The critically acclaimed immersive sci-fi adventure will launch its next instalment this Spring. Photo: Zoe Flint Bridge Command, the immersive sci-fi experience that brings together the best of live theatre and gaming technology, has announced today that its next season will open in May. Audience members will take on new challenges, tackle fresh dilemmas and navigate even higher-stakes scenarios than before as they transform into the crew of a starship travelling through the galaxy on a mission to save humanity from an emerging existential danger. Following on from the first instalment’s 22nd Century setting, where years of conflict had led to the launch of the United Confederation Navy (UCN) and a new era of space exploration, this next chapter plunges crews into uncharted peril with mysterious incidents in deep space putting humanity in the path of a dangerous new enemy. With an extinction-level threat looming, members of the UCN must confront the unknown before it’s too late. Photo: Gabriel Burns Artistic Director Owen Kingston said: Bridge Command really is the closest you can get to being the star of your own sci-fi tv series. The episodic nature of the show allows us to sustain an ongoing story for our audiences over multiple visits, where they get to shape the story as it progresses with real consequences for the decisions they make. This new season of stories lets us take that to the next level, providing fresh antagonists and new plot points for returning visitors, and an even more refined experience for those coming for the first time. Though the current season of Bridge Command will close in May, the core elements of the experience will remain with participants able to choose from four distinct mission types: Military, focusing on ship-to-ship combat; Exploration, in which players tackle the mysteries of space; Intrigue, involving espionage and investigative challenges; and Diplomacy, which will find players navigating high-stakes political situations. Participants can take on one of up to fourteen unique roles — ranging from Communications Officer to ship’s Captain — within four specialised teams: Operations, Science, Engineering, and Command. Participants will encounter characters played by professional actors from Parabolic Theatre, who will help to drive the action forward. Photo: Gabriel Burns Bridge Command blends live theatre and gaming into an immersive experience where participants become the stars of their own sci-fi adventure. Set in one of two custom-built starships, the experience is powered by bridge simulation software. Every event, from enemy attacks to system malfunctions, affects the physical set, creating sparks and chaos. Audiences are fully immersed without the need for VR or wearable tech. Each visit's data is recorded and carried over to future missions, allowing crews to shape their own evolving sci-fi adventure. The experience opened last March to critical acclaim and recently marked its one-year anniversary. Chief Operating Officer Tom Black said: The story continues, the world gets bigger, and the best part is that even if you haven’t played the previous missions, the new ones will bring you into the story so you won't feel like you missed out. There’s truly nothing else out there like this Photo: Gabriel Burns As well as the new season, Bridge Command’s Mess Bar is currently open to anyone looking for an other-worldly evening. The £10 entry fee includes a free house cocktail worth £15 or other drink and a chance to dress up in one of the show’s flight suits. Also recently launched was a corporate away-day package for companies looking for the ultimate test of teamwork, communication and problem-solving. Parabolic Theatre was founded by Owen Kingston in 2016 to push the boundaries of interactive and immersive storytelling. Since then, they have been creating dynamic, audience-driven experiences that go beyond spectacle, tackling social and political upheavals through innovative, participatory theatre. Their productions place audiences at the heart of the action—whether influencing a government in crisis, responding to a large-scale invasion, or investigating a drifting starship. Interactivity is central to their work, giving participants real agency to shape narratives, engage with performers, and explore the world around them. Photo: Gabriel Burns Bridge Command is currently booking until 31st January 2025 in Vauxhall. For more information about the show, and to book tickets, visit bridgecommand.space

Further details have been announced for Secret Cinema's return to London with Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical. Tickets are currently on sale for those signed up for the Secret Cinema pre-sale and go on general public sale on Tuesday 18th March 2025, at 9am via greasetheimmersivemoviemusical.com Each performance of Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical will be a 'two-and-a-half-hour spectacular which blurs the line between screen and reality', and for the very first time, the entire film will be brought to life all around you with actors and immersive elements seamlessly blending with the on-screen action. A 30-strong cast and live band will bring to life all of the songs from the film’s hit soundtrack including ‘You’re The One That I Want’, ‘Beauty School Dropout’, ‘Greased Lightnin’, ‘Look At Me I’m Sandra Dee’, ‘Summer Nights’, and ‘We Go Together,’ fusing the film and its iconic moments with a modern live-action experience. From the moment you enter Rydell High, you'll be invited to join all the action – from follow your favourite characters, cheering on the T-Birds, sharing secrets with the Pink Ladies, learning to hand jive, joining choir practice, getting a taste of 1950s American diner-inspired delights and visiting the fun fair on offer ahead of a collective finale. Locations from the film, including Frosty’s Palace, The Beauty School, The Carnival, The Gym, The Autoshop and La Cafury Beauty School will also feature. Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical is being produced by a multi-award-winning creative team with both West End and Broadway credits, including Matthew Costain (Director); Tom Rogers (Set Designer); Jennifer Weber (Choreographer); Howard Hudson (Lighting Designer); Gareth Fry (Sound Designer) and Ian William Galloway (Video Designer). Director, Matt Costain, whose previous productions with Secret Cinema include Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Dirty Dancing said: Grease has been an enduring cultural phenomenon for decades and rightly remains one of the best-selling film soundtracks of all time. With GREASE: The Immersive Movie Musical, we are delighted to bring to London an experience which celebrates the film’s timeless youthful exuberance, retaining the best of its nostalgic feels but integrating a dash of modern Secret Cinema magic to keep audiences on their toes, too. Much more than any screening or stage show that’s gone before, this is a celebration of the era, featuring the entire movie and all of its songs just as you’d expect, as the film fuses with the live experience. With audiences at the heart of the action, there will be no other Summer Night in London like it. Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical also sees the introduction of a new event ticketing structure. General Admission (Free Roam) tickets start at £49 offering general access. VIP Seated (Roam and Return) tickets will, for the first time, allow attendees to join the world of Rydell High with the option to return to designated seating throughout the event and start at £79. Premium Immersive (Join the Cast) tickets begin at £149 and offer an experience like never before, with ticket holders learning choreographed routines in advance of the performance, before joining the crowd-dazzling company. The 2025 production marks the first of three consecutive summer events from the masters of immersive entertainment, at Evolution London, their most central London venue to date. Future productions based on other iconic titles for 2026 & 2027 will be announced later in the year. Secret Cinema last staged an immersive version of Grease in Summer 2023 at Birmingham NEC with Grease: The Live Experience. Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical will run from 1st August to 7th September 2025 at Evolution London in Battersea Park. For more info and to get tickets, visit greasetheimmersivemoviemusical.com

