This article was originally published in September 2023 A former theatre that dates as far back as 1937 in the centre of Camden might soon return to hosting performances after it became public that Secret Cinema has expressed interest in taking over the space to host immersive experiences. The Camden New Journal confirmed earlier this month that the current owners of the site on Arlington Road - The Rank Group, who own Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casino, were ‘looking into alternative options for the site’ following a slow return of visitors attributed to COVID and the cost of living crisis. The venue has been operating as a Mecca Bingo for over 60 years and was previously home to a theatre that had upwards of 2,500 seats. The site was split into two separate venues in 1961, with the bingo hall being created in the space formally used by the stall seating. The rest of the venue became an Odeon, and half of the site is still being used as a cinema today following a closure between 1993 and 1997. Secret Cinema was reportedly looking for a permanent space in London after being acquired by TodayTix in 2022 for $100 million. They would be following in the footsteps of fellow immersive theatre company Punchdrunk, who moved into a permanent venue in Woolwich back in 2019. Secret Cinema will be launching Wishmas - an immersive Christmas experience later this year in Waterloo. This is believed to be their only remaining show for 2023, so those eager to be a part of the next Secret Cinema world may be waiting a while. Camden Council will consider the company's licensing application at the end of September. Update as of January 2024: Camden Council have approved Secret Cinema's application to take over the site in Camden Town and the company appear to be gearing up to launch their first production of 2024 within the venue in the not-too-distant future. Update as of July 2024: Secret Cinema has decided not to proceed with the development of the Camden venue. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all the latest updates and rumours about Secret Cinema in 2025.

Next month will see the opening of Once Upon A Kingswood Christmas - an immersive Christmas experience in South London. Running from the 16th to 23rd December, Once Upon A Kingswood Christmas is set within Kingswood House - a 19th century, 32-room mansion in South Dulwich. The family-friendly immersive promenade experience is put on by Cerebrum Entertainment, who have previously mounted a version of the show at Wentworth Woodhouse near Sheffield. Cerebrum Entertainment is an immersive events company that has previously produced experiences for the likes of Universal (Halloween Ends in Piccadilly Circus) and New Line Cinema (It: Chapter Two at The Vaults). Delve into the magical world of 'Once Upon a Kingswood Christmas' and embark on a journey that will spark wonder and joy in the hearts of both young and old. Our show is a celebration of love, family, and the true spirit of Christmas. Immerse yourself in a captivating tale that will transport you to a winter wonderland like no other. Let your imagination soar as you discover the origins, traditions, and joyous inspirations behind this new and exciting Christmas Fairytale. With every moment you spend, you'll be captivated, amazed, and filled with the warmth of the holiday season. Help Bella find the Fairtyale Alliance, rescue Father Christmas from the clutches of the Snow Queen and save the Festive Season! Here's the trailer for the experience... Tickets are priced at £20 each, or £70 for 4x general admission tickets. Children under 2 years old are free. Once Upon A Kingswood Christmas runs from 16th to 23rd December at Kingswood House in South Dulwich. Find out more about the experience, and book via onceuponachristmas.uk

Following on from our five-star review of The Manikins: a work in progress, we sat down with writer/director Jack Aldisert to discuss the show’s inspiration, development, and why there will never truly be a final version of the script. Our interview with Jack Aldisert has been split into two parts. The first half is below, while the second half, which contains spoilers for the show's major plot points, will be released in the coming weeks. Keep an eye on ImmersiveRumours.com for the conclusion of our discussion. Photo: Marc Tsang This interview contains reference to several moments within The Manikins: a work in progress. We would recommend those with tickets to attend avoid reading until after their visit. Immersive Rumours: Hi Jack. Thanks for speaking to us today. We're currently sat in Crypt where The Manikins: a work in progress is being performed, and to be honest with you, it's a disconcerting feeling to be back here after experiencing the show for ourselves. How have the last few weeks of performances been and what has the audience reaction been like? Jack Aldisert: Everyone's really loved it. It's been really nice, especially because with the way the show works you're immediately talking to them about it at the end. It’s been a relief that everyone has loved it so far, and to not have been in a close quarters situation talking to them afterwards and they're not satisfied. In terms of reactions and what people take away from it, the show's so open to interpretation. There have been a few people who have taken away what I feel like I would take away from it, which is a sense of being totally overwhelmed by choice and possibility and having to make a decision amongst chaos. That’s the feeling I wanted to give people - total unreality and chaos and the idea of having to choose the right path forward when there are many paths and no one will tell you which one is right. You have to figure out what to do. I think when I feel most satisfied at the end of a show is when the person feels like they don't know what's real anymore and they feel like their own reality has been fully enmeshed with the visions of reality that the show presents. IR: You've previously cited several writers of weird fiction for the inspiration behind the show. Can you tell us about how you came across this kind of work and the impact it had on the show's creation? Jack: I was reading a lot of the philosopher theorist Mark Fisher, he has mostly written political and cultural theory, but he has one book called The Weird and the Eerie. In that book, he dives deeply into the genre of weird fiction. He referenced so many different pieces of media in that book, and it was my first time hearing about weird fiction as a genre. Jeff and Ann VanderMeer have an edited volume called The Weird and in it, he references Thomas Ligotti, who I'd never heard of and calls him something like an ‘undisputed modern master of the weird’.. He's one of the handful of authors who have gotten a Penguin Classics collection of their books while they were still alive - it's a huge deal, but I'd never heard of him, and he's so obscure, no one knows who he is. He has this style of writing that is like nothing else I've ever read. It's this crazy mix of Edgar Allan Poe-style Baroque prose mixed with super modernist experimental writing and metafiction like [Jorge Luis] Borges or [Vladimir] Nabokov. He creates these stories where a character experiences a breakdown in reality and where their reality is invaded by other horrific realities - the seemingly unreal. He uses metafictional devices to make the reader feel like their own reality is being pulled into that. For example, he has this fantastic story called Notes on the Writing of Horror: a story. It’s written as an essay about how to write horror, but then it turns into a horror story, the centre of which is the writer of the essay. That inspired the title of the show as well - The Manikins: a work in progress. As I was reading those stories, I just kept thinking that the thing he's trying to do here in a literary form of using metafiction is to reach out and pull you into it. In interactive theatre, you can actually do that. You could take some of the techniques that he uses in a literary form and actualise them, making it so that they are actually happening to the audience member. If it's done right - a piece of immersive theatre can take the audience member's own sense of reality and make it one of those layers within the fiction. That is a success to me when the participant feels like their reality has just become one of the many layers of reality that are part of the show. Photo: Rebecca J. Windsor. IR: Can you talk us through your experience of studying at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and how The Manikins first began as part of your time there? Jack: At the end of lockdown I was trying to choose between two Master's programmes. One was at Royal Holloway, and the other course was at Central. The course at Central is all about experimental devising, collaborative work and avant-garde stuff. It was a really, really difficult choice, but I’d had a lot of ideas about immersive and interactive theatre that I wanted to explore, so in the end that's why I chose the Central programme - I knew I would be allowed to experiment with that stuff. They encourage everybody in the last few months of the first year, to form companies on the course and then create a piece together - that's how Deadweight Theatre formed. The second year of the MFA I did was an independent project where you could really do anything you wanted, which is when I decided to do The Manikins. Really it was my MFA project, and you have to frame it as a research question, really. IR: What was the research question? Jack: Well, the thing I kept running into with immersive theatre was audience participation. In interactive work, there's always this level of disconnection because of the layer of artifice of characters being played. If you're an audience member and you're interacting with an actor who's in character, there's always a level of, for lack of a better word, embarrassment and confusion in the situation. A big part of that is that you've got a large group of people, usually other audience members, watching you interact. This factor of being perceived by a group of people is going to limit what you're comfortable doing in the interaction. Let's say there’s a wizard, I know when I'm talking to this wizard that the actor playing them sees me as an audience member who's come to the show. I don't know who the wizard sees me as, standing here in my modern clothes with a weird name suddenly appearing in this environment. It creates this two-directional pull - do I respond as a character that I'm somehow making up on the spot right now?, or do I respond as myself, which doesn't make sense because it sort of breaks the world? That plus the factor of being watched felt like the barriers to truly immersive interaction in my mind. So my research question - which I thought was an impossible question - was about overcoming those barriers. It was about how to create a method for writing, rehearsing, and performing scene work in which one of the scene partners is inherently totally unpredictable because they're an audience member. Those were the questions I was trying to approach and The Manikins formed around answering those questions. IR: When you began to explore if you could break down those barriers, what were you drawing from to begin with, and how did that help the development of the show? Jack: There's a fantastic essay by academic and author Sophie Nield, who I believe is at Royal Holloway, that's from when Punchdrunk was first doing their masked shows. She talks about that quote-unquote identity crisis that's created in the situation I described. It's a fantastic essay. The masks that Punchdrunk use - that's one solution to that problem. If the rest of the audience is masked and you're masked, the embarrassment factor goes way down. I thought, okay, how do we create a controlled environment to study that effect? Well, just get rid of the rest of the audience entirely so it's just the one participant. Remove the being watched by an audience factor entirely. Initially, I was using sources like the Ligotti stories, which are about the breakdown of reality and the breakdown of identity as content for the experiments we did as we were devising together in the room, workshopping stuff. I took a month off from the work, and during that time I had this dream. I woke up from it with a realisation - the way that you get around the identity crisis isn't by eliminating it, it's by incorporating it. You take the identity crisis inherent in immersive and interactive theatre, and you make it the core of the dramaturgy of the piece. You make the piece about the participant experiencing that identity crisis and you build the piece around that. Before that, I’d been trying to eliminate the problems. When I had this realisation about the identity crisis, it was that when we’d been testing the early fragments of the show, I had naturally found myself talking to people about the piece. 