isn't complete without the food, which comes by way of a 1970's-inspired three-course meal overseen by the President Hotel's recently appointed Head Chef, Jonathan Bradley. With tomato soup with basil oil for a starter; roast chicken with gravy, baby carrots, and Dauphinoise potato for the main (the vegetarian option is a sweet potato and courgette timbale); and lemon and berry cheesecake for dessert, the menu isn't anything revolutionary, but considering that it's largely remained unchanged since it launched in the UK, the quality is a step above what one might expect to be served at an understaffed Torquay hotel. Photo: Faulty Towers - The Dining Experience For long-time fans of the original series, Faulty Towers - The Dining Experience is sure to delight. Packed full of jokes, callbacks, and spot-on impressions, it's a nostalgic and hilarious evening of entertainment that perfectly recreates the chaos and farce of John Cleese's iconic comedy in the flesh. Just don't try asking for a Waldorf salad or a second bread roll... ★★★★ [Tickets gifted in exchange for an honest review] Faulty Towers - The Dining Experience runs at the President Hotel near Russell Square. Tickets are priced from £65.00 per person and include a three-course meal. For more information and to book tickets, visit faultytowersdining.com

Impact-Site-Verification: dddb397e-ea41-4669-b568-2b1801cc5a64 Photo: Alexander Nicolaou Saint Jude is the latest immersive experience from Swamp Motel - a company that seems to constantly be pushing themselves to create truly original and engaging pieces of immersive theatre, both in the real world and online. Through the COVID-19 lockdowns, they developed Isklander - a trilogy of excellent Zoom-based escape experiences that had audiences hacking into social media and email accounts in search of a missing woman against the clock. Once on the other side of the UK's numerous lockdowns and restrictions, they opened The Drop, an escape experience that had audiences enter the criminal underworld, trying to locate a long-lost book inside an unassuming office block in Aldgate. It was a show that constantly pulled the rug out from under its audience, leaving those playing to never truly know where the escape-room experience ended and the real world began. With expectations high, they return now with Saint Jude - a show created in collaboration with CharismaAI, that is vastly different to their previous shows. While it may not stick the landing in the same way some of their other work has, it's a unique and engaging hour of entertainment. The premise of the show finds audience members arriving at Saint Jude, a private company that describes itself as a 'world first organisation that allows you to communicate with people trapped in lifelong, irreversible comas'. We're there for our trial shift as Guidestars - those who are paired to the mind of a random comatose patient, somewhere in the UK, and we're trying to form a strong enough connection to help them wake up. It's no surprise that the story we enter into has more to it than first meets the eye. During our briefing from Stefan, the Saint Jude staff member tasked with explaining the technology and advising us on how to best connect to our patients, he presented with a smile almost as false as his sincerity. Once settled into our desks, with headphones on and a million instructions flying through our heads, we begin to talk to our patient. Powered entirely by AI - with a slightly robotic-sounding voice, we start to learn more about our patients' past and are slowly asked to reveal more about ourselves, all in the name of forming a connection - classic small talk topics such as our star sign, or our favourite movie. The technology on display is genuinely impressive, if at times a little restrictive. If you can suspend your disbelief it does feel like a proper conversation, albeit with someone who will occasionally ignore the personal details you've just shared to continue talking about themselves. It's not that surprising given you're always working towards a series of story beats, which your AI companion will keep hitting regardless of what you say. The journey, however, is thrilling and slowly escalates over an hour. Towards the climax, the story breaks free from your headphones and requires real-world action from yourself - an interaction with others that we navigated successfully thanks to some social engineering. Ultimately it's a small moment that feels a lot larger due to the pressure put on you by the AI voice in your ears egging you on. Swamp Motel has again delivered an experience that's totally different to anything else out there, and their ability to constantly reinvent or subvert the expectations of what an immersive experience can be is incredibly exciting, even if this show fell a little flat compared to their previous work. ★★★½ Saint Jude is located at 100 Petty France, London. Tickets are available through saintjude.ai, prices start at £20 per person.