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, Voidspace Live 2025 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. Ahead of the festival's return, we sat down with Katy Naylor, the founder of Voidspace, to discuss how Voidspace first came to be, the success of last year's Voidspace Live, and what to expect from the 2025 edition of the festival. Voidspace Live 2024. Photo: James Lawson Immersive Rumours: Hi Katy, thanks for speaking with us today. Do you mind introducing yourself and telling us what Voidspace is all about? Katy Naylor: My name is Katy Naylor; I am the Void in Chief of Voidspace, an arts organisation that platforms interactive art of all kinds. Anything from interactive theatre, dance, and opera to interactive writing and interactive fiction that has an art quality to it, with which the audience can either directly engage with or be incorporated into, we're interested in. IR: Can you tell us a bit about the main goals of Voidspace and where it sits within the interactive world? Katy: I would say there are three goals. One is to make space for people who want to create interactive writing or performance to make that work. Encouraging people who don't currently do that sort of work is really important to me because of how I started. I came from the self-published indie lit mag world, where the ethos is very much ‘everyone should have access to creativity’. In addition to that, it's about fostering a space for people to be able to showcase their work professionally. That encompasses opportunities to perform and get paid for it, but also providing the opportunities to playtest work, to develop new work and to do R&D. In interactive performance, playtesting is really important because you can't tell how your piece is going to land until you get it in front of an audience. The third of our goals is more of a communication piece: getting the message across to audiences, critics, and academics that all of these art forms, which are generally thought of as very disparate, have this core of connectivity, co-creation, and engagement in common. I'm very invested in showing the world that the elements of audience engagement, participation and interaction are something that deserves as much scrutiny, discussion and attention as the environmental and sensory elements of immersion that academia has often focused on. IR: Where did your passion for this first come from? Katy: I became interested in doing this just through being a massive nerd, basically. I’ve been really interested in immersive and interactive theatre for about 12 years, and one of the big drivers for that was a particular time around 2015, when I was seeing everything I could that had the immersive and later interactive labels attached to it. I saw a lot of shows, and my friends and I had this word-of-mouth network of ‘If you like this sort of thing, you'll love this one,’ and the idea that it's unfair that only the people with access to those word-of-mouth networks should be able to benefit from that made me want to regularise it. Nowadays, I do a monthly newsletter, Voidspace Dispatches, which has listings of immersive and interactive work of different sorts, but I also realised, due to being extremely nerdy and possibly because I'm just the kind of person that likes to really think about, analyse, and pick apart how different mechanics and different shows engage you in different ways, I'd built up this store of knowledge and expertise that just lives in my head, which is great for me because it means I've got loads of stuff to talk about, but in terms of broadening the conversation, it doesn't go very far. So what I want to do is share that information and experience about interactive creators’ practice and ideas about interactivity and expand that conversation. Voidspace Live 2024. Photo: James Lawson IR: You’ve got a book series coming out later in the year that compiles a lot of the interviews you’ve done over the years with creators, right? Katy: Yeah. The anthology I've published is called Voidspace in Conversation. It's not all of the collected interviews, to be clear, because in the end it would have come to over a thousand pages, but it's a mixture of selected interviews and submitted essays from various creators. For instance, Chloe Mashiter wrote a piece about the difficulties of branching narrative, and it's structured as a choose-your-own-adventure essay. It’s a perfect instance of form and content coming together. There’s a philosophical piece about the concept of ‘art play’; there are some pieces about people's personal experiences of their own creative journeys with interactive writing in particular; and there's a couple of my essays in there. One is on The Manikins: a work in progress that I originally wrote as an introduction to a limited edition, supporter-only edition of the show's playtext. The aim of all of it is to broaden the conversation. A lot of what I’ve done with Voidspace has basically been out of spite because I've had a point that I've wanted to make, an irritation, and the only way that I can stem that irritation is to do something about it. One of my points of irritation is about the academic discourse in relation to immersive and interactive theatre. It's great what's out there – Punchdrunk in particular gets a lot of attention; some other companies as well, like Shunt, which is an incredible pre-Punchdrunk company, get attention too – but I wanted to see more work from a practitioner point of view that really delves into the nuts and bolts of interaction particularly, because the key in an interactive, immersive show is good audience-centred dramaturgy. Good structure, good world-building, and a solid role for the audience within the world of the show that's been properly thought out and implemented – if you get those things right, like the original version of Bridge Command, Emily Cardings’ interactive Shakespeare work like Richard III and The Manikins: a work in progress have, then you can create true immersion with no money and no set if you stick to those principles like these shows do. And if you deviate from those principles, all the budget in the world is unlikely to help you really effectively connect with your audience. IR: 2025 has been a very busy year for the void, with a number of scratch nights, workshops and other events in the run-up to Voidspace Live, which takes place in June. Can you walk us through what you’ve already done this year? Katy: I’ve been telling people that I've been both juggling and spinning plates. Somewhere down the line, that's turned into me juggling plates. I think that's pretty much how it feels at the moment. The plates are in the air; they may well smash any minute, but I’m keeping going. After last year’s festival, we started to think about how to potentially fund this year's edition. One of the things we did was apply for Arts Council funding. We didn't get any money, but by taking on their feedback, we’ve got a better project out of it. The first round of feedback we got from ACE said that they wanted to see more of a pipeline and more of a legacy than just a one-off festival. So far this year, we’ve put on creator meetups and had a scratch night, as well as run online events, workshops and games nights, which have been really fun. We also applied for a micro-grant from the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation to deliver three workshops introducing people to different forms of interactive writing creation software. Interactive fiction is so close to my heart because that's what the Voidspace was originally about – getting interactive fiction into publishing spaces – when I started the zine back in 2021. After the festival, we’ve got a few nights at COLAB Tower in July, which will be filled with void things, so watch this space. There’s also an online festival we’re planning on doing, giving people access to the world of online interactive art. In short, we've been busy.. IR: And how have you managed to keep all these plates in the air? Katy: It's really down to the incredible support that I've had from our programme partner, Theatre Deli; my co-producer Rebecca Hampson; venues and folks like Side/Step (who let us do an event at their super cool festival in February) and COLAB; and from a lot of people who have volunteered and given their time to help out. I definitely couldn't do it alone. Shout out to the regular voidunteers: Artemis Redican and Andrew Harrowell, who work on transcripts of interviews for me; Hazel Dixon, who helps me put together listings; Rudy Johnson, who does website stuff; and Neil Willcox, who brought the whole Voidspace in Conversation anthology to life. I didn't realise it was going to come to 800 pages; I didn't think that we were going to fully index it, and it became obvious that it was a really good idea, and Neil took all of it in his stride and has created a masterpiece, so he's my co-editor on that and well deserving of the title. There are also a bunch of people who are helping out with organising the festival – Rebecca Hampson, TJ Wiswell, Vicky Back, Jet Velinga, and a whole load of friends of the Void who will be acting as volunteer stewards on the day. No one is truly alone in the Voidspace, and I really appreciate the way that the community has come together to make this thing - which, without funding or staff, should be impossible - happen. Voidspace Live 2024. Photos: James Lawson IR: Let’s rewind to 2024, with the first Voidspace Live. How was it putting that event together? Katy: If I'd known what running a festival would entail, I would never have done something as foolhardy as starting it. I had the idea in December 2023 that the way to finally prove my point – that all of these art forms belonged under one umbrella – is to literally put a bunch of them under one roof on a single day and just show people and force them to recognise it. I realised it had to be a one-day or a two-day festival because if you do it over a fortnight, it's much easier, but the theatre people will go to the theatre, the dance people will go to the dance, and the poetry people will go to the poetry. The whole point of Voidspace Live is to get people in on a single ticket, and, knowing that they've got a choice, they're going to get to take part in shows and a couple of creative workshops. What we hoped is that it would inspire people to take a bit of a risk, try things that they maybe wouldn't normally try, and just discover all of the incredible stuff out there. The atmosphere on the day was exactly what I’d hoped it would be. This is going to sound a bit weird, but it felt almost like a wedding, but without anyone getting married, you know? You know when you go to a really good wedding and you've got people who are friends from different eras of your life that don't know each other, but they're all making conversation and chatting and finding out what they have in common? It was kind of like that. For me, in immersive and interactive, that is as important a part of