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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Part escape room, part immersive theatre, COLAB Theatre's The End sees them venture into new territory as teams work to save the world from destruction in just 60 minutes. Photo: COLAB Theatre Following an early version of the show previewing at the COLAB Invitational Theatre Festival last September, COLAB Theatre's post-apocalyptic theatrical escape room experience, The End, has now launched at the company's London Bridge home, currently set to run until 1st August 2026. Located within one of COLAB Tower's three tunnel spaces, the hour-long experience sees groups of up to six people race against the clock to navigate through multiple layers of security inside a military bunker and attempt to save the world from 'The Darkness', a mysterious and deadly entity responsible for wiping out a huge portion of the world's population. While The End features escape room staples like keypads and locks, it distinguishes itself from many other escape experiences by incorporating a significant amount of interaction with a solo performer and a complex story that unfolds as players progress through each of the experience's three main rooms. 

Before entering the tunnel itself, guests are handed headphones and an audio player, which lays the groundwork for the show's story and sets the (admittedly pretty high) stakes. After being blindfolded and guided into the tunnels by Sergeant Major Problem - the first of several roles played by Lawrence Howard during our visit - the experience wastes no time throwing teams straight into the deep end, initially tasking them with finding a way inside the bunker in near darkness. Photo: COLAB Theatre Once groups make it into the Decontamination Room, which players enter after unlocking the bunker doors, loud noises rattle the walls of the space at regular intervals. It proves to be an effective distraction from the space's main puzzle, which places a heavy emphasis on clear communication and teamwork. Alongside the numerous padlocked switches that first need to be unlocked and activated in order to restore power to the room, there’s a frantic Among Us-style challenge spread across three touchscreen terminals, which forces players to quickly delegate tasks to each other against the clock. As casual escape room players, we found The End's puzzles to be pretty well-balanced, providing just enough of a challenge to be rewarding when solved but never so obvious that we flew through any of the experience's three main spaces. Given the variety of different challenges packed into the experience, there's likely to be at least one puzzle that plays to everyone's individual strengths, even if it's just being able to work well under pressure or keep your cool when the scares ramp up. Photo: COLAB Theatre The Science Lab, which sits at the far end of the tunnel, introduces additional puzzles while placing a much stronger focus on concluding the show's narrative. Several exposition-heavy scenes see Howard's scientist character, Elias, hurriedly scribbling down names, connections, and a timeline onto a whiteboard in an attempt to make sense of what caused the outside world to collapse, leading into a pyrotechnic-heavy finale that requires groups to put on protective gear. While it’s clear that COLAB has committed to creating a fully fleshed-out story that ties all of the show's characters together and explains how 'The Darkness' came to be, it's quite a lot for teams to keep up with, and at times, the storyline becomes overly complex for a format where audiences are concentrating on puzzles, keys, and codes. Despite that, Lawrence Howard’s performance helps maintain the momentum during The End's later rooms and allows for some genuinely exciting interactions midway through, which feel ripped straight out of a sci-fi film and also introduce some intriguing mechanics for interacting with their character. With group sizes capped to six people, the experience benefits from having a great actor-to-guest ratio that affords everyone the opportunity to participate during interactions and spend a meaningful amount of time with Howard's various characters. While the storytelling occasionally struggles beneath the weight of its own mythology, The End still succeeds in creating a cohesive world where the puzzles, performances and setting feel connected and grounded. The result is an effective hybrid of immersive theatre and escape room design which stands apart from many of London’s more straightforward puzzle-led experiences and serves as another worthy addition to COLAB Theatre's already impressive body of work. ★★★½ [Tickets gifted in exchange for an honest review] COLAB Theatre's The End runs at COLAB Tower near London Bridge until 1st August 2026. Tickets are priced from £27.50 per person. For more information and to book tickets, visit theendishere.co.uk For more reviews of immersive and interactive work, check out our recent Reviews.