Photo: Roger Robinson Underbelly and Three Legged Race Productions are thrilled to announce the world premiere of their long-awaited festive production, Sophie’s Surprise Christmas Party, set to take residency at Underbelly Soho for a strictly limited run this Christmas from 13th November 2026 to 10th January 2027, following the success of last year’s hit Christmas show spectacular. Say goodbye to awkward office parties and hello to a festive celebration with serious sparkle. Following a smash-hit 2025 residency, the team behind Sophie’s Surprise Party returns to Underbelly Soho for a strictly limited season, turning the volume all the way up for Christmas 2026 with a brand-new show designed to delight. Whether you're rocking up with your best friends or rounding up the whole office for an unforgettable team night out, this show promises a wildly entertaining evening packed with dazzling performances, outrageous fun, and unforgettable festive energy. The show will bring together world-class circus, high-energy comedy and a full-throttle party atmosphere to create one of the most talked-about festive nights out in the capital. Set in Soho’s undiscovered gem of a venue and ideal for an unforgettable festive night out with your best friends or the ultimate end-of-year team treat – this show promises Yule have the best time. Photo: Sophie's Surprise Birthday Party Fusing circus artistry with immersive theatre and a euphoric throwback soundtrack, the show blurs the boundary between audience and performer, where no two nights are the same. Each evening, one lucky audience member is chosen to become Sophie, the unsuspecting guest of honour at the centre of the action. With performers whose credits include Cirque du Soleil, Disney’s The Greatest Showman, La Clique and The 7 Fingers, audiences can expect world-class circus at its most thrilling. Featuring gravity-defying aerial acts, fearless acrobatics, and astonishing displays of physical artistry, every moment will be designed to surprise, delight and keep the party going. This is the party other parties wish they could be; no boring small talk, just Sophie, her besties, a stripping elf and mad high jinks. Who knows, there might even be the chance to sit on Santa's lap! Photo: Sophie's Surprise Birthday Party Ed Bartlam, Director of Underbelly said: Underbelly Soho continues to cement its reputation as one of London’s most exciting live entertainment destinations and following the outstanding success of Sophie’s Surprise Party last year as the ultimate festive night out, we’re delighted to welcome the team back this Christmas with a brand-new production. Sophie’s Surprise Christmas Party promises jaw-dropping circus, huge laughs and an unforgettable party atmosphere for a strictly limited festive run in Soho. Three Legged Race Productions said: We are so thrilled to be back this winter at what’s fast becoming our second home, as this will be our third stint here in Soho. Underbelly Soho is an incredible space where we thrive creatively, and which offers the most intimate, up-close performance environment for all our whacky ideas. Sophie's Surprise Christmas Party will run at Underbelly Soho from 13th November 2026 to 10th January 2027. Tickets are priced from £35.00 per person. For more information and to book tickets, visit underbellyboulevard.com

Photo: The Paddington Bear Experience From 7th June to 6th September, visitors to The Paddington BearTM Experience will experience bubbles in the air and special summer treats on offer in the experience’s Windsor Gardens. With a Summer Special Ticket, guests can upgrade their visit with a bundle of essentials for a perfect summer’s day. Delighting guests of all ages at London’s iconic County Hall on the South Bank, this large-scale multi-sensory adventure unfolds across multiple themed rooms inspired by memorable locations from the Paddington stories, where guests meet their favourite characters as they participate in interactive games and activities. With bubbles in the air, delicious treats to enjoy, including ice cream and macarons and plenty of fun photo moments along the way, there’s no better time to visit The Paddington BearTM Experience. Each Summer Special Ticket includes The Paddington BearTM Experience Suitcase Lunchbox, Paddington Ears, Marmalade Sandwich, a Fruit Shoot and a Paddington Postcard to remember your day, with Summer Special tickets available for an additional cost on top of the standard entry ticket price. Photo: The Paddington Bear Experience Created by The Path Entertainment Group in collaboration with STUDIOCANAL KIDS & FAMILY Ltd and Lionsgate, The Paddington BearTM Experience is a unique and fun-filled interactive experience inspired by the nation’s favourite bear, spanning more than 26,000 square feet of London’s iconic County Hall on the riverside of the South Bank. Starting with the hustle and bustle of Paddington Station, guests are greeted by a friendly Station Master