'Here's what we're trying to do. Here's my goal with the piece. This is what we're working on. This is what I'm hoping to get out of it.' At the end of what they were trying - which were the first scenes with the doctor and the secretary - I would ask them questions about how it was going. I realised that the extra meta layer I'd been saying to participants to frame the show had to be part of the show, and we use that as a device to heighten the audience's experience of the identity crisis, which will now be the core of the piece. That was the moment everything came together. From that point on, it just felt like a refinement process. Photo: Rebecca J. Windsor. IR: How different is the version of the show that existed when you were at Central to the version running now at Crypt? Jack: There's been three significant versions of the show. The first one I did as the culmination of the programme in May of last year - I didn't think there would be a life for the show beyond Central, but we got such encouraging feedback. I thought 'Okay, let's keep going with this'. One of the tutors from Central who saw that show in May very kindly offered us a space to do the show at Central for five participants over two days in November, alongside me teaching a workshop to that Master's program on making interactive work. When you're more deeply into the dream space, that has been very different each time we've done the show, but it has always ended in the spotlight in one way or another. It’s so hard to take plot threads in a show like this and tie them together effectively. All of the changes have really been about how do we make the experience more exciting and trippier for the audience member in the second half of the show, and also do that in a way that makes sense dramaturgically to tie any possible narrative threads together. I worked extensively with a couple of great dramaturgs, Harley Winzenried and Audrey Regan, over the first few months of this year leading up to the Crypt run to improve the text. IR: Do you think this version of the show is the final one, or are there still things that you would like to try and tweak as time goes on? Jack: I’ve got two answers to that. The first answer is that it's almost the final version... We've been tweaking it a little bit even as we've been running it so far in Crypt. I think there's still room for improvements in the finale section, and also in the section that comes afterwards when we're talking to the participant about the show. The second answer is, once you get into the dream zone, anything can really happen. There are so many exciting things we could pursue, and actually several of the most important and exciting moments in the second half of the show came from improvs that we did because of an unexpected audience choice in an earlier version of the show, which I then incorporated into the text. We had one participant, back when there was still a physical mannequin in the show, take the lab coat off the mannequin, put it on, and then enter the next scene as the doctor. That resulted in us doing three scenes in a row that were completely made up, including one of my favourite moments, which is when there were two doctors confronting each other, trying to figure out who was the real one. I was then looking for a way to incorporate that moment because I thought it was so much fun. The show can never really be 100% completed because there's always going to be the possibility that an audience member will do something so interesting that we then want to use it. When I was first thinking about what kind of immersive theatre I would like to make, I was reading a lot of books on dramaturgy and narrative structure in media. I was looking into classical music structure and at the idea of a cadenza in a classical concerto - where the music in the concerto is written and you're playing it note for note, but then there's a blank section of two minutes or so where the soloist plays a full improvisation, which is incorporated into the non-improvised structure of the piece. I got really into the idea of 'How do you do a cadenza in an immersive theatre piece?' and that's what I'm trying to approach with the finale. Photo: Rebecca J. Windsor. Those are the most powerful and exciting moments for me as a performer - when it feels like the performers and the participants are equally together in what's happening and are equally inside the dream space that's been created. IR: Has performing a show that plays with reality and dreams so much affected you and the other cast members as you’ve been performing it? Jack: Yeah. You totally slip into the headspace of the show. I've had moments where I'm playing myself or I'm playing the doctor, and I'm legitimately feeling like I'm in a dream. Because the last couple scenes of the show are so open to the audience member doing, trying, saying anything, some people stay really passive in that situation and some people try some crazy stuff. We had a situation the other day, where we had a participant try something really different. We were in a situation we'd never been in before, I was playing the scene, and then the show stopped and I felt very confused, very overwhelmed, and when it stopped I felt like it was still happening. I said to the other actor and the participant after the show, 'Wow, I just had the participants experience for like a good five minutes'. I was feeling what the participant must be feeling during that section of the show normally. The show, I think, has that element of a spell being cast, and there have been certain situations where the spell gets cast on the casters as well. Everybody gets pulled into this dream together, and those are the most powerful and exciting moments for me as a performer - when it feels like the performers and the participants are equally together in what's happening and are equally inside the dream space that's been created. Photo: Marc Tsang IR: We need to ask you about the set design for the show. It's basically made up of a curtain and two sets of chairs. Did it go through several different iterations during its development before you landed on this design? Jack: We’ve tried to free it entirely from naturalism. A big part of the development process has been working with the designers and collaborators to rid the show of set pieces, props, anything that was a direct, mimetic, naturalistic representation of reality so that the participant is fully creating the whole world in their own mind as they go along with it. The possibilities are limitless when you approach it that way. It was a hilarious process with the scenographer, Min Feng, who's an incredible designer. We started off looking at making walls and doors and an office. Each time I'd meet with her, we ended up taking something else out. This is definitely the best version of the set. It's so simple, it leaves everything else to the imagination. It's just light, darkness, and the curtain. I also think that the red curtain is very powerful as a symbol. It's great because it's in the space as a symbol of theatre, and the imagination element of theatre. It also provides the very satisfying action of parting the curtain and passing through it as a threshold - it's sort of a palate cleanser. Each time you go through it, it’s as if we have 30 different rooms that you're going into when really it's just one room. The curtain makes it feel like you're imagining a whole new space each time you pass through it. Even if we got a bunch of money all of a sudden, we would just stick with that one single red curtain hanging in the space. IR: We’re in a venue run by Parabolic Theatre. Similarly to The Manikins, Crypt hosted another immersive show last year that was born out of someone's studies - Bacchanalia by Sleepwalk Immersive. How has it been working with them on this run of the show? Jack: I can't speak highly enough of Parabolic, they're awesome. Everyone on the team is just the nicest people ever. When we did the show a year ago, Danny Romeo, who now writes on Phantom Peak, saw an early workshop version of The Manikins. He introduced me to Tom Black, who was an awesome participant and did some really fun stuff. He loved the show and ended up putting me in touch with Owen [Kingston, Artistic Director of Parabolic Theatre] in the fall. At the time, I had been extremely frustrated by trying to find a space to perform in that was affordable or to get someone to program us. When Owen said he was interested, I was expecting maybe like a week or two at best. We talked and he ended up offering us six weeks. That was the exact opportunity that we needed. There is literally no one else in London or as far as I know, in the UK, who would have made us that offer off the strength of a script and off the strength of his colleague having seen the show. It was such a rare and brilliant opportunity, and I'm totally indebted to them. Beth Atkinson - who is part of their team - has been stage managing the show and she's been brilliant. She's made the show so much better and more efficient by working on it. IR: We mentioned in our review that a logical comparison for people to have made when the show was first announced was with Punchdrunk. In reality, the only thing the two shows really share is 1:1 interactions. Was that comparison something you thought about when writing the show? Jack: It's an interesting one. The first Punchdrunk show that I saw was The Burnt City, and we were already well into the development of The Manikins. I've read a lot about Punchdrunk and their work, and I did finally manage to see Sleep No More when I was in New York last year, but that was also well after the show had been written. When I was still an undergrad, a mentor of mine who had worked on props at Sleep No More back in the day told me about Punchdrunk and Sleep No More. I'd heard of site-specific theatre, but I had never even heard of immersive theatre until I was probably 21/22. She told me about it and the concept just blew my mind. Then lockdown hit and I couldn't see any immersive theatre, so I had a couple of years where I was just imagining what it would be like, reading about it and imagining what is the potential, what would I want to do in that form. I knew that within Punchdrunk shows they had 1:1 interactions, and I also knew that that was what I was most interested in about what I understood about Punchdrunk. But I also knew that it was a very particular style of interaction in those 1:1s. I've only personally ever been in a single 1:1, but my understanding was that there wasn't that much room for the participant to structure the narrative in those moments or talk in those moments. In my mind, in drama and in theatre, it's the verbal argumentation that is the core of it. I was interested in trying to take what I thought were some really exciting ideas in the Punchdrunk 1:1 scenes, especially the dream-like nature of it. That was something I've always been really interested in - using theatre to recreate a dream space and a dream mentality, and I think Punchdrunk does that so well. I was interested in how could you combine that with conversational interaction, because they on their face seem to be almost clashing with each other. It would be really difficult to create a dream-like interaction if you're talking and articulating yourself heavily. But I thought maybe it might be possible. The idea of The Manikins being like a 90-minute 1:1, I totally see that as a comparison. Of course, on a technical level, and in terms of what the experience feels like, is completely different. I've seen something that Katy [Naylor of voidspace] has said about it in an interview where she was talking about the show being like the dream-like feeling of a Punchdrunk show or Punchdrunk 1:1 but with the facilitated space for full agency. --- Part 2 of our conversation with Jack Aldisert is available to read here. The Manikins: a work in progress runs at Parabolic Theatre's Crypt in Bethnal Green from 3rd June to 13th July 2024. Tickets are currently sold out, but you can visit themanikins.com to find out more about the show.