A rare combination of deep audience agency, intricately woven mystery, and communal bonding makes the second chapter of this eldritch experience a must-see. Photo: Lemon Difficult Tucked away in the rolling hills of the Welsh countryside lies a seemingly sleepy manor house. The grazing sheep, blooming gardens, and wooden panels still clinging to a hint of smoke from one of the house’s many fireplaces create a sense of warm hospitality. At a glance, Treowen Manor is the stuff of a romance novelist’s wildest fantasy - but something sinister lurks in its shadows. With The Key of Dreams: Shadows Lengthen, Lemon Difficult has transformed this idyllic hideaway into a twisting narrative of eldritch gods, sacrifice, and betrayal, and the result is one of the most unique and enrapturing immersive productions available today. It’s difficult to summarise what The Key of Dreams is in a few words. Part immersive performance, part escape room, part hotel and cuisine experience, and part social deduction game, there's a lot happening all at once. But fortunately for newcomers, there is plenty of time to find your footing over the 24 hours of the experience. Beginning at noon on the first day, audiences are given free rein of the manor’s four floors and impressive grounds (barring any personal areas such as guests' rooms, the kitchen, and staff quarters). Through various puzzles, arcane rituals, meals, and improvised scenes, the action reaches a climax at 11pm, at which point the audience and cast retire to the bar and turn in for the night to ruminate on the house’s mysteries. Then, audiences are met with a final challenge over breakfast the following morning and are given until noon to resolve any lingering narrative threads. Photo: Lemon Difficult Shadows Lengthen is the second chapter of The Key of Dreams and continues on from the previous hauntings at Treowen Manor last year. Audiences have been invited to join an expedition funded by the Friends of Miskatonic University, sent to clean up the mess left behind by the previous expedition. The manor’s residents - Wyn (Rik Sowden), the owner of Treowen Manor; Dee (Emily Carding), the current expedition leader; Randolph (Dan Osbaldeston), the previous expedition leader who has defected to a rival organisation; Lavinia (Heather Rose-Andrews), Dee’s former wife and mentor who was recently revived from the dead; and Sophie (Millie Bennison), the housekeeper caught in the crossfire - have all been trapped in Treowen Manor, held captive by an unexplainable supernatural force. You and your fellow investigators have been charged to uncover the ties that bind the residents to the manor and either free them or condemn them as you see fit. The audience are quickly recruited by one of three rival organisations, each with their own hidden agendas and motives for investigating the manor. While both the organisations and the residents seem supportive enough at first, their true darker intentions unfold slowly the deeper you dig. Regardless of allegiance, everyone in the manor works together to explore four separate stories, each tied to the manor’s own morose history. And it’s through these narratives that The Key of Dreams truly comes to life. Photo: Lemon Difficult Upon arrival, audiences are highly encouraged to collaborate with one another. This instruction is nothing new to a seasoned immersive experience fan, but this show means it. There is an unfathomable amount of content in the show - so much so that it’s only possible to complete one of the four stories in your time at Treowen Manor. It’s easy to get sidetracked and overwhelmed by the sheer depth of leads to chase and mysteries to unravel. Fortunately, you’re given a beautifully bound field guide with tips and clues to keep you on track with your selected storyline. But it’s also important to understand at least the baseline of every narrative so you can competently face the dark forces at work. There are certain tools at your disposal to change the course of the stories and even alter the residents’ fate, but you’ll need to work closely with every member of the audience to understand how and why. It’s this agency and the reliance on audience collaboration that sets The Key of Dreams apart. Thanks to the durational nature of the experience, you’ll get to know the characters and your fellow expeditioners well. That will be important in the later stages of the performance, as characters and audience members alike have reason to keep secrets and devise alternative plans from the group. Photo: Lemon Difficult The show demands you pay as much attention to your fellow explorers as to the narratives; otherwise, you may find your staunchest ally suddenly possessed, sacrificed, or worse. One such shocking twist of events had our summoning ritual hijacked by a fellow audience member who allowed an evil spirit to possess one of the characters, throwing everyone’s fate into jeopardy. It was a highlight of the evening and a bonding moment that unified the rest of the group against the rogue agent. As evening falls, the house itself slowly shifts to reveal its secrets. In the daylight, Treowen Manor is a bright and charming house filled with mysterious articles, books, and cryptic wooden cuttings. But as the sun sets, whispers begin to murmur from dark corners, hidden rooms appear seemingly from nowhere, and familiar spaces take on sinister new meaning. This slow burn of revealing secrets that have been right underneath your nose the whole show makes the house feel alive and, at times, even hostile. By leaning on the tools naturally available in the venue, Lemon Difficult has built a living, breathing world more memorable than even the most expensive sets and productions in recent memory. Photo: Lemon Difficult If this all sounds like a lot to take in - it is. But that shouldn’t put you off. There are many ways to engage with the show that don’t involve chanting in tongues or trading