the experience as the show itself. The fact that whatever it is about, people feel compelled to share their experiences afterwards. As an aside, I spoke to John Krizac, the writer of Tamara, who did Punchdrunk 20 years before Punchdrunk. In the 80s he did a show which was a ‘follow a character around a mansion’ show. Even then, pre-internet, fans were coming back and meeting each other, having dinner, and swapping phone numbers. Before the social media age, that urge to connect outside of just the show itself was still really strong. What was great to discover was that the Voidspace had actually become embodied. I always imagine the Voidspace is kind of like a slightly haunted attic. It's very dark and it's very warm; there are ghosts and voices in the walls, but they're kind of friendly. It’s homely, but somehow it's also big enough to welcome everyone. You might feel a little bit like you don't quite know what to expect, but you always feel welcome, and you always feel safe, and you always feel at home. That's probably what underpins the Voidspace ethos in terms of the community space that I want to create, and it was incredible last year to feel that exact energy come into being on the day. Voidspace Live 2024. Photo: James Lawson IR: For 2025, the festival is expanding to be a two-day event. What spurred on that idea? Katy: The idea originally came from David Ralf at Theatre Deli during a post-festival debrief. The festival went so well; it had sold out and ended up having quite a long waiting list (Buy tickets not to avoid disappointment!). Everyone had such a great time, and from a technical side, Theatre Deli really enjoyed being part of helping to create it. Shoutout to Aneirin Evans, who is Theatre Deli's venue manager and is an absolutely invaluable source of support on the day and has been really involved this year. David said, ‘Well, look, why don't we do it for two days? You can have Deli for the weekend; let's fill every room with interactive stuff. ‘Let’s make it really great,’ and I said, ‘Why not?!’. For 2025, we did an open call to see what was out there, and the response was tremendous. We had well over 100 applications, including ones from big names at Secret Cinema, Bridge Command, and Deadweight. They're all coming to the festival to share brand new, groundbreaking, exciting work for the first time. We’re giving those big names space, but equally exciting, a huge volume of applications were from people I’ve never heard of. This isn't to be arrogant, but I'm somebody who has seen a lot of shows, who talks to a lot of people, who prides herself on keeping up to date with what I think of as the scene, and to discover that I was right and that there was a huge wealth of incredible stuff out there that was just waiting to find its home and its audience has just been the most exciting thing. I'm so looking forward to presenting the work of those artists to our community for the first time. Voidspace Live 2024. Photo: James Lawson IR: What are some of the top-line statistics on what’s coming to the festival this year? Katy: For Voidspace Live 2025, we’ve got over 30 shows. 15 of which are premiering for the very first time. There are party shows from the likes of Mind Control Disco, and we’ve got Uncle Barry's Birthday Party, which was my favourite thing from Side/Step Festival. We also have five or six shows that involve demons or the supernatural in some way. Apparently, we like it weird in the Voidspace, but I'm cool with that… There are four workshops, one self-guided audio piece and a couple of other self-guided installation pieces; there's a poem that takes up a whole room; there's a pervasive game, The Stolen Child, which a dozen people can play across the whole festival, and many more can join in with. We've also got four or five LARPs. There's a new form of interactive entertainment called Jubensha, which is huge in China. It's a mixture of murder mystery, role-playing, and deduction theatre. It's apparently one of the most popular forms of entertainment, full stop, in China at the moment, but it's not really known as yet in the West. However, at Voidspace Live, we have not one but two Jubensha being debuted by people who really know their stuff. We've got one - Spy of the Year Award – from the Bridge Command/Jury Games/Parabolic team – Chloe Mashiter, Tom Black, Hannah Cox Davies, and Arlo Howard. The other is from Dean Rogers, who, back in the day, made Heist, which was an incredible piece of work. He’s now Creative Director at Secret Cinema and is coming to try out his new Jubensha, The Crow Club. We've got zine making; we've got a five-room exhibition of fully playable art, including a game that's set on a boat in the underworld that you control with a rudder, an espionage game that you play using a rice cooker, and an arcade machine that fights back. There's a jigsaw, there's a playable piece of furniture, and at least two solo or 1:1 experiences that you won't have to book for; you'll be able to just drop in when you're between shows. One thing we learnt from 2024 is that people just didn't have the time over a quite truncated single day to see everything they wanted to see, so that was one big reason for expanding it to a weekend, to give people the time to really engage with all this cool stuff. IR: There’s a huge range of shows being performed across both days. Are there any hidden gems you could highlight? What’s the maddest, most out-there concept on offer this year? Katy: I think my favourite, most bonkers thing on the programme is Save the Raccoon by Yudi Wu, in which you’re a raccoon in a skip, making trash art for a competition along the lines of an Arts Council or a creative visa application. It’s absurd, it's satirical, and you get to be a raccoon making trash art! How cool is that?! Voidspace Live 2024. Photo: James Lawson IR: There’s also a handful of tentpole shows that were announced earlier in the year too, right? Katy: Yeah. We have a reworking of Faust from Seth Kriebel, Hamlet: An Experience from Emily Carding, and Jury Games, who have been huge supporters of Voidspace Live and did a show at last year's festival that was massively oversubscribed; they’re going to do all of their shows throughout the festival. Unwired Dance Theatre is doing Where We Meet, and the biggest wild card of them all is Deadweight Theatre. The work they're going to share is such a closely guarded secret that even I don't know what it's going to entail. That's going to be the biggest locked box surprise, even for me, which is very exciting. IR: It’s worth noting that you’ve put a lot of work into making sure the festival is as inclusive as possible, right? Katy: Yeah. One of the brilliant things about Theatre Deli and something that's very important to me is access and inclusivity. For our trans siblings, you're not going to have to worry about access to facilities, and if people have specific needs, we will do what we can to accommodate them. Deli also has a really lovely calm room. For people who are neurodiverse, like myself, being on the AuDHD spectrum, sometimes overwhelm is real, and you just need some quiet, a weighted blanket and some nice soothing lighting. Deli are really good at making provisions for that. Even though there's a lot at the festival and it can be quite overwhelming, we are going to do everything we can to keep you happy and comfortable. In terms of access inclusivity, something we learnt last year is that to some people, knowing more about a show and about the levels and types of interaction is an access need. There are ways of making that information available to people who need to know what to expect. Even though the festival has grown, I pride myself on retaining a very personal approach. My email address is voidspacezine@gmail.com, and if there's anyone out there who is thinking about buying a ticket but isn't quite sure or has any specific concerns about it, please reach out because it's really important to me to make both artists and participants feel as welcome and happy as possible. Concessions are for anyone who genuinely can't afford a full-price ticket. It's an honour system; we’re not going to ask questions or ask you to prove it. If that difference is what will get you in, then please come on a concession. We may not have much of a budget to provide the full access offering we would like, but we want to do what we can to welcome people and make everybody feel safe. IR: With such a wide-ranging line-up and some fairly well-known names from within the immersive/interactive world presenting work, it seems like a great opportunity for those attending to see some new work that might be the show we’re all talking about in 2026. Katy: Yeah. To have really established people from the likes of Bridge Command, Jury Games, The Key of Dreams and Deadweight come in and give the first sharings of new work is very exciting. Any one of these things could be the next massive show in the scene, and you'll be able to say that you were the first crowd to see that show being brought to life. Equally exciting, I think, is the number of people who, from our London immersive bubble perspective, are a completely new entrance to this scene as well. The people behind Uncle Barry’s Birthday Party, they're still students at Central. To have made something of that quality before they've even graduated, I think they’re going to be the ones to watch. Only Exit is another emerging artist show ; a really interesting experimental piece where you explore and play with space and directions. It’s the kind of concept I don't think has ever been shown before. There’s also Continuum, which is a show that’s going to last like nine hours. Any one of these things could be the thing that is maybe next year's big show or, almost equally exciting, the crazy happening that maybe 20 people see, and those people are going to carry that experience in their hearts forever. It's going to be their gift and their memory. Voidspace Live 2024. Photo: James Lawson IR: Finally, what do you hope people will come away from Voidspace Live feeling? Katy: When we’re all in our 70s or 80s, sitting on our armchairs on our verandas, or in our holodecks or whatever it is that people are going to be doing by the time we get to that age, we’ll be sitting there and reminiscing about the shows that had the deepest impact on us and the experiences that have stayed with us. Knowing that there will be people out there who say, ‘Do you remember we got to see the first showing of Spy of the Year?’ or ‘Do you remember that raccoon show? That was crazy. The fact that those memories and those stories are going to be created makes me so proud and happy. To be part of something that will be talked about and reminisced about for years to come, and as with all live theatre and particularly with all immersive and interactive experiences, knowing that in that moment, by getting your ticket and being there, you are witnessing and helping to create something – that is truly special and unrepeatable. 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