and taken on a lively train journey through London’s most famous landmarks all the way to the Browns’ charming house at No. 32 Windsor Gardens. Photo: Alex Brenner Once inside the famous tree-adorned hallway, the Brown family whisk guests into a whirlwind of multi- sensory activities as they need to help Paddington and his family prepare for a very special occasion – The Marmalade Day Festival! With numerous themed rooms to explore, interactive games, character interactions, and lots of surprises along the way, the adventure culminates in a very special Windsor Garden Street party where visitors have the chance to enjoy the Marmalade Day festival. Photo: Alex Brenner The Paddington Bear Experience is currently running at County Hall on South Bank. To find out more and book tickets, visit paddingtonbearexperience.com

Groups of up to 14 players take on the round table and attempt to outsmart and outplay each other in this nerve-wracking live adaptation of the smash-hit BBC series. Photo: Grant Walker In recent years, no other TV series has captured the nation's collective attention in the same way as the BBC's The Traitors. With nearly 15 million people watching the finale of The Celebrity Traitors last November and 10 million viewers tuning in for the nail-biting Series 4 finale, the show is far and away the biggest thing on British television right now. With the latest civilian series having had a reported 400,000 applicants, the odds of being cast on the series are, of course, incredibly slim. Thankfully, there's another way for wannabe Traitors to see how they'd fare at the round table, and it's a short walk from Covent Garden... The Traitors Live Experience, which has been produced by Immersive Everywhere (Peaky Blinders: The Rise, Doctor Who: Time Fracture) and opened just off Seven Dials last July, faithfully translates the smash-hit series into a condensed 2-hour-long interactive experience packed full of deceit, betrayal, and social deduction for groups of up to 14 people at a time. 

In the Live Experience, nearly all of the action takes place within a wood-panelled room complete with a round table, around which teams vote to banish players, the Traitors decide on who to murder, and challenges are completed in an attempt to increase the overall prize pot. Alongside the players, a tartan-clad host takes on Claudia Winkleman's role, guiding players through the experience and explaining the challenges. Photo: Grant Walker Upon checking in at the venue, players are seated together with the rest of their session's participants, and each player is asked to enter their full name and select whether or not they'd like to put themselves forward as a Traitor into one of several tablets that circulate around the group. With up to 14 people in a session, smaller groups are combined, and in their designated corner of the Cloak and Dagger Bar, everyone has an opportunity to chat before being called up to the round table. Almost immediately, players take this as their opportunity to start sizing up their soon-to-be teammates. You can expect questions about people's pre-existing relationships, if they've seen the show before, and, of course, if they'd like to be Traitors, to be the main points of discussion. There's a case to be made for smaller groups or couples to try and ingratiate themselves with the rest of the team during these opening moments, as the connections made here may have an impact on how the game unfolds, but as the TV series often shows, it's a fine line to walk. Photo: Grant Walker Once seated at the round table, the Traitors need to be selected. With every member of the group wearing blackout goggles, the host (during our visit, it was Maximilian, who was excellent throughout) places a hand on the shoulders of the players chosen as Traitors while circling the table. Regardless of whether players volunteered to be Traitors or not during the introduction, it's an intense opener, and with a dozen or more sets of eyes immediately scanning the room for clues as to who was just selected once the goggles are removed, it's hard not to become hyper-aware of your body language and how even the smallest gesture could be misread. Thankfully for anyone nervous about being imminently banished or murdered, or not getting value for money, there's roughly 45 minutes afforded to players before anyone is removed from the game, with several challenges, a breakfast table discussion, and an anonymous vote on who the group believes to be Traitors all coming before the first player is eliminated. Much like in the series, there isn't a load of information for players to work from during the early round tables, so names are initially put forward with a certain amount of hesitation. We found ourselves on the receiving end of one such accusation during the second round table, based purely on us having taken a sip of our drink at a certain point in the game, and ended up being the second most voted-for player