barbs with an actor. Instead, you could go on a guided tour to learn the history of the house, hunt for cuttings (small riddles scattered around the house), solve puzzle boxes, tackle uniquely shaped jigsaws, tune in to the production’s bespoke radio channels, or explore the mysteries of your own guest room. That’s not a euphemism; several rooms have hidden content meant only for their lodgers. Each of these alternative approaches to Treowen’s mysteries ties directly into the stories and is just as important as any content pursued by more extroverted investigators. However, there is a steep learning curve to the experience. Returning explorers will have a clear advantage, as knowledge of the previous chapter can give them a head start when engaging with the new storyline. There are materials sent to every audience member in advance to catch you up to speed, but they are necessarily brief. Photo: Lemon Difficult Returning players also have the advantage of understanding the characters, the layout of the house, and the external organisations. There is a risk of veteran audience members running away with the plot before newcomers get the chance to dip their toes in, but this is the brilliance of the show’s approach to audience collaboration. It doesn’t matter who gets the information or evidence first; every member of the audience will have a role to play. And like all immersive productions, you will get as much out of the show as you put into it. This production is well worth the work because what you receive in return is not only true agency, mystical powers, and the haunting sense that there’s more to our universe than we’ll ever be able to understand, but also a strong sense of community. As stated earlier, you will get to know both the characters and your fellow explorers very well by the end of your 24 hours. Photo: Lemon Difficult By the end of our experience, every member of the group knew each audience member by name, shared in-jokes and references, and had a deeply personal encounter with at least one character. This organic sense of belonging and familiarity is something you’d be hard-pressed to find in any other experience, which is not something you’d expect from a show about ghosts, witches, and eldritch horrors. It’s all thanks to the clever planning of the creatives and the expert facilitation of the cast that the audience banded together to form a genuine community. We could easily go on for another thousand words and still only scratch the surface of everything The Key of Dreams has to offer. There’s so much to be said about the food (5 courses of cuisine as complex and delicious as the rest of the experience), the acting (impressively deep while remaining accessible; their facilitation was excellent), the lovingly crafted props (a gorgeous array of bespoke laser-cut puzzles and devices), and the overall hospitality, but these are best experienced firsthand. Photo: Lemon Difficult While the overall price may seem steep (£450 for a ticket inclusive of meals plus £350 to £600 for a two-person room on-site), consider that you are receiving four times the amount of content as any other immersive show on the market. But more than quantity, this production delivers quality in spades. The Key of Dreams delivers a rich, robust, exquisite experience that is guaranteed to be unlike anything else you’ve ever seen. It’s rare that a production can capture an audience’s imagination so deeply and offer such powerful agency over the story, but rarer still is the sense of belonging and companionship audiences feel with complete strangers. The Key of Dreams is a twisted, sinister gem and should not be missed by any immersive fan. ★★★★★ [Discounted tickets provided in exchange for an honest review] Words: Danny Romeo The Key of Dreams: Shadows Lengthen runs at Treowen, just outside of Monmouth, Wales, on selected dates in September, October and November 2026. Tickets are priced from £450.00 per person, excluding accommodation. For more info and to book tickets, visit thekeyofdreams.co.uk For more reviews of immersive experiences like The Key of Dreams: Shadows Lengthen, check out our recent Reviews.

A journey into the Underworld for 20 guests per performance, COLAB Theatre's modern-day retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice opens in their brand new venue on the Southbank. Image: COLAB Theatre Following a year-long silence from COLAB Theatre, the immersive theatre producer returns with a brand-new show, The Descent, which sees guests join Orpheus on a journey into the Underworld to try and save their wife, Eurydice. Situated in their brand-new venue near London Bridge, the show takes place across multiple floors of their new creative hub - which is also available for fellow creatives to use for everything from office space to rehearsals and workshops. Based on the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, the show's opening sees guests invited into a boardroom to hear a pitch from Orpheus. He's inviting us to invest in Look Back Industries, a somewhat shady-sounding company that is working to both delay death and bring those who have passed back to life. This pitch is soon interrupted by an urgent phone call - we learn that company co-founder Eurydice has passed away after being bitten. Orpheus asks us to assist in bringing back his wife from the Underworld in exchange for a share in the company. With that, our descent into the Underworld begins... Photo: Alex Walton Taking place across the basement floor of their new venue, guided only by Orpheus' torchlight, we sheepishly creep through dark corridors and rooms. The tension builds as we venture deeper into the bowels of the building, with a number of jump scares culminating in our group being cornered in a walk-in freezer as demons patrol outside. It's an effective sequence that saw a good amount of screaming from members of our group, especially when several were singled