From intergalactic space missions and open-world towns obsessed with platypuses to expeditions into the darkest depths of Peru, here are our recommendations for the best family friendly immersive experiences in London this summer holiday... London has never had a shortage of family-friendly activities, from world-class museums and zoos to West End shows and tourist attractions that cater to all ages. Among the hundreds of things to do on any given day in the capital are some stand-out immersive experiences that allow families to become part of the story and get involved to a degree not possible elsewhere. Below are our recommendations for the top five immersive experiences running in London this summer that will engage and entertain the whole family... The Paddington Bear Experience Photo: Alex Brenner An immersive walk-through show spread out over 26,000 sq ft in the heart of Central London, The Paddington Bear Experience allows guests to step inside the world of Michael Bond's classic stories for the first time as preparations for the Marmalade Day celebrations are underway at Windsor Gardens. Guests will get hands-on with a series of tasks throughout the experience as they meet a cast of characters from the much-loved book series, including Mrs. Brown. There's a lovingly recreated version of the Brown's family home, complete with the blossom tree mural at the foot of their staircase, and an excursion to Peru where you help create Marmalade, amongst other interactive moments. Photo opportunities with Paddington are available at the conclusion of the experience, as well as a chance to buy your own Marmalade sandwiches. The show is directed by Tom Maller, whose previous work includes some of London's biggest immersive shows of recent years (Peaky Blinders: The Rise, Doctor Who: Time Fracture, Secret Cinema's Blade Runner, Romeo + Juliet, and Casino Royale). Photos: Alex Brenner Help Paddington and the Brown Family prepare for a very special occasion; the Marmalade Day Festival. Just like Paddington, you’ll begin your adventure in the hustle and bustle of Paddington Station where you’ll meet the friendly Station Master and hop aboard our full-sized train carriage – make sure you aren’t late! Journey through the sights and sounds of London, all the way to the Brown’s house at No. 32 Windsor Gardens. Step inside the Brown’s famous tree adorned hallway and explore multiple rooms in their home, then venture beyond as you’re transported to the magical jungle of Peru – all to help Paddington prepare for the biggest party Windsor Gardens has ever seen! Finish by celebeating the Marmalade Day Festival at Windsor Gardens with Paddington and his friends where you’ll dance to vibrant calypso music, play fairground games and eat & drink festival treats – most importantly you can try Paddington’s favourite Marmalade sandwich! 📍 Waterloo 💰 From £136.00 (Family of 4) 🧒 Suitable for all ages 🎟️ Book via paddingtonbearexperience.com Bridge Command (Cadet Shows) Photo: Alex Brenner Bridge Command's origins date back to 2019, when Parabolic Theatre first prototyped an early version of the experience on a shoestring budget. An instant hit among immersive theatre fans, they continued to develop the concept over the following five years before debuting this supersized version of the show beneath the railway arches near Vauxhall station earlier this year. The highly interactive experience lets guests take charge of a starship and work together in a series of missions that could see them do anything from delivering cargo to investigating distress signals or exploring uncharted corners of the galaxy. Parabolic Theatre has long been pioneering immersive experiences that respond on the fly to guest decisions, and the show features a sophisticated back-end system that logs everything visitors do so that future visits incorporate their past choices into their next adventure. Available on Fridays and Sundays through the summer, Bridge Command is running Cadet Missions aimed at those aged between 11-16. While you can expect a slightly less challenging experience, it's no less interactive. Photos: Alex Brenner Have you ever dreamed of commanding your own Starship? As the bridge crew of your own vessel, you will boldly go where no immersive theatre audience has gone before. Fusing gaming technology with theatrical performance, Bridge Command offers a variety of scenarios designed to keep the whole team fully engaged. Designed for groups of between three and six people, our fully interactive starship set will respond to your commands, and carry you beyond the final frontier.​​​ It is your job to make it so. You will be given a uniform and be part of a crew. Your ship is a complex organism that will require maintenance, you will meet a variety of characters played by live actors, and your missions will involve an array of challenges. More specifically, each officer’s station has a different set of tasks to complete. Helm officers fly the ship, engineering officers keep it running, and so on. 📍 Vauxhall 💰 From £160.00 (Family of 4) 🧒 Suitable for ages 11-15 🎟️ Book via bridgecommand.space Phantom Peak - Starlit Summer Photo: Alistair Veryard Phantom Peak is a hard show to describe to people who haven't been before. It combines elements of escape rooms, immersive theatre and theme parks into a unique open-world experience that feels a lot like a real-life video game. The town is populated by over a dozen actors spread across the venue's 30,000sq ft space, and each season of Phantom Peak (it's currently on its ninth season since first opening in August 2022) has 10 brand-new storylines for guests to complete. They take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes to finish and will have you interacting with both the town's residents and numerous pieces of interactive technology scattered across the town. There are puzzles to be solved, characters to interrogate, and many opportunities to improvise with the show's excellent cast of characters. Aside from the 10 main storylines, there are plenty of other things going on to occupy your time, including Platyhooks (hook a duck but with platypuses), carnival games, filmmaking contests, the Miramaze, and new for Starlit Summer, the Cabin Games. Every session of Phantom Peak is open to all ages, and the show's cast is excellent at interacting with younger guests. An ideal real-world substitute for a day of playing video games at home. Phantom Peak is a standout experience in London's immersive theatre scene. Photos: Alistair Veryard A fully immersive, open world experience - a living, breathing town where mystery lurks around every corner. Think of it as part escape room, part immersive theatre, part real-life videogame. You’ll meet mysterious strangers, uncover secret plots of rebellion, and find out what exactly happened to the old Mayor (coincidental accident, or cold-blimped murder?!) This summer, the residents of Phantom Peak are headed to the great outdoors! Long sunny days have arrived at last, and the Sun Daddy’s light has provided a warm atmosphere for the Townsfolk to compete in exciting camp competitions! But the warmth and sunlight may be blinding the townsfolk to the nefarious machinations of JONACO, hard at work in the mines. Jonas’s powerhouse company has been developing projects in the darkest corners of town, their true intentions a mystery. Join the summer fun, explore the sundrenched canals and lakeside, and uncover JONACO’s mysterious plot before it’s too late! 📍 Canada Water 💰 From £124.00 (Family of 4) 🧒 Suitable for all ages 🎟️ Book via phantompeak.com AVORA: FAMILY Immersive Adventure Originally designed to be an immersive cocktail experience for those 18 and older, Avora is the latest show from Inventive Productions, the company behind Alcotraz and Moonshine Saloon. Across the summer holidays, they're hosting a family-friendly version of the show that swaps the cocktails out for mocktails and puts kids at the centre of the show. Set across three main spaces in their basement venue, it's taken a healthy amount of inspiration from the Avatar film series and is the closest thing you can get to visiting Pandora this side of the Atlantic. Guests are all given a jumpsuit to wear upon arrival that's embroidered with the logo of Roscorp - a tech conglomerate they'll be acting on behalf of during their journey. We'll leave it up to you to decide if Roscorp's true intentions for exploring far-off planets are noble or nefarious (spoilers: they're not good..), but you're there in good faith, acting as scientists on a fact-finding expedition to an other-worldly planet. There are two mocktails included in the ticket price, as well as a number of sensory games and challenges for guests aged 5-11. The new world of Avora is ready and waiting to be explored! Roscorp Enterprise, the founding company of the remarkable gateway to Avora, has yet to gain the trust of the locals and uncover all the potential of the new world. Having failed with their current crew so far, Roscorp believes children may just be the key to unlocking the secrets of Avora. Will you be lucky enough to be selected to join the crew? A journey to Avora is like no experience you will have had before, a magical and mysterious planet which evolves and changes before your very eyes. Your mission if you choose to accept is to explore this new world and uncover the secrets that lie within. You will be guided by Dr Shelly to find the hidden secrets, interact with the local Avorians to learn how they live, play games and sample some of the rare delicacies found on Avora. 📍 Hoxton 💰 From £108.00 (Family of 4) 🧒 Suitable for ages 5-11 🎟️ Book via avora-experience.co.uk Enitan's Game - Punchdrunk Enrichment Photo: Ali Wright The sister company to immersive heavyweight Punchdrunk, Punchdrunk Enrichment was founded in 2008 by Artistic Director Peter Higgin with the intention of taking the innovative practice of Punchdrunk into communities and schools. The first production in their new Punchdrunk Enrichment Stores venue in Wembley Park, Enitan's Game, revolves around a game created by Enitan's grandfather, who recently passed away. The show is part immersive theatre, part child-friendly escape room, and kids are the focus of the 50-minute experience, so adults can expect to take more of a backseat. The show is co-created by Mia Jerome and Peter Higgin, written by Mia Jerome, Casey Jay Andrews, Omar F. Okai, and Simon Maeder, and directed by Omar F. Okai. Photos: Ali Wright Tucked away off a busy road in Wembley is a special place. Warm and welcoming, it’s a home for many when you are far from your own. Inside you’ll find Enitan and Ged, two friends who collect objects and stories. One such item is a game, made by Enitan’s grandfather when she first arrived in the UK. As a young girl, whenever she felt sad or homesick they played it together. It made her feel stronger and helped her grow. Now Enitan’s grandfather has gone and she needs your help to play again. Together, you’ll discover a secret world, and unlock the storyteller in you. Experience an immersive theatre show for families from Punchdrunk Enrichment in our brand-new venue. Enitan’s Game celebrates the power of shared stories, loss and community. Pick a card, let the journey begin. 📍 Wembley Park 💰 From £68.00 (Family of 4) 🧒 Suitable for ages 6-11 🎟️ Book via punchdrunkenrichment.org.uk For more on London's best immersive shows (family-friendly and not) check out our Current/Upcoming Listings page.