Photo: Helen Murray Production images have been released for Sage & Jester's STOREHOUSE, which opens in Deptford on 4th June 2025. The show invites audiences to step into a world where humanity's stories have been carefully archived since 1983, at the dawn of the internet. As audiences navigate a rich and awe-inspiring underworld, they'll confront the powers that shape everyday narratives and question their own role and behaviours within society. The production, which is set across a space equivalent to two football fields, throws audiences into a battle between the defenders of Truth and the keepers of Order. As the STOREHOUSE crumbles and secrets unfold, the true cost of controlling the narrative will be revealed, urging audiences to examine their vulnerability in the face of power. Fusing art, technology, and cutting-edge storytelling, this immersive theatre show will make audiences question how they can protect themselves—and others—from being manipulated by powerful forces within this digital information ecosystem. Photo: Helen Murray Photo: Helen Murray Photo: Helen Murray Photo: Helen Murray Photo: Helen Murray STOREHOUSE runs from 4th June to 20th September at Deptford Storehouse. Tickets are priced from £27.50. For more information and to book tickets, visit sageandjester.com

An immersive stage version of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, based on Douglas Adams’ novels and the Touchstone Pictures film, will have its world premiere at Riverside Studios in London from 15th November 2025, running until 15th February 2026. Join Arthur Dent, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Fenchurch and the most unlikely crew in the history of galactic adventure as you escape the destruction of Earth with seconds to spare and begin a search for answers to the mystery of Life, the Universe and Everything, armed only with a towel and one VERY depressed robot. The night begins in a rather unusual pub as you settle in, drink in hand, for an evening of storytelling and spectacle. From there, the story lifts off - quite literally - as you hitch a ride on a passing spaceship, discover the meaning of life, and join a quest to persuade a group of inter-dimensional mice to give the Earth a second chance. The show will transform Riverside Studios 2 & 3, the connecting corridors, loading docks and bar space into Douglas Adams’ improbable and wondrous universe. The beloved London venue has a long history in British science fiction, dating back to early Doctor Who and, in recent years, has been a launching pad for West End hits like Operation Mincemeat. The show is created by award-winning writer, producer and protégé of Douglas Adams, Arvind Ethan David (Lenny Henry’s Boy With Wings, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency on Netflix) and Emmy Award-winning stage designer Jason Ardizzone-West (Redwood, Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa, Jesus Christ Superstar Live). It will be co-directed and choreographed by Lorin Latarro (The Producers, Mrs. Doubtfire) and co-directed by Simon Evans (Staged, Inside No. 9 Stage/Fright), Georgia Clarke-Day (Monopoly Lifesized, The Traitors: Live Experience) and David Frias-Robles (Taskmaster: The Live Experience, Inside No. 9 Stage/Fright) for Myriad Entertainment. Based on Douglas Adams’ iconic novels and the Touchstone Pictures film, the show is presented by special arrangement with Buena Vista Theatricals. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy live show is produced by Tony Award®-winning Broadway and West End producer Tamar Climan of Climan Producing, whose credits span more than 80 shows, and Prodigal Entertainment (Broadway’s Jagged Little Pill), with general management by Smart Entertainment. Rhys Williamson, Head of Programming at Riverside Studios said: We’re thrilled to welcome The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to Riverside Studios. This production is set to use the building in ways no show has ever done before – creating a truly out-of-this-world experience for audiences. As a venue with deep sci-fi roots, Riverside feels like the perfect venue to premiere this immersive adventure, before it takes over the galaxy. Co-director of the show, Simon Evans of Myriad Entertainment said: My introduction to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was a (slightly battered) cassette of the radio version, which I borrowed from my school library and listened to on an old Walkman. I remember hearing the voice of the Guide, then The Eagles’ “Journey of the Sorcerer”, and I was hooked. From an immersive perspective, it is such an incredible world to build and pull an audience into: strange and expansive, silly and moving, filled with unique characters and tackling things which are still very much relevant today with a quintessentially British sense of humour. Upon being reached in his maximum security prison cell on Frogstar Planet B, former Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox responded: A show about me? It’s going to be big. Mind bogglingly-big. The biggest thing since the Big Bang! Wait a minute, am I getting paid royalties on this? The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Live Show will run from 15th November to 15th February 2026 at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. Standard tickets are priced from £42.00, and VIP tickets are priced from £72.00. For more information and to book tickets, visit hitchhikerslive.com

Following its run at Leeds Playhouse last summer, Melting Pot have announced that the critically acclaimed stage adaptation of the Paranormal Activity films will haunt the West End this winter when it transfers to The Ambassadors Theatre for a 12-week season. A new story inspired by the worldwide horror phenomenon, Paranormal Activity, a new story live on stage, is directed by immersive theatre pioneer and Punchdrunk’s Founder and Artistic Director, Felix Barrett and written by playwright Levi Holloway, whose theatrical thriller Grey House chilled Broadway audiences, will begin performances on Friday 5 December, 2025. Paranormal Activity reimagines the modern ghost story with an unsettling intimacy only theatre can provide. Immersing audiences in an atmosphere of creeping dread, unseen forces, and psychological tension, Levi Holloway’s script offers a bold reinterpretation of the original, blending domestic horror with mind-bending theatricality. Felix Barrett, known for breaking boundaries between audience and performer, brings his signature visionary style to the production. With innovative staging and chilling soundscapes, Paranormal Activity invites audiences to witness the inexplicable up close—and feel the fear in real time. Praised for its inventive storytelling and terrifying atmosphere, the West End transfer promises to amplify the experience even further, making it a must-see event for thrill-seekers and theatre lovers alike. Paranormal Activity will undertake a North American tour this autumn, visiting the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; Center Theatre Group, Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles; Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington DC and American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, ahead of opening in London this December. Felix Barrett Photo: Stephen Dobbie Director Felix Barrett says of the West End transfer: I’m so thrilled that Paranormal will have a chance to ensnare and unnerve audiences in London later this year! From seeing the advertising campaign of the film twenty years ago, where you watched cinema audiences leap out of their chairs in horror, I have long wondered how you could recreate that visceral reaction in a theatre setting. How do you bring one of the most frightening films to life? How do you break the inherent safety that a plush West End theatre offers? It’s been an incredible challenge, and we cannot wait to see how London audiences respond! Playwright Levi Holloway continues: Collaborating with Felix Barrett to create an actual nightmare has been nothing short of a dream. Relishing in a shared language of dread, we’ve conspired to create something impossible, mixing the familiar with the uncanny, heart with horror. London audiences have a nose for honesty on stage and little patience for anything else. They’ll find it here, right alongside all the mischief we’ve