that round. Minor things such as the squeak of chairs and the rustling of clothes when the Traitors remove their blindfolds to strategise (a concession the experience has to make as groups remain in the same room for most of the experience) can also quickly become the focus of the round table discussions. While they're valid observations for groups to bring up, they do go against the spirit of the TV series somewhat. Photo: Grant Walker Regardless of how well players do in the challenges and round tables, everyone runs the risk of being ejected from the game and should go into the experience having made peace with the idea that they may be the first one out. Unlike in the TV series, where those who are eliminated remain in the dark about how the rest of the game unfolds, The Traitors Live Experience sees banished or murdered players sequestered in a nearby lounge to watch the remainder of the game unfold via a split-screen video feed. Inside the lounge, the recently departed have the opportunity to influence how things unfold at the round table from beyond the grave, openly discuss and dissect players' gameplay in real-time, and most importantly, order drinks to be delivered to their room. Prior to banished players being escorted away from the round table, they're asked to reveal to the group whether they were a Faithful or a Traitor. For those still in the game, it's another high-tension moment as they await to see if the group's decision was the correct one. For those on their way out the door, it's a prime opportunity to ham it up as all eyes fall on them. As for those murdered in the night, they're silently removed from the room while the rest of the group is blindfolded, leaving behind nothing but an empty chair. Photo: Grant Walker The only moments of relief from potential murder or banishment come during the challenges, where the group can shift their focus away from each other and onto a common goal - earning gold. The difficulty varies from challenge to challenge, with the reward scaling accordingly. In 'Dig Your Own Grave' - one of several new challenges recently added to the experience - teams select numbered graves to try and match symbols, earning them either gold or other rewards. 'The Whispering Room' sees the group split into four teams and try to assemble a sentence from different phrases whispered in each corner of the space, and 'The Covenant' requires the group to work together and move dials embedded in the round table into the correct positions against the clock. Regardless of which challenges each group gets, they're all entertaining and engaging distractions from someone's impending removal from the game, though the gold earned off the back of each challenge feels fairly inconsequential to the overall experience. Alongside earning gold, the challenges also provide players with the opportunity to earn shields, which protect those in possession of one from being murdered, and daggers, which allow a player's final decision at the next round table to be worth two votes. The impact of these additional powers will vary from group to group, but they have the potential to sway the game in players' favour if earned at the right time. During our visit, we managed to gain an advantage over the rest of the group and took control of the game's only dagger, but it had little impact, with every player before us voting to banish the same person at the round table. The shields, however, proved to be far more impactful, with multiple players trying to keep whether or not they had one under wraps to ensure the safety of more people, strengthening alliances and making the Traitor's jobs harder. Photo: Grant Walker By design, every public session of The Traitors Live Experience will include several strangers. While this mirrors the TV series, which is made up almost entirely of strangers who meet for the first time on the show (secret connections like Diane and Ross excluded), it's a different proposition for an experience that costs upwards of £50 per person. There's always going to be an element of luck when it comes to being grouped with strangers, but the concern a lot of people likely have: that booking in a smaller group means they'll be outnumbered and ejected straight away, appears not to be the case (for us at least..). During our visit, our group of four was paired up with eight other players at the table (all of whom already knew each other). Instead of them targeting the minority of strangers in the room, they focused their attention on each other in the early rounds, clearing the way for the entirety of our group to make it to the endgame with our previously mentioned sip of drink being the closest call any of us had. We'd love to say that we entered the experience with an airtight game plan to make it to the end that we executed perfectly, but it was much closer to the opposite, with very little pre-planning on our part besides committing to misspelling at least a couple of