From family-friendly frights and creepy soirées to intense experiences that promise big scares, here are our recommendations for London's best immersive experiences this Halloween... As always, October is looking to be a bumper month for spooky immersive experiences in the capital. To help you make the most of the spooky season, we've gathered together all the information you need to make your next night out a great one. Below is our pick of the best experiences on offer across the month for those looking for various levels of frights. From family-friend spooks to intense experiences, there's something on offer for everyone's taste this Halloween, if you're brave enough... Phantom Peak - Hallowed Peak We've spoken at length previously about how good Phantom Peak is. In our opinion, this platypus-loving mining town is the most enjoyable immersive experience currently on offer in London. While it's open nearly year-round with regular updates and re-themes, Halloween is when the place comes into its own. Their Lunar Festival returns for a third year, with both previous Hallowed Peak seasons having enjoyed multiple sold-out dates. There are 10 brand new story trails available for guests to experience this season, and if they are anything like previous years you can expect to be doing anything from banishing demons to encountering haunted dolls, visiting the Undertakers for a coffin fitting, and almost certainly lending a hand to the town's resident paranormal investigators - Spectre and Vox. Brand new for Hallowed Peak 2024 is The Lunar Remedy, a cocktail experience add-on that will see guests in search of a remedy to a series of strange afflictions that are spreading among the townsfolk of Phantom Peak. In a race against the clock, guests will need to explore the town and interact with its characters in a self-guided experience that culminates with a mix-it-yourself cocktail, along with an exclusive trail card. Photos: Alistair Veryard This is an important and eerie time of year for the residents of Phantom Peak. It’s the time of year when the moon is closest to the Ridge, and Diamant begins to react in strange and unpredictable ways. Spirits rise from the grave, creatures lurk in the shadows, and the Church of the Cosmic Platypus raves in style! Expect a thoroughly original take on the Halloween traditions that made this unique event so popular in 2023! Phantom Peak is a family-friendly experience, and the free-roaming, experience-at-your-own-pace design of the show means you can take a break from the storylines at any time and pick them back up without missing anything. There's a string of other activities on offer including carnival games, the annual costume competition and multiple food and drink options. The show's creators describe Hallowed Peak are 'more spooky than scary', so it's an ideal experience for those wanting a Halloween experience that's not intense. 📍 Canada Water 💰 From £42.00 👻 Scare Level: 1/5 🕒 27th September - 10th November 2024 🎟️ Book via phantompeak.com Open House: The Escape Room - Screamworks In recent years, ScreamWorks has earned a reputation for creating London's best immersive horror experiences. Their debut show, Bloodbath, launched in late 2022 and was unlike anything else on offer in the capital at the time. It pushed the boundaries and conventions of immersive theatre to an extreme and saw visitors being force-fed, tied up, undressed, and chased through an air vent on their hands and knees. Last year saw them debut The Ghost Hunt - another exceptionally scary immersive horror experience that had guests make their way through a Victorian house illuminated only by torchlight. Set within the abandoned home of the Luff family, who all met their end in bloody murder-suicide back in 1937, visitors were invited by paranormal investigator Hector Phoenix to explore the family home and discover the truth behind what really caused their horrific deaths. For 2024, they return with Open House: The Escape Room. The experience is a combination of immersive theatre and escape room elements, and ScreamWorks CEO Gary Stocker describes it as their most exciting immersive concept yet - being the culmination of everything they've learnt in the last few years. East London’s most haunted house is up for sale and seasoned 'escape agent’ Jason Shepherd has teamed up with ScreamWorks to present one of the most innovative house-hunting events of the season: Open House – the immersive escape game. What better way to explore and experience the highlights of this unique property than to be locked inside, with a delicious drink from our brand sponsor and a host of fun games and challenges to complete? This enormous Victorian mansion is dripping in history, full of characters and the perfect forever home for a young couple or family looking to take their lives to the next stage. With a bathroom to die for and a suite of bedrooms that will guarantee you rest in peace, this captivating property won’t cost you an arm and a leg! While the house has a guide price of £666k, the current vendors are keen for a quick sale and are willing to accept any offers whatsoever. Photos of previous ScreamWorks shows. Open House will run between 60 to 90 minutes depending on the type of booking made - the 90-minute experience is set to be more intense and be warned - includes moments of climbing and crawling. Those who are curious enough during the house tour may also uncover hidden paths and secrets, leading them down even more terrifying routes through the experience. 📍 Bethnal Green 💰 From £45.00 👻 Scare Level: 3.5/5 🕒 From 27th September 2024 🎟️ Book via screamworks.london Tales of the Strange The creators of Tales of the Strange are well-versed in providing great Halloween outings. For several years they ran Ghost Newington, a must-loved immersive walking tour that had visitors exploring the winding backstreets, cobbled yards and haunted ale houses of Stoke Newington under night fall. Last year saw them swap the streets of Stokey for a bricks-and-mortar venue in Haggerston with The House of Dust, which invited visitors to enjoy three supernatural cocktails as The Ghost Master took them on a twisted journey through the annals of time to a world where ghosts, murderers and ghouls were brought to life. For 2024 they've shifted down to Brixton for Tales Of The Strange. The show is a collaboration between JimJack (part of the team behind Macabre & Ghost Newington) and Vi & Sly - a design duo know for creating hauntingly creepy puppets and props. In a last ditch attempt to save his ailing career, horror writer Jeffrey Thrillerman dares you to encounter some of his twisted tales, brought to life for the first time by a motley team of actors. Housed within a haunted railway arch in Brixton, this pop-up extravaganza is part theatrical experience, part bar and wholly good vibes! So, grab a cocktail and hang with your friends as we regale you with an anthology of strange tales. What’s that? You’re feeling peckish? Fear not, we’ll have a selection of dastardly dishes available, prepared by dead-chef Danny Jack. Oh, and after the performance we wont just kick you out onto the cold streets of Brixton, no ma’am! You’ll get to hang out for the night in the tunnel of Strange. You can drink, dance, feast and frolic to the dead in style. Perhaps you’ll regale new found friends with your own tales as our house DJ’s play groovy 70s vibes. 📍 Brixton 💰 From £20.00 👻 Scare Level: ?/5 🕒 31st October - 2nd November 2024 🎟️ Book via designmynight.com Make Believe: A Halloween Grotto This Halloween season brings with it the debut show from Scarehand Productions, a new venture from Christopher Blackmore, Amy Sherlock, and David Hoskin. The company's mission is to "create boundary-pushing Halloween experiences soaked in atmosphere and scares," and with over 20 years of combined expertise, they're well-equipped to deliver. Christopher Blackmore was one of the writers for Deathcell, the much-talked about extreme immersive horror experience that returns to London in early 2025 with Deathcell: Magenta, and David Hoskin did the dramatergy and sound design for Gorgon: A Horror Story back in 2021, which BroadwayWorld described as "evocative and terrifying". If the trigger warnings for Make Believe: A Halloween Grotto are anything to go by, you can expect a claustrophobic, anxiety-inducing experience that touches on suicide, wasps and most terrifyingly of all... germs. This Halloween, cross into the Grotto—a shadowy world where innocence and nightmares collide. Inside, your deepest childhood memories twist into something darker, more menacing. What was once joyful becomes unnervingly sinister, forcing you to confront your inner fears. Not everything is as it seems, as the veil between what is real and make believe gets thinner... A 30 minute horror-filled experience, audiences are guided through eerie, atmospheric den of memories and compelled to follow the Grotto’s cryptic commands in an unnerving journey to meet your forgotten inner child. Expect interactive performances, haunting visuals, and spine-tingling surprises that will leave you questioning what is real and what is make-believe. This isn’t your typical haunted house; it’s a chilling journey of self-discovery and terror. Are you brave enough to enter the Grotto? 