made to trouble their sleep. Levi Holloway Felix Barrett is the founder and Artistic Director of Punchdrunk. He has conceived all of Punchdrunk’s shows, including Viola's Room, which has just opened at The Shed in New York, The Burnt City, The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable, The Borough (Aldeburgh Music), The Crash Of The Elysium (MIF and 2012 Cultural Olympiad), The Duchess Of Malfi (English National Opera), It Felt Like A Kiss (a collaboration with Adam Curtis, Damon Albarn for Manchester International Festival), The Masque Of The Red Death, Faust and The Firebird Ball. Felix also directed the company’s award-winning Sleep No More. First experienced by audiences in London in 2003, it has since travelled to Boston, New York, where it ran for 14 years, Shanghai, where it has become the longest running show in the city's history, and will open in Seoul in Summer 2025. Felix is a graduate and Honorary Doctorate in Drama of the University of Exeter and was appointed an MBE in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to theatre. Levi Holloway is a Chicago-based artist. As a playwright, world premieres include Pinocchio at Chicago Children’s Theatre, Haven Place, Grey House and most recently, Turret at A Red Orchid Theatre, with which he is an ensemble member. His play Grey House ran on Broadway in 2023. Levi is the co-founder of Neverbird Project, a youth-based Deaf and hearing theatre company. He spent a decade devising theatre with the Sign/Voice theatre program at Chicago’s Bell Elementary, one of the country’s oldest and most prolific Deaf and hearing integrated schools, founded in 1917. The creative team also includes Fly Davis as Set and Costume Designer, Illusions by Chris Fisher, Anna Watson as Lighting Designer, Gareth Fry as Sound Designer, Video Design by Luke Halls and Casting Direction by Stuart Burt CDG and Ginny Schiller CDG. Paranormal Activity will run at The Ambassadors Theatre from 5th December 2025 to 28th February 2026. Tickets are priced from £25.00 and can be booked via paranormalonstage.com

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures/New Line Cinema Warner Bros. Discovery and New Line Cinema will next month open a terrifying immersive museum experience based on Lorraine and Ed Warren’s infamous artefact room, home of the demonic Annabelle doll and hundreds of other possessed artefacts. Haunting East London from the start of September, The Conjuring Occult Museum will transport fans into the terrifying world of the renowned paranormal investigators like never before, ahead of the final chapter of New Line Cinema’s hugely successful Conjuring Universe films, The Conjuring: Last Rites, released in cinemas on September 5th from Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo: Justin Lubin Taking over the 10,000 sq ft White Rabbit Studios just off Shoreditch High Street, the horror experience will combine over fifty actual props featured in The Conjuring: Last Rites and other films in The Conjuring Universe, including Annabelle and The Nun. The Conjuring: Last Rites stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, who play Ed and Lorraine Warren throughout the franchise, have also recorded special content for the experience. Those brave enough to complete the experience will earn a free drink and a short video of their experience. Tickets for the experience are free of charge and will be available from 20th August, whilst walk-ins may also be available on the day. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, with limited availability. UPDATE: All tickets have sold out for this event. A second batch of tickets will be released at 2pm on 1st September, with three time slots available. The Conjuring Occult Museum will run from 1st to 3rd September 2025 in Shoreditch. Tickets are free and can be booked via eventbrite.com

Photo: The Last Days of Pompeii/Set Vexy This November, The Last Days of Pompeii: The Immersive Exhibition, will open its doors at Immerse LDN, Excel London Waterfront. Following huge success globally, the award-winning exhibition will make its UK debut and take visitors on an unprecedented journey through ancient Pompeii, using a striking combination of cutting-edge technology and rich, historical narratives. Spanning 3,000 square metres and over 10 different galleries and installations, The Last Days of Pompeii: The Immersive Exhibition is the largest of its kind and invites visitors to immerse themselves in the heart of the Roman City as they witness one of history’s most dramatic events – the sudden eruption of Mount Vesuvius – and discover the culture and fascinating stories of those who lived there in 79 AD. Visitors begin their journey in a gallery that sets the stage for the story of the city. Surrounded by scenic recreations of Roman architecture with painted frescos, stone floors and imposing columns, they'll discover a curated selection of artefacts and replicas. Fragments of marble sculpture, Roman mirrors, bronze utensils, glass jars and household items illustrate the sophistication of the city and offer a glimpse into the intimate details of daily life. Photo: The Last Days of Pompeii/Set Vexy Amongst the impressive artefacts on display will be a marble sculpture of Diana’s (the goddess of hunting) torso, a bronze Roman sculpture depicting a life-size ‘Calceus Senatorius’ shoe and a bronze bridle strap (Terret) from Roman Britain. These objects are accompanied by narrative displays and reconstructions that evoke the atmosphere of Pompeii in the first century AD. The introduction leads to a deeply moving gallery where casts of Pompeii’s citizens are displayed. The figures are shown in the very positions in which they were found, preserved by the calcified ash that engulfed the city in 79 AD. Haunting in their realism, the casts present an emotional reminder of the eruption’s human cost. Photo: The Last Days of Pompeii/Set Vexy From here, the narrative shifts to the first of the exhibition’s digital highlights. Guests will sit for a 360° Virtual Reality sequence that transports them into a Roman amphitheatre. They mount a chariot and enter the arena to the roar of thousands of spectators. From this unique perspective, they experience the intensity of gladiatorial combat at close quarters. The experience builds to a climactic naumachia - a staged naval battle within the amphitheatre - where ships collide and water surges around the combatants, offering a completely unique perspective to the exhibition. After this encounter, visitors step into one of Europe’s largest immersive projection halls. Towering eight metres high, the installation surrounds audiences with the sights and sounds of Pompeii. The sequence unfolds in three acts: first, the bustling daily life of the city with its crowded streets, vibrant markets and monumental temples; then the looming threat of Vesuvius as the landscape darkens; and finally, the eruption itself. These immersive projections place visitors at the very heart of Pompeii, allowing them to experience the beauty of the city and the suddenness of its destruction. Photo: The Last Days of Pompeii/Set Vexy The journey continues into a free-roaming Metaverse experience recreating the legendary ‘Villa of the Mysteries’. Here, visitors move through its restored spaces – the wine cellar, cloister and thermal bath – as they would have appeared before the eruption. Groundbreaking technology enables a collective exploration where groups can walk together, share discoveries and interact within the digital reconstruction. A world-premiere addition for London is The Archaeological Explorer Room, introducing an interactive and educational dimension to the experience. Visitors of all ages are encouraged to take on the role of archaeologists uncovering concealed artefacts from digital sandpits. Large interactive maps reveal the structure of the city, and themed installations explain how Roman engineering, architecture and innovations shaped not only Pompeii but many aspects of modern life. Photo: The Last Days of Pompeii/Set Vexy The exhibition concludes with two interactive experiences for visitors to enjoy. An AI Photobooth uses advanced facial recognition technology to transform visitors into patricians of ancient Pompeii, complete with authentic hairstyles, clothing and accessories. Finally, at the Graffiti Station, guests are invited to leave their own inscriptions, drawings or phrases, echoing the graffiti once scrawled across the walls of the city years ago. Lasting over 90 minutes, The Last Days of Pompeii: The Immersive Exhibition delves into Pompeii’s rich history and features a wealth of educational and informative displays, casts, original artefacts and replicas, and has been designed with children, families, schools and history enthusiasts in mind. Photo: The Last Days of Pompeii/Set Vexy The entire experience is underscored by a specially commissioned soundtrack by composer René Merkelbach, recorded with the Audiocult Orchestra and Choir. Blending ancient instruments with sweeping cinematic arrangements, the music mirrors the changing atmosphere of the exhibition, from the splendour of Pompeii at its height to the darkness of the eruption. The Last Days of Pompeii: The Immersive Exhibition has been created and produced by Madrid Artes Digitales, under the lead of creative producer Jelle de Jong, alongside curator and historian Míriam Huéscar, historical advisor and scriptwriter, Nacho Ares and executive producer, Jordi Sellas. Photos: The Last Days of Pompeii/Set Vexy The Last Days of Pompeii: The Immersive Exhibition will run at Immerse LDN near Custom House from 14th November 2025 for a 16-week run. Tickets are priced from £24.00 and can be booked via Fever.