out to either hold closed the doors that stood between us and the demons or check previously unexplored rooms. Shortly after, crowded around a small computer screen, we're told we must find four specimens from previous experiments that are locked away within the facility. Combining all of them will serve as an offering to Hades, King of the Underworld, and ensure Eurydice's safe passage home. Image: COLAB Theatre The impact of the show's scares, alongside your ability to be part of the story in a meaningful way, is sadly hampered by the group size. With each performance holding 20 people, it's too large of a group for everyone to have agency. Our group of 20 is at one point tasked with locating the breakers to restore power to the building - a task that requires 4 people at best. Later we're encouraged to split into four sub-groups - each focused on finding one of the previously mentioned specimens. While this alleviates some of the group size issues, most of the show's scariest moments were behind us by then, so you were more likely to just hear people's reactions on either side of you than witness the scares first-hand. Besides the various Underworld inhabitants we briefly encounter throughout the show, Orpheus (Alex Walton) is the only constant in the show. By acting as the sole narrative driver, as well as being tasked with keeping on top of what 20 people are doing at one time, they've got their work cut out for them. While it's not the scariest experience we've had this Halloween season, The Descent does more than enough to be an engaging and fun piece of immersive theatre. We walked away having made friends with several other attendees, and the collective experience of walking through the largely deserted basement of the building with little more than a barely working torch did leave us somewhat rattled at times. We know COLAB Theatre have further shows planned for the near future, and as a showcase of their new space, The Descent does a good job of laying the foundations for it being their new home for immersive work, even if this show doesn't quite reach the full potential of its premise. ★★★½ [Tickets gifted in exchange for an honest review] The Descent runs until 18th November near London Bridge. Tickets are priced at £28 and can be booked here.

Photo: NEON/World Heritage Exhibitions This half term, Ramses and the Pharaohs’ Gold at NEON at Battersea Power Station is flipping the script on how young audiences experience history, with the launch of new 'Ancient Egypt: Exposed' tours designed specifically for ages 9-16. Built for curious, content-savvy teens, the new tours dive into the strange, surprising, and seriously shareable side of Ancient Egypt. What’s more, the exhibition is reducing ticket prices for under-16s to encourage attendance during the school holidays. Taking place on 26th and 27th May at 5pm, the new teen tours are scripted in collaboration with Egyptologist Dr Edward Scrivens from the Egypt Exploration Society, brought to life by actors, and designed to spotlight the side of Ancient Egypt you don’t get in textbooks. Photo: NEON/World Heritage Exhibitions Visitors will also dive into an immersive virtual reality journey before trying their hand at a tile painting workshop inspired by the symbols, patterns and stories found throughout the exhibition. Teen visitors will discover… Ancient curses were actually a thing - Forget the myth of Tutankhamun's curse, some tombs carried very real warnings, threatening intruders with brutal fates - including being eaten by crocodiles Makeup was basically ancient tech - Eyeliner wasn’t just for looks; it helped reduce sun glare Cats were treated like royalty - Cats were so revered they could be mummified and buried like royalty, and were often linked to the goddess Bastet and other protective deities. Ancient Egyptians had their own version of group chat drama - Surviving letters are full of gossip, complaints, and friendship breakups. Photo: NEON/World Heritage Exhibitions These stories will be brought to life through the exhibition’s 180 extraordinary artefacts, all over 3,000 years old and on loan from Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, many of which have never before left Egypt. Ramses and the Pharaohs’ Gold has quickly become the highest-rated exhibition live on Fever, and at a moment when teens are increasingly immersed in digital content, the new programme provides a place to hang out and experience history beyond the screen. Dr Edward Scrivens said: Many of us at the Egypt Exploration Society first became fascinated with ancient Egypt as children and teenagers, so we know the potential and importance of younger generations finding a real connection to the past. Ancient Egypt isn’t just about kings and monuments - it’s about people, their lives, their humour, and their stories. By exploring the more unexpected and relatable aspects of history, we can spark curiosity and show that this world, although thousands of years old, isn’t so distant after all. Joseph Hocking, Sales and Marketing Director at NEON, said: We want to challenge the idea that history is just something you read about in textbooks. This is about showing teenagers that culture can be social and relevant to them. We’re creating an experience that feels different - one that invites younger audiences to engage, explore and see that this isn’t just a traditional museum visit. Located at Battersea Power Station, the exhibition also forms part of a wider day out for teens, with over 170 places to shop, eat and hang out across the riverside destination. Ramses and the Pharaohs’ Gold is located at NEON Battersea Power Station. Tickets are priced from £32.00 for adults and £27.00 for children. The 'Ancient Egypt: Exposed' ticket includes entry to a teen tour, the VR experience and tile painting workshop for £30 per person. For more information and to book tickets, visit ramsestheexhibition.co.uk/london