📍 Loughborough Junction 💰 From £15.00 👻 Scare Level: 4.5/5 🕒 25th October - 2nd November 2024 🎟️ Book via designmynight.com Kraken ScreamFest: House of Curses Kraken Rum return with their annual immersive Halloween experience, Screamfest: House of Curses. In previous years they’ve delivered knock-out events including last years Screamfest: Shock Exchange, that had guests wear heart monitors as they ventured through the corridors of Clerkenwell Catacombs, rewarding the bra rats with discounted drinks. For 2024, they’ve put together a curated exhibition of the world’s most cursed and haunted pieces of art, the experience will have guests sign a waiver before being allowed to enter the final exhibit. Enter at your own risk. To help ward off any evil spirits, Kraken are included two cocktails as part of the ticket price, which is only £10 per person. This Halloween, The Kraken is bringing a new kind of existential horror to the UK by opening what could be the world’s most dangerous art gallery. That’s because the temporary exhibition will, for the first time, bring together the most notorious haunted and cursed artworks and objects in the country, all known to have inflicted terror and suffering upon those that have gazed upon them. Accessible only after signing a waiver, the final exhibit contains one of the most haunted paintings of them all. This original piece was the centre of a 2023 media storm after it was returned to a charity shop by multiple owners who reported chills, being chased by a demonic figure and one person even having to call an ambulance after collapsing in the painting’s presence. Those who do dare enter will be granted only a short time in the presence of ‘The Unknown Girl’ before being ushered out to the safety of The Kraken Bar. 📍 Soho 💰 From £10.00 👻 Scare Level: ?/5 🕒 31st October - 2nd November 2024 🎟️ Book via universe.com For the latest news and updates on all the best immersive Halloween experiences in London this October, follow us on Twitter or Instagram 🎃

The Kraken Rum announce their new pop-up immersive Halloween horror experience in London, where the world’s most haunted pieces of art will be on display under one roof. Image courtesy of Kraken Rum. This Halloween, The Kraken is bringing a new kind of existential horror to the UK by opening what could be the world’s most dangerous art gallery. That’s because the temporary exhibition will, for the first time, bring together the most notorious haunted and cursed artworks and objects in the country, all known to have inflicted terror and suffering upon those that have gazed upon them. Curated by art historian and critic, Ruth Millington, the House of Curses comprises six psychologically thrilling themed mini-exhibits, including ‘Cursed Creatures’, ‘Possessed Children’ and modern-day Creepypasta ‘Internet Lore’, with visitors receiving a walkthrough audio guide delving into the haunted backstories of each piece. Artwork by Zac Webb. Images courtesy of Kraken Rum. Entering through ‘Cursed Creatures’, after discovering more about the history of the Kraken itself, guests will find themselves in ‘Ghost’, where they’ll see haunted projector slides from the Birmingham & Midlands Institute as well as original artwork by Zac Webb, painted during his time in residency at Ohio’s most haunted house. Moving through to ‘Skeleton’, the theme of death becomes ever more prevalent, showcased through an original Damien Hirst skull – ‘The Dream is Dead’. Artwork by Damien Hirst. Images courtesy of Kraken Rum. Room four explores the darkest corners of internet lore from Slenderman to Goat Man and Creepypasta legends, before moving through to ‘Dolls’ which hosts one of the UK’s most haunted items – The Grace Doll. Known as the UK’s ‘Annabelle’, this doll, donated by paranormal investigator Danny Moss, has been seen to move inside her enclosed glass box as well as threatening to ‘burn [visitors’] eyes out.’ Dolls on display at Kraken Screamfest: House of Curses. Images courtesy of Kraken Rum. The penultimate room sees visitors surrounded by a series of ‘Possessed Children’ paintings including the ‘Crying Boy’ that was said to have caused homes to burn down in Scotland. There is also the deeply unsettling ‘The Hands Resist Him’ portrait: a horror-stricken painting which seemed to cause the deaths of those closely associated with it. So evil is this work that even the reproductions are said to be possessed with a malevolent force. Artwork on display at Kraken Screamfest: House of Curses. Images courtesy of Kraken Rum. Accessible only after signing a waiver, the final exhibit contains one of the most haunted paintings of them all. This original piece was the centre of a 2023 media storm after it was returned to a charity shop by multiple owners who reported chills, being chased by a demonic figure and one person even having to call an ambulance after collapsing in the painting’s presence. Those who do dare enter will be granted only a short time in the presence of ‘The Unknown Girl’ before being ushered out to the safety of The Kraken Bar. The Unknown Girl on display at Kraken Screamfest: House of Curses. Images courtesy of Kraken Rum. With a menu of cocktails inspired by the haunted artworks, as well as burning sage-laced drinks to ward away evil, shell-shocked guests can begin to unwind in the bar, where they’ll also find a tarot card reader and Zoltar machine for further evening thrills. Art curator, Ruth Millington said: House of Curses is the most intense exhibition I’ve ever curated. From the legend of The Kraken itself to real-life haunted pieces that have inflicted all manner of terror upon owners and artists, this is a gallery not to be missed – providing you’re brave enough. Hauntings, death and horror have been key themes in artwork and objects for millennia and now we’re bringing a variety of those pieces together in one high-risk exhibition this Halloween in Screamfest: House of Curses. Artwork on display at Kraken Screamfest: House of Curses. Images courtesy of Kraken Rum. Tickets for Screamfest: House of Curses cost £10 and include entry and two free drinks, including a welcome drink. The exhibition runs from 31st October to Saturday 2nd November at The Vinyl Factory, Soho.

Ever wondered what it takes to be a Traitor or outsmart one? Set to open Spring 2025, The Traitors: Live Experience will open its doors in London, offering players the opportunity to be plunged into the heart of the drama as they take part in the UK’s first-ever playable experience based on the BAFTA and Emmy award-winning TV show, The Traitors. In this high-stakes game of deception, strategy, and teamwork, players will find themselves at the centre of the experience, sitting at ‘The Round Table’, collaborating on missions and forming alliances – but the question is, who can they trust? Guided by a dynamic live host, players will work to uncover the Traitors hidden amongst them with thrilling missions guaranteed to deliver an unforgettable experience complete with intrigue, competition, and camaraderie. During the action-packed experience, players will be thrust into the suspenseful world of the hit TV show, featuring recognisable gameplay such as a blindfolded Traitors selection, several heart-racing missions that will test both physical and mental endurance, as well as ample opportunity for the Traitors to strategise whether to murder or recruit from the rest of the group. Photo: Hugo Glendinning Claudia Winkleman, host of the UK version of The Traitors, comments: I am extremely excited for The Traitors: Live Experience to open in London next year. I can’t wait for players to immerse themselves in their own drama, strategy and deception. They’ll love the game and should definitely expect twists. Please can you add an evil cackle here? Leading the creative vision for the project is Neil Connolly, Creative Director at Immersive Everywhere, whose track record includes The Crystal Maze Live Experience, The Tomb Raider Live Experience and other ground-breaking immersive experiences. Perfect for friends, colleagues and fellow thrill-seekers, The Traitors: Live Experience promises to be entertaining and nail-biting in equal measure and will be home to a luxurious themed bar where guests can indulge in a pre- or post-game drink as well as table service once sat at The Round Table. Photo: Hugo Glendinning Tickets to The Traitors: Live Experience will go on sale in early 2025, priced from £29.50 per person. Sign up at www.thetraitorslive.co.uk to receive presale access and further event information.