Photo: Jack Hall/PA Media Assignments Jeff Wayne’s The War of The Worlds: The Immersive Experience has officially entered the history books as a Guinness World Record holder for the longest theatrical run of a musical immersive theatre production, with more than 31,000 performances (and counting) since its launch in 2019. Created by immersive producers Layered Reality in partnership with legendary composer Jeff Wayne and executive producer Damian Collier, the experience blends live actors, virtual reality, holograms, 5D effects, and a groundbreaking soundscape across 24 scenes to bring Wayne’s iconic musical version of HG Wells’ novel to vivid life. The certificate was presented during a special ceremony at the production’s home on Leadenhall Street in the City of London on Monday, 29th September 2025. Since opening, the experience has had over 300,000 visitors, more than 20,000 five-star reviews across all platforms (including over 6,000 on Tripadvisor), and won 14 major awards. These accolades include five consecutive TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards and the prestigious Thea Award, considered the Oscars of the interactive industry. Photo: Jack Hall/PA Media Assignments Speaking on receiving the Guinness World Record, Jeff Wayne said: When we first launched The War of The Worlds: The Immersive Experience, it was one of the very first truly original immersive productions of its kind. We hoped it would run for around six months, but never imagined it would still be running over six years later, winning so many awards, and welcoming over 300,000 people through its doors. To now achieve a Guinness World Record title is historic and a testament to the creativity, innovation and passion of everyone involved. This title cements the legacy of a show that has always pushed the boundaries of what live entertainment can be. And we’re already planning our next iteration of this wonderful entertainment Andrew McGuinness, CEO of Layered Reality, added: Setting a Guinness World Record title is the ultimate recognition of this production's scale and impact. From the cast and crew to the creative team and, most importantly, our audiences, this production has been a labour of love that has set new standards for immersive entertainment. This title celebrates the enduring power of the show and its place as a true original in the immersive world. We could not be more thrilled to see it recognised on a global stage. Blending live actors who engage with audiences, virtual reality, holograms, 5D effects, and Wayne’s iconic music, the production has consistently been hailed as one of the world’s most innovative immersive experiences. The show features vocal performances from Justin Hayward (The Moody Blues), Ricky Wilson (Kaiser Chiefs), Nathan James (Inglorious), and holographic performances by Carrie Hope Fletcher, Tom Brittney, Anna-Marie Wayne and others, combined with state-of-the-art technologies that plunge audiences into the heart of HG Wells’ classic Martian invasion story. Photos: Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds: The Immersive Experience Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience is currently booking until 30th December 2025 at 56 Leadenhall Street near Aldgate. Tickets start at £43.00 and can be purchased via feverup.com

The Annwn Prize – the first global award that celebrates excellence in immersive storytelling – has announced the four works shortlisted for its inaugural edition: Colored / Noire (Novaya), Consensus Gentium (Karen Palmer), Constantinopoliad (Sister Sylvester) and NOWISWHENWEARE (the stars) (Andrew Schneider). An exhibition of the shortlisted works will open at Wales Millennium Centre in May 2026, giving audiences the opportunity to experience the very best work from across the world in the UK. The winner will be announced on Sunday, 14th June 2026, at an awards ceremony in Cardiff. The four shortlisted works, arranged alphabetically by title, are: Colored / Noire – France, Novaya Visitors equipped with augmented reality headsets and bone-conduction audio systems are transported to 1950s Alabama, at the heart of the civil rights struggle. The experience allows participants to relive, as if they were there, the courageous act of Claudette Colvin - a 15-year-old girl who, nine months before Rosa Parks, refused to give up her seat on a bus. The selection committee commended its exceptional theatrical quality, essential and skilful writing and directing, as well as its groundbreaking use of Extended Reality (XR) to evoke deep emotional connection. Consensus Gentium – UK, Karen Palmer An innovative app immerses audiences in a near-future society where freedoms erode under biased AI and surveillance. As the protagonist, you navigate a government Global Citizen App to visit your sick Nana - subjected to tests that measure your compliance or dissent. Using facial detection and AI, the film reads your expressions and decisions in real time, creating a unique, personalised journey. The selection committee praised its emotionally charged, participant-driven narrative that powerfully explores digital citizenship, agency and surveillance - where the participants every choice reflects urgent questions of our connected future. Constantinopoliad – UK/Greece, Sister Sylvester An expanded cinema work that gathers its audience for an act of collective reading. A response to the archive of the poet Constantine Cavafy, the work is inspired by the blank and torn-out pages in “Constantinopoliad, an epic”, the journal the teenage Cavafy began when he and his family fled Alexandria. By Lost and missing archives through time, and by the ghosts, both erotic and historical, that visit the older Cavafy in his poems. The selection committee commended its use of touch, imagery, sound, and words to create a vivid experience for audiences - inviting you to embark on a journey into the imagination of a young Cavafy as he explores his creative potential and sexuality. NOWISWHENWEARE (the stars) – USA, Andrew Schneider An interactive theatrical installation where the audience steps into total darkness and becomes the centre of a shifting constellation. Guided by an unseen narrator, participants journey from complete sensory deprivation into a precisely programmed matrix of nearly 4,000 reactive LED lights and a 496-channel soundscape. Part meditation, part exploration, the work draws visitors into a hyper-focus of the present, tracing every decision they have made leading to that precise moment. The selection committee praised its highly original approach to spatial storytelling, precise technical virtuosity and masterful pacing that invites audiences to reflect on how we spend our time and the meaning we discover in everyday acts. The shortlist spans geographical representation and medium, with artists from four different countries exploring the possibilities of augmented reality, branching film, expanded cinema and interactive theatrical installation. The shortlisted works demonstrate excellence in compelling storytelling; make audiences an active and integral part of the piece; and utilise technologies to enhance, augment or impact our sense of reality. They must have been exhibited in a festival, tour or venue programme between January 2024 – July 2025 to be eligible. The Annwn Prize’s inaugural shortlist has been chosen by a selection committee, comprising six of a wider nominating panel of international curators and commentators: Mark Atkin, director, Crossover Labs; Ana Brzezinska, immersive curator, Barbican/Moment Factory; Samantha King, head of programme, VIVE Arts; Ellen Kuo, head of XR market, Newimages Festival; David Massey, senior producer for creative technology and storytelling, Wales Millennium Centre; Tom Millen, director, Crossover Labs. The Prize, launched in 2025 by Wales Millennium Centre and produced with Crossover Labs, marks a major new moment in the global arts calendar. Supported by Peter and Janet Swinburn, the winning artist or studio will be awarded £20,000 along with a bespoke residency to support the development of new work. Graeme Farrow, chief creative and content officer at Wales Millennium Centre, said: Our inaugural shortlist represents exactly what the Annwn Prize was established to celebrate: the pioneering nature of immersive storytelling to resonate with us in new and unique ways. The four shortlisted works are at the forefront of this rapidly evolving art form, the possibilities of which are matched only by the boundless creativity of the artists working within it. Huge congratulations to the shortlisted artists, and we look forward to bringing their extraordinary works to audiences at the Wales Millennium Centre next Spring. The shortlist selection committee, said: The Annwn Prize selection committee is excited to announce four works, celebrating excellence, storytelling and artistry. Together, we have compiled a selection that pushes the boundaries of storytelling and entertainment whilst maintaining high standards of technical proficiency and staging. The shortlist examines poignant and urgent themes such as social injustice, truth, love, and the very nature of existence. As a committee, we have enjoyed the opportunity to come together to hold honest and critical conversations about the extraordinary immersive work being created by artists around the world. The collection of finalists embodies what the Annwn Prize sets out to celebrate and demonstrates the vast possibilities of the art form itself. The Annwn Prize’s mission is to provide a global platform to elevate immersive storytelling as a vital pillar of cultural expression, celebrate pioneering artists and drive critical discussion of this art form, bringing exceptional and compelling work to UK audiences. Wales Millennium Centre is dedicated to exploring new ways of telling stories using immersive technology and celebrates creators working at the intersection of art and technology. In 2022, the centre launched Bocs, a dedicated space for immersive experiences and extended reality (XR), and in 2024, unveiled plans for a forthcoming, cutting-edge and digital-first performance creativity in Wales. To find out more about The Annwn Prize and the shortlist, visit annwnprize.com