names on purpose. Photo: Grant Walker With the number of remaining players eventually reduced to just five, those still in the game find themselves entering the end game, where those banished no longer reveal if they're a Faithful or a Traitor, and each round requires players to vote on whether to conclude the game or banish again. Of all the nerve-wracking moments in The Traitors Live Experience, this is by far the most intense, and the rapid pace at which it plays out only adds more tension. Without having time to really process it, we made it to the final two players and were asked to stand up and reveal if we were a Faithful or a Traitor. In a miraculous turn of events, which we would never have predicted just two hours earlier, we had won, splitting the gold between us - a Faithful victory. Sadly, a life-changing amount of money isn't on offer for those who win at the Live Experience, but a foil-embossed certificate and eternal bragging rights are a pretty solid alternative... Photo: Grant Walker While a handful of the experience's necessary compromises may undermine the social deduction elements that sit at the core of the series, The Traitors Live Experience succeeds in translating the paranoia, tension, and unpredictability of the TV phenomenon into a hugely entertaining two-hour-long game of deception. Once accusations start flying around the round table and every glance, gesture, and offhanded comment becomes a potential piece of evidence, it's remarkably easy to get swept up in the thrill of the experience and forget that you've only known your fellow players for a couple of hours. Regardless of whether players leave victorious or are banished long before the end game, The Traitors Live Experience captures the atmosphere of the series brilliantly, and for fans who've always wondered how they'd fare in the castle, it's likely as close to being cast on the series as they're going to get. ★★★★½ [Tickets gifted in exchange for an honest review] The Traitors: Live Experience is located at 60 Short's Gardens near Covent Garden. Tickets are priced from £32.50 per person. For more info and to book tickets, visit thetraitorslive.co.uk For more reviews of immersive experiences like The Traitors: Live Experience, check out our recent Reviews.

Photo: Andrew Witherspoon Six renowned photographers known for their work with music legend David Bowie gathered for a one-off event at Lightroom in King’s Cross on Tuesday 26th May. Bowie Nights: Behind the Lens, presented by journalist and author Miranda Sawyer, saw Bowie’s collaborators Geoff MacCormack, Kevin Cummins, Richard Young, Denis O’Regan, Tony McGee and Chris Duffy shed light on the creative process of one of the world’s most adored and ever-evolving artists. The photographers shared unheard stories and images from their time working with Bowie, revealing what it was like to add to the mystique of one of pop's great stars. The event was one in a series of Bowie Nights, coinciding with Lightroom’s acclaimed immersive show David Bowie: You’re Not Alone, which is showing daily. Photo: Justin Sutcliffe Richard Young photographed Bowie during the Thin White Duke era, including the 1976 Victoria Station arrival. Last night, he exhibited a photo of Bowie performing as the Elephant Man in New York in 1980, exemplifying Bowie’s artistry beyond music through an intimate and exposed moment on stage. Geoff MacCormack, Bowie’s childhood friend, travelled with Bowie from 1973–76, photographing him across multiple countries. He exhibited a photo of Bowie writing the lyrics for the album Station to Station at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles. He spoke of how Bowie “wrote on the hoof”, exemplifying how Bowie’s process blurred art and lived experience. MacCormack said: “On this album, and probably others, he lived it and wrote it as he was living it. This was especially a tough album. He’d done Young Americans just before, which was completely separate, and this was, again, new territory. I think there’s a link between what he did after, in Germany, from this album”. Photo: Justin Sutcliffe Denis O’Regan, who became Bowie’s official tour photographer, most notably during Serious Moonlight, provided a memorable anecdote of Bowie disliking riding in a tuk-tuk which was spewing fumes directly into his face - saying: “The thing that people didn’t realise about him was just how normal and sweet he was, which is not what I expected when I first started working with him.” Tony McGee, who worked with Bowie for over 30 years, starting with the 1983 Serious Moonlight publicity shoot, exemplified Bowie’s fascination with atmosphere and sound. Talking about a photograph, depicting Bowie sitting by a radio with a wide grin on his face, McGee revealed the unlikely channel they were tuned into was the BBC World Service Shipping Forecast. David was having a laugh about the stern English voice warning of strong gusts near Orkney, Tony explaining that “It shows really just how much fun David was”. Bowie’s understanding of the media landscape and instinctive ease with the camera were explored, too. Denis O’Regan explained that Bowie grasped the importance of photos, telling the audience: “He’d say ‘we’ll keep this one for the book’, or, ‘this could be used for the press’”. Kevin Cummins, who began documenting Bowie in 1973 on the Ziggy Stardust tour and later compiled decades of work in David Bowie: Mixing Memory & Desire, similarly explained that Bowie would never refuse a photo, and was very comfortable in front of the camera. He joked: “Photographing Bowie is like trying to get a new picture of the Eiffel Tower. He’s been photographed by everybody, so how do you do something different? What he was really good at was letting you do your own work; he wouldn’t interfere. If you said ‘this is the idea for the shot’, he’d say ‘go ahead and do it’, and then he’d do the Bowie faces and do the right thing for you”. Photo: Justin Sutcliffe Chris Duffy, the son of Brian Duffy, preserves and documents Bowie’s archive of iconic sessions including Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and Scary Monsters - and who himself photographed David Bowie said: “You put a camera in front of him, and he just took off; you didn’t need to direct him at all. He understood exactly how he was projecting and how he looked.” The technical process behind some of Bowie’s most iconic images was also revealed. The cover of Aladdin Sane, referred to by Chris Duffy as the “Mona Lisa of pop”, was shot with a technique used by Duffy in the ‘60s, utilising tungsten light and long exposure. This image, which holds huge significance in Bowie’s legacy, was investigated and explained in detail never heard before. The event was part of the Bowie Nights series at Lightroom, coinciding with the acclaimed new immersive production David Bowie: You’re Not Alone, which is showing daily. The event was part of Lightroom’s Bowie Nights season, curated to run a series of cross-disciplinary Spring and Summer events celebrating the life and work of Bowie, featuring major artists including Jonathan Barnbrook and Adam Buxton. The season will run from May to September 2026. Each Bowie Night will take place at Lightroom in King’s Cross, the unique immersive venue which will host the major new production David Bowie: You’re Not Alone, open now. Written and directed by 59’s Mark Grimmer (Creative Director for the V&A’s David Bowie Is exhibition) and Tom Wexler, it showcases some of Bowie’s landmark performances that redefined popular culture, using a mixture of iconic material, selected from thousands of hours of film in the vaults of the David Bowie Archive in New York, from Space Oddity through Diamond Dogs and Let’s Dance to ★. Audiences will have the chance to feel they have travelled through time to experience Bowie in performance - up close and first-hand. Each track in the show has been newly reconfigured to utilise Lightroom's specialised spatial audio system by multiple Olivier and Tony award-winning sound designer Gareth Fry (Harry Potter & The Cursed Child, David Bowie Is). The show is fully authorised by the David Bowie Estate.

Photo: Yuan Studio Following its opening in Shanghai in 2016, Sleep No More, a co-production between SMG Live and Punchdrunk, quickly established itself as the must-see cultural experience in the city. Following ten years and 2670 performances, the production will close on 30th August 2026. Having played to over 700,000 people and generated revenues of over 10 billion RMB, Sleep No More not only was the most successful theatrical production in Shanghai’s history but it was also the catalyst for an explosion in immersive cultural events throughout China. Tickets for the final three months of performances will go on sale soon. Photo: Yuan Studio As one chapter ends, so another begins - as a brand new production of Sleep No More created by the original creative and production team, will open in the Chinese city of Shenzhen in 2027. A partnership between SMG Live, Punchdrunk, Shenzhen Runwen Culture Development Co., Ltd and Shenzhen Media Group - Good Media Co., Ltd, the production will open at Shenzhen Bay MIXC. This iteration will be an entirely new production that incorporates local culture to deliver a unique immersive experience. This will be the second version of Sleep No More in China, and the only version in China from 2027 onward. Photo: Yuan Studio This is not the first time Sleep No More has travelled beyond Shanghai – previously, its IP-derived exhibitions toured multiple cities including Shenzhen, Qingdao, and Changsha. The official arrival of the Shenzhen edition marks SMG LIVE’s ambition to bring world-class immersive entertainment to all of China. Building on ten years of experience, SMG LIVE will continue to empower urban cultural development across China with high-quality cultural, commercial, and tourism IPs originating from Shanghai.