Photo: DARKFIELD Acclaimed immersive theatre producers DARKFIELD will take up residency in Shoreditch Town Hall basement The Ditch this April, bringing their latest critically acclaimed experience ARCADE to the venue alongside three additional experiences. ARCADE first premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024 and later enjoyed a sell-out run at BFI London Film Festival. For the first time, DARKFIELD will present one of their experiences outside their trademark shipping container, with ARCADE transposed into the untouched basement of iconic Grade II listed Shoreditch Town Hall. Photo: Kate Edwards Using the nostalgic 8-bit aesthetic of 1980’s video games, ARCADE’s interactive narrative explores the evolving relationship between players and avatars. Over 30 minutes, audiences will choose their own path through the story whilst experiencing DARKFIELD’s signature 360-degree binaural sound and sensory effects for a fully immersive experience. Each at their own individual arcade machine, players will guide their avatar through a world ravaged by endless war: you can choose a side, win or lose the war, search for a peaceful route, or join a cult promising a better version of reality. Players will ask themselves difficult questions, as they navigate a world where some will win and others will lose. No two journeys through the experience will be the same. Photos: Kate Edwards As part of the residency, audiences can expect a purpose-built bar, and also experience a trio of additional shows - DOUBLE, VISITORS and ETERNAL - all of which were originally part of the online-only DARKFIELD Radio Season One in 2020, and are being presented as physical installations for the first time. Speaking on their upcoming residency, DARKFIELD said: We are so excited to be coming to Shoreditch Town Hall for a residency this April, especially bringing ARCADE - our most ambitious show to date - into such a unique space as The Ditch. This will be the first time that we have transposed one of our shipping container shows into a new environment and it just feels like the perfect fit. We can’t wait to see DARKFIELD AT THE DITCH fully realised and really hope our audiences enjoy exploring the world they are immersed in. Ellie Browning, Head of Cultural Programme at Shoreditch Town Hall, commented: Our atmospheric basement space The Ditch is perfect for populating with pioneering immersive experiences, and so we are thrilled to host a DARKFIELD takeover this Spring. Their seriously clever use of tech, coupled with interactive narratives transports players to other worlds and promises experiences that our audiences won't forget. DARKFIELD at The Ditch runs at Shoreditch Town Hall from 1st April to 12th April 2025. Tickets to ARCADE are priced from £14.00, with DOUBLES, VISITORS and ETERNALS all priced at £8.00, or £6.00 when booked alongside ARCADE. For more information, and to book visit shoreditchtownhall.com

We recap our picks of the five best immersive shows of 2024 as part of our Year In Review series. #1 - The Manikins: a work in progress (Deadweight Theatre) Photo: Rebecca J. Windsor With a cast of two performing for just a single audience member, The Manikins: a work in progress is as intimate a show as you can get. A mind-bending experience that had us questioning our own reality for weeks afterwards, Deadweight Theatre's production was the stand-out show of 2024 and has redefined what small-scale immersive theatre can achieve. #2 - Phantom Peak (The League of Adventure) Photo: Alistair Veryard Phantom Peak's ongoing narrative reached new heights in 2024 with an exception run 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 forms the backbone of this one-of-a-kind experience that isn't being replicated anywhere else. #3 - Rhythm&Ruse (Immergence/Clio Creative) Photo: Rhythm&Ruse Rhythm&Ruse's mix of cocktails, cabaret and close-up magic was one of the best nights out we've had in London this year. While expectations were high for the show as soon as it was first announced, with Punchdrunk alumni including Fania Grigoriou, Sam Booth, Mallory Gracenin and Naomi Banks all involved, the show surpassed them to create an unforgettable evening at The Starling, night after night. #4 - Bridge Command (Parabolic Theatre) Photo: Alex Brenner A show over five years in the making, Bridge Command delivered on the promise of allowing guests to pilot a starship into the deepest corners of space. Teamwork is the name of the game aboard the UCN Takanami and UCN Havock, both of which offer an exhilarating experience for guests that responds to their choices on the fly, creating a unique playthrough every visit. #5 - Viola's Room (Punchdrunk) Photo: Julian Abrams Punchdrunk's follow-up to The Burnt City rejected the format fans had waited so long for before their long-awaited return to London with Viola's Room. With no white masks, no loops and no actors, the show instead invited guests into a linear walk-through fairy tale that required no shoes and socks. It's the kind of show only Punchdrunk could pull off, and continues to cement them as one of the world's premiere immersive producers. For coverage of all the latest immersive experiences coming to London in 2025, follow us on Instagram, X and BlueSky. To hear what over 15 immersive creators think the best immersive shows of 2024 were, check out the rest of our end-of-year coverage here.

R Space Productions, the producers of upcoming immersive horror escape experience DEATHCELL: Magenta, have released an official trailer and production images ahead of the show opening next month in Hackney Wick for a limited two-week run. The show is described as a 'wild and thrilling experience, combining theatrical cinema, time-pressured puzzle solving and impossible decisions', and is the follow-up to 2018's DEATHCELL, which won Best Out Of Season Attraction at the 2019 ScareCON Awards. Built on chaos and corruption, DEATHCELL is a formidable institution of abused government power. It’s a heart-pounding prison of puzzles, punishment and paranoia. A problematic penitentiary where decisions determine fate. In this modern dystopia, inmates are treated as players in a political prison, fighting for survival and subject to pained puzzles where choice is a weapon of fate. You must select to survive. Photos: R Space Productions R Space Productions are a first-of-its-kind hybrid company, combining award-winning productions and experiential immersive workshop experiences alongside creative entertainment services, attraction design and creative, operations management, event marketing and more. Driven by a core team of just six members with more than 30 years combined experience in the live entertainment industry, and led by founder and managing director Steph Ricketts, R Space Productions is on a mission to lead the way in immersive entertainment, creating see-it-to-believe-it experiences. DEATHCELL: Magenta Trailer (via R Space Productions) Steph Ricketts, Founder & Managing Director of R Space Productions, commented: I can't wait for the world to discover what awaits from R Space Productions. Our upcoming show, DEATHCELL: MAGENTA, is set to leave a lasting impression, marking our most daring venture to date. By blending elements of cinema, immersive theatre, escape room puzzles, and the thrill of horror, we're pushing boundaries and crafting new forms of escapism with compelling storytelling. Our journey began six years ago with nothing but dedication and passion. Witnessing the team at R Space Productions dive wholeheartedly into this project fills me with immense pride, leaving myself and many excited for the future that lies ahead. Photos: R Space Productions Liam McClean, Head of Marketing & Sales at R Space Productions adds the following... This experience is like nothing you’ve seen before. We’ve created something unique, innovative and next-level scary. DEATHCELL: MAGENTA is one-of-a-kind, and I can’t wait to hear the screams of pure terror and excitement. Photos: R Space Productions Once guests have secured their tickets, they'll be invited to Rewind Rentals (a nod to 80’s nostalgia and the late Blockbuster Video) to enjoy an exclusive screening of an unreleased short film horror-flick, MAGENTA. But as the lines blur between fiction and reality, the true test lies in making it to the end of the film in one piece... are you ready to push play? Deathcell: Magenta will run from 21st February to 1st March 2025 at an undisclosed location in Hackney Wick. Tickets are on sale now, starting from £30.00. For more info and to book, visit deathcell.co.uk

With a return to Thebes and a final season at Phantom Peak's Canada Water venue, to an immersive version of The Traitors, there's already a host of London-based shows to be excited about in 2025... Bacchanalia (Sleepwalk Immersive) Photo: Ivy Corbin Bacchanalia is an immersive adaptation of The Bacchae by Euripides. Set in a psychedelic 1960s rendition of the city of Thebes, the show is a free-roam performance in which audience members are able to follow a range of characters as Thebes falls from order into madness and debauchery. According to Sleepwalk Immersive, the new staging of the show will expand upon previous performances with new content. Bacchanalia was previously staged at Crypt in Bethnal Green in November 2023 and enjoyed a sold-out run. The show later returned to the same venue in February and March 2024 after receiving overwhelmingly positive word-of-mouth from audiences. Critical praise for the show was equally strong, with The Stage highlighting it as one of the Top 50 Shows of 2023 and Broadway World describing Bacchanalia as a "fascinating piece of immersive theatre". In our review of the show, we called it "one of the best new immersive shows of the year”. Past performances saw a cast of performers renowned in the immersive world, as well as exciting newcomers. This upcoming run at Hoxton Hall promises to build on the well-received core of the show’s past runs while further expanding the company’s vision for Bacchanalia. 📍 Hoxton Hall 💰 From £54.00 🕒 11th - 23rd March 2025 🎟️ Book via sleepwalkimmersive.com Deathcell: Magenta (R Space Productions) Photo: R Space Productions R Space Production's Deathcell: Magenta has been a long time coming. The much-anticipated prequel to their 2018 immersive horror production, which won Best Out of Season Attraction at the 2019 ScareCON Awards, the show promises to be a mix of immersive theatre, theatrical cinema, time-pressured puzzle-solving, and impossible decisions. The R Space Productions team has over 30 years of combined experience in the live entertainment industry, and its founder, Steph Ricketts, has played an important part in bringing a lot of Thorpe Park's most well-known scare attractions to life. Expect big scares and tough decisions when Deathcell: Magenta opens at an undisclosed location in Hackney Wick this February. 📍 Hackney Wick 💰 From £30.00 🕒 21st February 2024 - 1st March 2025 🎟️ Book via deathcell.co.uk Phantom Peak: The Final Season Photo: Alistair Veryard With 11 seasons of Phantom Peak having run since first opening in August 2022, it's been confirmed that the next season of Phantom Peak - currently titled 'The Final Season' - will be the last at their Canada Water venue. Over the last 24 months, Phantom Peak has gone from strength to strength, with consistently high-quality trails, an ever-expanding list of technology on offer, and an ongoing narrative that's rich and rewarding for long-time visitors while still engaging for first-timers. Details of exactly where the show is relocating to are still under wraps, but we know that this venue change will usher in a new era for the show. Recent seasons of Phantom Peak have had increasing mentions of 'The Great Undoing' - an event that looks set to rock the foundations of the platypus-loving town to its Diamant-filled core. 