From family-friendly frights and immersive walking tours to intense experiences that promise big scares, here are our recommendations for London's best immersive experiences this Halloween... Photos/Images: Ghost Newington/Alistair Veryard/ScreamWorks/Beavertown Brewery/Peter Broughton As always, London is looking to play host to a number of spooky immersive experiences this October. 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... This guide will be updated as more experiences are announced. Check back later in the month for more recommendations. Phantom Peak - Hallowed Peak: THe Lunar Festival Video: Phantom 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. For 2025, their Lunar Festival is back for a fourth year, with all three previous Hallowed Peak seasons having enjoyed multiple sold-out dates. For this year's edition of Hallowed Peak, there are 11 brand-new story trails available for guests to experience, which feature everything from hell-bent TV hosts and missing mummies to monster stag-dos. 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, costume competitions and multiple Hallowed Peak-themed food and drink options. The show's creators describe Hallowed Peak as 'more spooky than scary', so it's an ideal experience for those seeking a Halloween experience that's not intense. Photos: Alistair Veryard Following last year’s sold-out success, Hallowed Peak returns with a brand new chapter in the award-winning immersive open-world experience. This time, the town of Phantom Peak faces its strangest mystery yet: the old Mayor Furbish, long presumed dead, has resurfaced. But is he really back... or is something more sinister at work? Prepare to explore the sprawling, open-world immersive adventure set in a richly detailed steampunk-inspired town, enjoy a drink by the waterfall, and uncover exciting new storylines woven throughout with elements of escape rooms, interactive theatre, and free-roam exploration. 📍 Canada Water 💰 From £35.00 👻 Scare Level: 1/5 🕒 19th September - 9th November 2025 🎟️ Book via phantompeak.com Creature by Peter Broughton Image: Peter Broughton Fresh off a sold-out debut run at COLAB Invitational Theatre Festival, Peter Broughton’s Creature is one of the year’s most exciting immersive productions. With each performance for one audience member, it’s also one of the most exclusive. For Halloween weekend, the 20-minute-long show returns to COLAB Tower for a 3-day run, which we expect will sell out almost immediately. Fusing immersive theatre with puppetry and binaural audio, Creature explores themes of rejection and abandonment. Each performance’s single audience member takes their place in a wheelchair for the duration and assumes the role of a captive Victor Frankenstein as they come face-to-face with a life-sized puppet of their own creation. As one of the lucky few who’ve been able to experience it already, we can confirm that it’s an intense and overwhelming thrill ride that’s unlike any other immersive show out there. From Peter Broughton (Co-Creator and Associate Director of Bacchanalia) comes a fusion of puppetry and immersive theatre, inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Take a seat in a wheelchair, guided into darkness by a gas-masked figure, and don headphones that plunge you into a world of shadows, sound, and tension. Confront the phenomenal, towering puppet in an intimate, one-on-one encounter with the unknown. 📍 London Bridge 💰 From £98.00 👻 Scare Level: 3/5 🕒 30th October - 1st November 2025 🎟️ Book via eventbrite.co.uk Granny: The Horror Escape Game - Screamworks Image: ScreamWorks In recent years, ScreamWorks has earned a reputation for creating some of 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. 2023 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, and 2024 saw the launch of Open House: The Escape Room, which combined horror and escape room elements and unlike traditional escape rooms, offered a huge amount of freedom, and very little in the way of help. For 2025, they return with a new experience - Granny. Billed as an open-world horror experience, Granny has been designed to 'create fear, paranoia and anxiety in its participants'. While for most companies, that could be taken as an empty threat used for marketing, ScreamWorks have a track record of upping the terror with each new show. You can expect Granny to be an intense experience that's not for the faint of heart. You have been warned. It starts as a Halloween dare: Break into the old lady’s house behind the abandoned bookshop. Everyone’s heard the rumours… She murdered her whole family and hid their bodies under the floorboards. She never leaves the house — and eats spiders and worms. Some say she’s over a hundred years old. Others say she’s immortal — and knows everything. Just stories… right? You keep telling yourself that —until the door slams shut behind you, and you realise you’re inside an elaborate trap. What started as a thrill becomes a game of survival. And while Granny may not see well, she hears everything —and moves like lightning. Run. Hide. Plot your escape. Just don’t let her catch you. Because once Granny’s got you in her arms…she’ll never let you go. Photos of previous ScreamWorks shows. 📍 Bethnal Green 💰 From £34.00 👻 Scare Level: 4/5 🕒 3rd October - 31st December 2025 🎟️ Book via screamworks.london Bridge Command - Halloween Missions Images: Bridge Command Across 28th October to 2nd November, Bridge Command - one of London's best immersive experiences - is suspending their usual rotation of intergalactic missions to provide two exclusive Halloween-themed experiences aboard the UCS Takanami and UCS Havock. Running for a limited time, these missions allow the usual group sizes (up to a crew of 14 on UCS Havock and 10 on UCS Takanami) to experience these brand new storylines with a spooky twist. While details of their contents remain under wraps for now, the below descriptions offer a teaser of what to expect. In addition, access to The Mess - Bridge Command's highly themed bar aboard the USC Warspite - remain available for just £10 per ticket, and include a free cocktail. Silo A UCN destroyer class ship has gone silent carrying confidential cargo. Dark corridors, empty bunks, no crew. But something else lingers aboard. Ghost In The Machine A Terra Novan spiritual leader and the UCN High Command demand the crew’s support to cleanse a forsaken Exodus battleground. But does the past want to stay buried? Photo: Alex Brenner 📍 Vauxhall 💰 From £45.00 👻 Scare Level: ?/5 🕒 28th October - 2nd November 2025 🎟️ Book via bridgecommand.space Alibi: Dead Air by Tom Black and Dean Rogers Image: Tom Black/Dean Rogers While they've gained huge popularity in China since first appearing in the late 2010's, with over 10,000 physical locations and millions of regular players, Jubensha games have (until recently) largely passed English-speaking audienes by. A 2024 video from People Makes Game diving into Jubensha introduced many to the genre for the first time, but it's only in the last six months that London audiences have had the chance to try them out for themselves, with several Jubensha-inspired experiences having debuted at Voidspace Live earlier this year. Debuting this Halloweek weekend, Alibi: Dead Air - created by Tom Black (Bridge Command, Crisis? What Crisis?, Jury Games) and Dean Rodgers (The Crystal Maze Live Experience, Secret Cinema) - provides another opportunity to try out this new kind of social deducation game, and find out why the genre's gained such a following overseas. Twelve suspects. One killer. And that killer could be YOU. A true crime podcast, with a murdered host. A serial killer on the loose. Alibi is an immersive murder mystery game where you play both suspect and detective. A game of social deduction, where you must solve the clues to uncover which one of your fellow players is the killer. In our first case: Dead Air, a true crime podcast host dies in a recording booth while hunting a serial killer. 📍 Liverpool Street/Aldgate 💰 From £25.00 👻 Scare Level: ?/5 🕒 29th October - 2nd November 2025 🎟️ Book via eventbrite.co.uk Ghost Newington - Halloween Walking Tour Photo: Ghost Newington Back after several years away, Ghost Newington - the much-loved immersive Halloween walking tour - makes its grand return to the streets of Stoke Newington for 2025. For the uninitiated, Ghost Newington has guests exploring the areas' winding backstreets and cobbled yards under nightfall alongside The Ghost Master (Paul Critoph) over two and a half hours. You can expect jump scares, unexpected encounters, macabre tales of local legend, and, of course, several stop-offs in local public houses. Previously, the team behind Ghost Newington have staged The House of Dust in Haggerston, 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, and last year they moved south of the river to Brixton for Tales Of The Strange, a spooky soirée hosted by fictional horror writer, Jeffrey Thrillerman. As dusk falls, muster your courage at The Axe Pub, where the Mysterious Ghost Master and his Minions will meet you and take you on a journey to uncover the dark, the unusual, and the downright macabre stories of this strange little corner of London. Guard yourself against Bonkers Balloonists, walk the treacherous path of Edgar Allen Poe, discover the mystery behind Dusty Sally, and raise a toast to the Morbid Entity that lies deep beneath a car park. This isn't just any old run-of-the-mill Ghost tour. No Ma'am! This is GHOST NEWINGTON. One of Stoke Newington's top two ghost walks! (We can call it that because, to our knowledge, there’s only one other). 