📍 Canada Water 💰 From £42.00 🕒 From 14th February 2025 🎟️ Book via phantompeak.com Elvis Evolution Photo: Elvis Presley Enterprises LLC Layered Reality, the producers of Elvis Evolution, have become a powerhouse of immersive experience over the last few years. Their best-known show, Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience, holds the title of London's longest-running immersive show, and The Gunpowder Plot - which tells the story of Guy Fawkes's attempt to blow up parliament - has been running next to the Tower of London since 2022. In 2025, their new production will debut at Immerse LDN near ExCel London. While the real-life Elvis never performed on stage in the UK, the show will feature a concert experience where a life-sized digital Elvis will perform some of his biggest hits. It'll be preceded by a journey through his life - from Graceland to New York and Los Angeles before heading to Las Vegas - where he took up a seven-year residency between 1969 and 1976. Elvis will be brought back through AI and holographic projection, as well as augmented reality, live theatre, and multi-sensory effects. To aid the creation of the show, the company has been given access to thousands of Elvis’s personal photos and hours of his home video archive to create these new AI Elvis performances. 📍 ExCel London 💰 From £75.00 🕒 From 10th May 2025 🎟️ Book via elvisevolution.com The Traitors: Live Experience Photo: Hugo Glendinning The Traitors: Live Experience, which is set to open in the West End this Spring, is a first-of-its-kind adaptation of the hit BBC series. Produced by Immersive Everywhere, the experience will invite guests to step into the world of the TV series and sit at the Round Table for a high-stakes game of deception, strategy, and teamwork. It'll feature recognisable gameplay elements such as a blindfolded Traitors selection, several missions that will test both physical and mental endurance, and ample opportunities for the Traitors to strategise whether to murder or recruit from the rest of the group. Leading the creative vision for the project is Neil Connolly, Creative Director at Immersive Everywhere, whose track record includes The Crystal Maze Live Experience, The Tomb Raider Live Experience, and other ground-breaking immersive experiences. Immersive Everywhere has previously mounted immersive adaptations of Peaky Blinders and Doctor Who. 📍 West End 💰 From £29.50 🕒 Spring 2025 🎟️ Sign up for pre-sale via thetraitorslive.co.uk For the latest news and updates on all of 2025's immersive shows in London, follow us on Instagram, X and BlueSky

Voidspace Live, the two-day festival focusing on interactive arts, installations and exhibits, returns to Theatre Deli near Liverpool Street in June following a sold-out 2024 edition. Taking over the venue across the weekend of 7th and 8th June 2025, Voidspace Live will feature over 30 shows (including four LARPs, three one-on-one shows, one self-guided audio piece and two Jubensha games), over a dozen installations and four workshops. It's also been confirmed that 15 pieces of work will have their public premiere as part of Voidspace Live. Voidspace Live 2024. Photo: James Lawson For the 2025 edition of Voidspace Live, the festival will feature work from the likes of Deadweight Theatre (creators of 2024's The Manikins: a work in progress), Seth Kriebel and Zoe Bouras (who performed The Unbuilt Room at Voidspace Live 2024) and Emily Carding (actor, writer and theatre maker who specialises in Shakespeare, responsive immersive theatre, and the horror genre). The Voidspace is an organisation that explores and platforms interactive arts that focus on performances, texts, games and multimedia pieces that invite their audience to participate in some way, in addition to watching, reading or listening. Think interactive theatre, fiction and poetry, performance art, arthouse games, audio-visual work, LARP, and playful media of all kinds. Voidspace Live 2024. Photo: James Lawson Speaking on the line-up announcement, Voidspace's Katy Naylor said: We are absolutely thrilled to be bringing Voidspace Live (in association with Theatre Deli) back this year, bigger and better than ever. It's so exciting to be able to fill Theatre Deli with such an incredible range of performances, games and installations. Expect to get stuck in and try out something new, as we bring you new work from familiar faces, incredible work from artists you've never met before, and a lot of surprises. The full line-up for Voidspace Live 2025 is listed below, with additional shows to be announced in the future. Tickets are on sale via this link. SATURDAY AND SUNDAY Untitled By Deadweight Theatre Deadweight are a London-based experimental theatre company specialising in interactive performance. Their multi-disciplinary approach to making work draws on their backgrounds in scenography, dramaturgy, filmmaking, and visual art. Their show The Manikins: A Work in Progress was a sell-out hit in 2024. Jury Games Photo: Jury Games Friends of the Void Jury Games return to the festival this year! Jury Games are award-winning interactive experiences that dive into thrilling criminal mysteries. A blend of crime-solving and immersive theatre. Look through the evidence of a case, interrogate the defendant, cast your verdict. Hamlet (An Experience) By Emily Carding After breaking new ground with award-winning Richard III (A One Person Show), which was a hit at last year’s Voidspace Live, Emily Carding brings us a new interpretation of Hamlet and you, the audience, are the players arriving at Elsinore. Hamlet needs your help to take on the roles of his friends and family and resolve the great questions of life. Journey through the play together and become immersed in the story like never before. Hamlet has the questions. Do you have the answers? Cafe +44 By Maria Jose Siminez Silva In this moving audio piece, which takes place in and around Deli’s cafe, the artist invites you to see her history through her eyes by exploring the history of immigration in her own family and how she found a home away from home. for better [or] worse By Yiannis Pappas Maria Ambramovic Institute performance artist Yiannis Pappas presents a brand new long durational participatory performance, conceived especially for Voidspace Live. Come along and join in making something very special together. Uncle Barry’s Birthday Party by Mia Foster and Ariana Aragon You are invited to share an evening with us in celebration of our dear Uncle Barry… Our guests ought to know that interactions will occur at this party, as they do at any, and ours will involve some light touch. If this will make you uncomfortable, please feel free to decline this invitation. However, if you want to hug cake and eat friends, please join us! We would love to have you, and know Uncle Barry would too. SATURDAY ONLY FAUST By Seth Kriebel and Zoe Bouras Photo: Emma Bailey. Image: Elsa Kriebel Seth Kriebel and Zoe Bouras bring us Faust, a new version of a very old story, an interactive twist on the classic tale of the infamous doctor and his deal with the devil. Seth and Zoe performed The Unbuilt Room at Voidspace Live 2024 and are theatre makers, performers and devisors. ‘The intersection of our Venn diagram: We both make unusual performance!’ The Unbuilt Room started nearly 14 years ago and has been performed all over the country, one of many other interactive shows the pair have created and toured. Where We Meet By Unwired Dance Theatre Photo: Unwired Dance Theatre What if you could hear others’ inner thoughts? Immersive dance theatre meets XR tech to spark human connection in an increasingly digital – yet divided and lonely – world. Step into the minds of three unique characters, and join them as they embark on individual and uplifting journeys of self-discovery. Where We Meet is an interactive and immersive dance theatre performance, where you’re in control to reveal the hidden stories behind each character. We invite you to rediscover the joy of human connection, as an antidote to today’s increasingly digital – yet divided and lonely – world. Devil In The Details By Hazel Dixon and Usva Inei A family comes together to perform a powerful ritual; in order to keep living their extravagant lifestyle, they must pledge themselves to a dark and mysterious power. Using an ancient first edition of the Picture of Dorian Grey, they’ve found a way to store hardships into a portrait. However, with any boon comes dangerous consequences. Audience members will switch between playing members of the family and playing the devils that emerge from their portraits. As family members, participants will interact with one another, while as devils, participants will engage in art-making. The progression of the art will reflect the progression of the characters. Who – or what – will you become? No Wet Socks By Ella Raymont and Arlo Howard Become a happy camper and take part in activities and crafts, guided by your camp counsellor! No Wet Socks is all the best bits of summer camp – with no wet socks; an interactive experience that transports us back to the joys of camp, condensing two weeks of activities into just one hour. This unique journey is designed to remind adults of the importance of slowing down, sparking their imagination, and reconnecting with their inner child. Only Exit By Camden Barrett and Angela Rauf ONLY EXIT is a performance practice/installation which looks at the collision of found space and public space in performance, and the utilization of wearable apparatus in performance. Anarchy, anarchitecture, and pleasure in transgressive protest are all themes in this mischief-making participatory piece. Interact with signage available in the found space, as well as visual and audio ephemera/apparitions, and challenge learned spatial behaviour as you commune and collaborate with each other and the space… or make a mess and/or simply watch the joyful chaos unfold. Spy of the Year By Tom Black, Arlo Howard, Chloe Mashiter, Hannah Raymond-cox Bringing Jubensha – the hit Chinese murder-mystery/RPG/theatrical hybrid – to the UK for the first time, Spy of the Year, set at the eponymous awards ceremony, is a playful and melodramatic game that puts the audience at the centre of the action. Audience members take on the role of spies from the same agency, whose celebrations are interrupted by terrible news – shady organisation InCog is leaking information about them, with a grand reveal of all their secrets when the winner of Spy of the Year is announced! It’s up to the players to uncover which of them is the mole before the final award is presented. Will you get there in time? Accept The Cookies By Accept The Cookies Team This is an electrifying and fully interactive exhibition about our rights and freedoms in the digital future. In the age of surveillance capitalism, we ask: how much of your mind are you willing to give away to algorithms and big tech? A cyberpunk-inspired, immersive sci-fi story, sprinkled with glitch, digital fairytale, and online tropes like blue ‘verified’ badges, persistent cookie requests, and opt-out boxes that are impossible to find; the audience are the main character in their own odyssey in data ethics. Playfully camp, this show offers a performative panel discussion with a rollerblading host, a tongue-in-cheek ritual that looks at cringe culture and gets people to archive and recreate their social media content IRL, and a deep level of reflection on our own relationships with data ownership, surveillance, and big tech. Afterwards, audiences will have the choice to join our secret Telegram group and await further instruction to keep going down the rabbit hole… If You Think I Should Make Beter Life Choices, Turn To Page 42 By Hakan Akgül An interactive monologue play in the style of choose your own adventure books and TTRPGS, the story follows a man after a night out, sneaking away from a hook-up, who realises he’s lost his one emotional keepsake—and any sense of direction. Drunk and disoriented, he tries to retrace his steps but spirals into panic, unable—or unwilling—to decide his next move. Now, the audience must take control, guiding him through the night’s chaos. Can they steer him home safely, or will they get him into trouble? Navigate puzzles to help him retrace his steps, roleplay encounters with strangers on the street or in the club, and manage his dwindling emotional and physical resources – ultimately shape his final reckoning, in this experience balancing control with the weight of responsibility. Meet Me At The Tavern by Rebel Rehbinder and Kol Ford The first in a series of TaverQuest games that were developed during lockdown; Inspired by Terry Pratchett and J.H. Brennan the world is light-hearted, whimsical and fun. Participants will each take on one role inspired by common fantasy tropes. As adventurers gather in the Olde Tavern to prepare to bring The Dread Wizard to justice they discover that all is not as it seems…. My Favourite Path/Route By Mahshid Alavi A deeply interactive show about the deep emotional connection we have to certain roads, pathways, and places—especially when we are far from home—Alavi explores memory, nostalgia, displacement, and shared experiences of movement through storytelling, live music, technology, and audience participation. Beginning with Alavi recounting their experience of driving down Valiasr Street in Tehran, watching its iconic plane trees and feeling the pulse of the city, the show slowly shifts focus to the audience and makes them co-creators of the experience. Audiences will connect to the space, reflect on their favourite routes, and share their experiences if/when they feel ready. The outcome is a collective, imagined road, built from many voices and memories. The Sixth Subject By Liz Cable The Sixth Suspect is a Victorian-set murder-mystery escape room, and a highly interactive workshop where the audience will first solve a murder, and then create their own narrative-based mini-escape game, by introducing their own suspect… The Legend By Juice Cui An interactive shadow puppetry experience that transcends time and media. Blending sound art, drama, traditional shadow puppetry, and digital interaction, it breathes new life into ancient myths, inviting the audience to co-create a living legend guided by sound and animated shadows. In this project, each note represents the soul of a mythological character. They serve as catalysts for transformation – when the audience triggers different sound keys, the artist manipulates the shadow puppets behind the screen, bringing the story to life through a mesmerising dance of light and shadow. Come and bring the myth to life, as it unfolds as an audible, visible, and ever-evolving narrative. SMITE (Shadows Must Intervene To Endure) By Ed Davies A telephone rings…Answer the call from another time. Follow the whispered fragments and the paths between reality. Discover, deliver, decide: The Fate of those who reside. All will be lost should you not step inside. The drum beat sounds, in confidence confide. Gaslamps alighting, memories fracturing, shadows searching, and love letters burning. The veil between worlds is thinning.SMITE is returning. Be the cure, with hearts pure. Shadows Must Intervene To Endure. Workshop: An introduction to Ambient Lit By Tom Abba In this workshop, Tom will be talking all things Ambient Lit – writing that responds to the reader’s physical environment & surroundings. Tom’s work on the Ambient Literature Project – a collaboration between UWE Bristol, Bath Spa University, and the University of Birmingham – brought us experiences such as A Hollow Body, These Pages Fall Like Ash and On Bitter Ground. Join him today to get an insight into this exciting work, and an opportunity to make a small Ambient Lit piece of your own. Voidspace Live 2024. Photo: James Lawson SUNDAY ONLY The Crow Club by Dean Rodgers The Crow Club is a Soho nightclub. It is frequented by the highest and lowest of London society, and famous for one thing: murder. An immersive murder mystery game inspired by the Chinese Jubensha format, and bringing in elements of immersive theatre and escape games, The Crow Club is a Soho noir, which sees players locked in a nightclub with a murder to solve… and one of them is the killer. This is a game of social deduction and deception. Players must uncover the secrets hidden in the Club – and in their fellow players – to solve a murder. S(t)olas by Thomas Jancis This hilarious and earnest participatory show sees the audience meet and converse with a demon confined within a circle. But it’s not all just giant owls and favourite rocks. Drawing upon 17th-century English folklore and biblical mythology to talk about modern-day loneliness and isolation, S(t)olas examines connection, companionship, and community (and maybe covens) as the audience learn about the demon and perhaps help him to escape. Will you help the hapless demon, or seal his fate? Continuum by Et Al. Performance Continuum is a durational performance celebrating the unseen labour of stagecraft. A mix of cabaret, clowning and live art, audiences will be presented with a series of tasks transforming mundanity into a spectacle with sound and music. Break traditional theatre etiquette, talk, answer your phone, take photographs, interact with the props and see what you can uncover in this joyful and reflective piece about community, control, repetition and surprise. Mind Control Disco by But Why? Theatre Mind Control Disco is an immersive, participatory audio adventure where guests experience the thrill of a party guided by O.M.N.I., an AI designed to create the ultimate night out. The show combines synchronized instructions, epic tunes, and a playful exploration of AI control versus free will, offering a unique blend of entertainment and social interaction. Funny, playful, and profound, Mind Control Disco is a dance party of epic proportions. Will you follow O.M.N.I.’s control or rebel against it…? Support Group for the Newly Human by Chloe Mashiter This show casts the audience as members of a support group entirely filled with those who, whilst now human, used to be something else – werewolves, vampires, zombies, immortals, ghosts, etc – and must now navigate common limitations (ex-zombies’ loss of purpose/clarity/simplicity in their lives, ex-werewolves’ comparative fragility/weakness/vulnerability, etc) through a mix of conversation and therapeutic activity. Using role-play as a way to reflect on real life, Support Group… is about how we engage with limitations, frustrations, the things we wish we could change about ourselves, and how creative framings for this can be a release. MIA by Cross-stitch Theatre A single room. No set. No costumes. No actors. A single envelope lies on the floor. When stripped back to its roots, what do you need for a mystery to be solved? MIA invites you to solve a mystery within a mystery. Who killed David Fischer? What does the colour red have anything to do with it? And where on earth are all of the suspects? Secrets of Barrenbrook by Bunbury Banter Secrets of Barrenbrook is a darkly comic, interactive theatrical event centred around a social deduction game. Inviting audience to actively participate, and fostering a sense of community and imagination through shared storytelling, Barrenbrook has received glowing reviews for its engaging narrative and multi-sensory design. Step into the centre of the action, as you become a vital contributor to the storytelling process. Dig In by Caro Murphy and Arlo Howard In Dig In, you play as a member of a family around the holiday dinner table. Every person at the table has a bone to pick with someone else, and conflicts will arise… This LARP explores common family tensions and frustrations along with what makes a good apology. Arsenic and Lies by Karolina Soltys It is 31 December 1919 and the party at Weatherby Manor is in full swing. The guests exchange furtive whispers of intrigue, blackmail and forbidden love. At midnight, a glass of poisoned champagne shatters, dropped from a dying hand. The family has to find – or frame – the killer before the police start looking too closely into their secrets. A beginner-friendly LARP inspired by Downton Abbey and Agatha Christie novels, focussing on emotions, relationships, secrets, and blackmail. Save the Raccoon by Yudi Wu Save the Raccoon is a live game show aiming to find the best “trash artist” to save the raccoons, as the species becomes homeless and endangered in a zero-waste future with no bins. To earn the title of best trash artist, the “raccoons” (you the audience…) will have to go undercover and beat a system ultimately rigged against them. Inspired by Wu’s experiences navigating the UK funding & awarding system as a rural-based first-gen immigrant artist, the game design has been adapted from the application process and requirements for the Global Talent Visa. Reflecting on their journey, the show not only presents the ridiculousness of navigating a system that is unfair for the “raccoons”, but also the privilege that “elite raccoons” have over the others under this system, along with their exploitation of the “loser raccoons”. Find Your Superpower by Loy You’re a high-flying exec, and business means business. You’ve signed up for this workshop to maximise your productivity and 10x your financial returns. Oh yeah, and maybe there can be some afterthought about the environment or something. Looks good on paper, innit. The thing is, something doesn’t feel right today. You had your double macchiato and it just didn’t go down like it usually does. And this workshop host… they seem a bit..odd. Are you about to get more than you bargained for? Join this workshop with a difference to find out. Zine making workshop: Cosy Weird by Assemblage Collective Assemblage Collective are a group of young creatives who take a hands-on approach with a focus on making and doing. They express unity through physical manifestations of creative intent. In this workshop you will learn to make your own zine, using a collage of found words and images, and anything else you want to bring to the table. The theme: Cosy weird. Voidspace Live 2024. Photos: James Lawson Voidspace Live runs at Theatre Deli near Liverpool Street/Aldgate on the 7th and 8th June 2025. Tickets for each day are priced at £55.00. To book and find out more info, visit voidspacezine.com