📍 Stoke Newington 💰 From £25.00 👻 Scare Level: 2/5 🕒 23rd October - 1st November 2025 🎟️ Book via designmynight.com Beavertown Presents... The Lost Dimensions Image: Beavertown Brewery No strangers to a Halloween pop-up - having previously taken over The Prince Charles Cinema and Flat Iron Square for spook-filled events in years past - Beavertown Brewery are hosting an immersive experience at Kachette between Old Street and Shoreditch High Street across Halloween weekend for 2025. Titled 'The Lost Dimensions', the 90-minute-long experience will have guests travel through five distinct zones and push people out of their comfort zones in an effort to reward those who 'say yes to the strange, the bold, and the bizarre'. As you'd expect, there's also some free drinks thrown in for those who attend, which is something we'll always say 'Yes' to. The experience invites you to leave normality behind and enter the wonderfully weird, surreal journey where you ditch the fear of judgment and embrace the unexpected. Across five distinct worlds, you’ll be tempted, teased, and tipped out of your comfort zone through curious prompts, unexpected encounters and side quests that urge you to say yes to the strange, the bold, and the bizarre. Each space offers a fresh take on what it means to be Never Normal. Everything culminates in the Beavertown bar, the ultimate spot to swap stories, crack open cans and celebrate your truest, weirdest self. Within the bar, the clothing pop-up returns with the brand-new range, and to top it off, the space will come alive each day with sets from some of London’s most exciting DJs, including two secret headline performances. This isn’t a fright fest. It’s storytelling with a deliciously twisted edge. So, loosen your grip on reality, steel your nerves, and prepare for spine-tingles of the finest variety. Because life’s more fun when you stick your neck out. 📍 Old Street 💰 From £20.00 👻 Scare Level: ?/5 🕒 31st October - 2nd November 2025 🎟️ Book via beavertownbrewery.co.uk For the latest news and updates on all the best immersive Halloween experiences in London this October, follow us on Instagram 🎃

Photo: The Last Days of Pompeii In 79 AD, the city of Pompeii was destroyed following the eruption of the nearby Mount Vesuvius. A cloud of ash and toxic gases engulfed the city, killing nearly all of its 10,000+ inhabitants, and the volcanic debris that followed entombed their remains, preserving their final moments in a hardened cast of calcified ash. It's one of history's best-known disasters, and is now the focus of The Last Days of Pompeii, a new immersive exhibition, which has just begun a 16-week run at Immerse LDN in East London. The show's producers, Madrid Artes Digitales, have had a near-constant presence in London over the past year, having previously launched Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition at Immerse LDN and The Legend of the Titanic: The Ultimate Titanic Exhibition in Canada Water. This latest exhibition, which runs until 15th March 2026, sees them return to the same cavernous space in Immerse LDN that they took over for Tutankhamun and brings with it additional interactive elements not seen in other cities across Europe. Using a mix of 360-degree immersive projections, virtual reality, and interactive screens alongside traditional, museum-like displays, The Last Days of Pompeii: The Immersive Exhibition aims to transport visitors back nearly 2000 years to not only witness the destruction of the famed city but also learn more about the everyday lives of its inhabitants. Photo: The Last Days of Pompeii The opening rooms of The Last Days of Pompeii look a lot like any other museum exhibition. Large wall-mounted panels provide information and context about the day-to-day lives of those within Pompeii, detailing their morning routines, social activities and cultural offerings. Several display cases house fragments of marble sculptures, terracotta pots, swords and mural paintings alongside museum labels. While MAD's Tutankhamun exhibition was made up almost entirely of recreations, the items on display in The Last Days of Pompeii are genuine artefacts from the time, on loan from Barcelona's Galeria F. Cervera. Further into the exhibition, the focus shifts to archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli, who in 1863 pioneered the technique of making plaster casts from the hollow space left in the hardened ash casings of the city's entombed residents. There are recreations of several plaster casts throughout the space, all frozen in time, and seeing them is a pretty moving experience, with their poses conveying the fear and terror of their final moments, despite not having any identifiable features. In the next room is the first of two virtual reality scenes. With visitors wearing headsets while seated on swivel chairs, they're free to look around as they follow an unnamed gladiator into battle at Pompeii's amphitheatre. There's certainly some artistic licence on display during this 7-minute-long sequence, with a fight taking place in the centre of a full-blown, Rome-like colosseum, complete with retractable platforms that spit fire, animals appearing out of trap doors and a two-ship naval battle. It's all engaging and visually impressive, but it seems to be pretty far from the reality of what Pompeii's gladiator fighting was like, and it plays fast and loose with facts. Photo: The Last Days of Pompeii/Set Vexy The exhibition's main space, which offers 360-degree projections, lies behind a curtain following the VR section. In stark contrast to some of the small personal items on display in the exhibitions' earlier rooms, everything in this space is writ large. Standing 8 metres tall, the four walls and floor of the space display an ever-changing series of Instagram-worthy animations on a 26-minute loop. Much like in MAD's Tutankhamun exhibition, the projection room is by far the most impressive part of The Last Days of Pompeii and is the space visitors will likely spend most of their visit in. Broken up into eight chapters, the projections shift from showing the day-to-day life of Pompeii's residents, relaxing in their villas and shopping in the market, to the first-hand testimony of the catastrophe by lawyer-cum-author Pliny the Younger. Other scenes show abstract premonitions of the impending disaster by a Wizard of Oz-like bronze faun statue and the eventual discovery of the city by Spanish explorer Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre. While the highlight of this room are the two scenes depicting Vesuvius' eruption and the destruction of the city below, complete with a whirlwind of embers, ash, and lightning, along with chariot-sized chunks of molten lava smashing through buildings, we'd recommend staying in the space for a complete loop to get the full experience, as there are also moments that offer up quiet reflection. Regardless of the content, the scale of the room is pretty stunning and truly engulfs your vision, pulling you into the experience. Photo: The Last Days of Pompeii The exhibition's second VR experience sees visitors step into the metaverse as they explore several digital recreations of the Villa of the Mysteries, which owes its name to a series of frescoes depicting rituals associated with a secret society dedicated to the worship of Dionysus, the god of wine, ecstasy and theatre. Visitors move freely through each room as it transforms from a derelict ruin to how it would have existed back in 79 AD. While the real-life Villa is one of Pompeii's must-see attractions, this VR version feels weirdly anticlimactic after the repeated depictions of fire and destruction earlier in the experience. There's a certain novelty associated with moving through a virtual space while wearing a headset, and seeing other visitors also exploring the Villa, being represented as floating busts that glide effortlessly through the space, only adds to it. Rounding off the experience, there are several more interactive exhibits, including interactive tables that allow guests to dig through a layer of virtual sand to uncover hidden treasures like coins, swords and lamps; objects that can be touched to reveal their history on large screens above; and some AI-powered photobooths that overlay photos of guests' faces onto era-appropriate bodies to varying levels of success. Photo: The Last Days of Pompeii While MAD's trio of recent exhibitions has dominated this corner of London's immersive scene throughout 2025, the city has, of course, had several hugely popular projection-led experiences in the past. Frameless in Marble Arch has been displaying the work of artists like Monet, Hokusai and Dalí since first opening in 2022, and Immersive Van Gogh (an experience that was notably reviled by many) ran for many years out of its Shoreditch home, proving that there's a huge appetite for this kind of work. Recently, there's been a notable shift towards creating experiences with a more substantial educational angle, with shows like The Moonwalkers (narrated by Tom Hanks) and Prehistoric Planet now making up the current line-up at King's Cross' Lightroom. While there's constant debate around just how 'immersive' these kinds of experiences really are, they undoubtedly offer a modern way to learn about history that's not always possible within a traditional museum setting, and provides an experience that's both fun and engaging. Much like MAD's previous exhibitions, The Last Days of Pompeii's mix of traditional museum displays with modern technology makes it the kind of experience that's both appealing to younger visitors and satisfyingly informative for their parents, and a step above other projection-led immersive experiences on offer in London. ★★★½ [Tickets gifted in exchange for an honest review] The Last Days of Pompeii: The Immersive Exhibition runs at Immerse LDN near Custom House until 15th March 2026. Tickets are priced from £24.00 and can be booked via Fever. For more coverage and reviews of experiences like The Last Days of Pompeii: The Immersive Exhibition, check out our recent Reviews.