Interactive comedy-horror that blends retro suburban camp with B-movie terror, all sealed in a pastel fantasy, from the creators of Fisherman Jon and Wayne Wayneson. Photo: Rah Petherbridge You're invited to Jill's Tupperware Party. A perfect world where plastic lids click, smiles almost never falter, and microwaves hum with divine purpose. Jill's Tupperware Party is an auspicious afternoon where sales records, hearts, and bones could all be broken. Come join the party. What's the worst that could happen? You're in the company of friends... Asparagus Mousse Productions is a London-based, artist-led theatre company co-founded by performers and makers Coral Bevan, David Alwyn and Ricky Hunt. They are all from an interactive live events background, having worked extensively for the likes of Secret Cinema, The Lost Estate, etc. Collectively, they have created award-winning characters and shows, including Fisherman Jon: What's on the End of my Rod?, and Wayne Wayneson’s Rock Hard. The company specialises in bold, multidisciplinary, and interactive theatre, notably producing weird and wonderful character clown shows. Photo: Rah Petherbridge Coral Bevan is an actor and clown, specialising in character comedy. She studied her craft at the prestigious clown school, Phillipe Gaulier in Paris. In 2022, she was selected to appear as a Commedia Dell’Arte clown at the Guillotine Ball in the movie Napoleon, directed by Ridley Scott. Her previous work won the Fulwell 73/Comedy 50:50 competition, she was a Funny Women finalist, The British Comedy Guides Talent Awards finalist, a Man-Up finalist (UK and Europe's biggest drag king competition), and her work has also been screened at the Munich Film Festival. Ricky Hunt is a working-class writer and director specialising in new genre-defying works. He strives to tell poignant, purposeful stories that champion LGBTQI+ and underrepresented voices. Riding the success of his five-star, sold-out adaptation of 'Earth To Kurt - A Grunge Opera', Ricky is pursuing a bright script writing career, with his first feature film in development; 'Make it Count' is shortlisted for the Soho House script writing competition. David Alwyn is a Nottingham-born, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire-trained actor, writer and theatre maker. Previous directing work includes resident director at Secret Cinema on Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and more. He also co-wrote and directed the Offie Award-winning Viper Squad, Fisherman Jon: What's on the End of my Rod? and has directed various pieces of new writing at the You Saw It Here First festival. Jill's Tupperware Party runs at Belly Laugh at Underbelly, Cowgate (Venue 61) from 5th to 30th August 2026 at 14:35. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com

Photo: Rah Petheridge Immersive comedy-horror Jill's Tupperware Party, which comes to Edinburgh Fringe this August, is the latest interactive production from Asparagus Mousse Productions - an artist-led theatre company co-founded by performers and makers Coral Bevan, David Alwyn and Ricky Hunt, whose previous work includes collaborations with the likes of Secret Cinema and The Lost Estate. In the show, audience members become a collective of Jills at the annual Tupperware convention - a meeting where plastic lids click, smiles almost never falter and microwaves hum with divine purpose. Ahead of its Edinburgh Fringe run, we caught up with one of the show's writers and performers, Coral Bevan, to talk about how a cookbook inspired Jill's Tupperware Party, what sets the show apart from everything else at the Fringe, and her top tips for surviving the festival as a performer. Immersive Rumours: Hi Coral, thanks for speaking with us today. Do you mind introducing yourself and telling us a bit about Jill’s Tupperware Party for those unfamiliar with the show? Coral Bevan: Hello, thanks so much for having me! I’m Coral Bevan; I’m a character comedian, writer, clown and producer at Asparagus Mousse Productions, and we are extremely excited about bringing Jill’s Tupperware Party to Edinburgh Fringe this year. It’s going to be an absolute hoot! The show was written by myself, Ricky Hunt and David Alwyn, with David also directing the show. Jill’s Tupperware Party is a cult camp immersive comedy-horror show. Expect a mix of Mars Attacks, The Witches, Stepford Wives and Midsommar. Unlike other comedy shows, you are significant to the plot of our show. You are a fellow Jill. It’s the 80th anniversary of Tupperware, and you are a Tupperware salesperson joining the annual convention. Immersive Rumours: The show is billed as an ‘interactive comedy-horror’. What can audiences expect to be involved with as part of the show? Coral Bevan: Unlike your normal comedy show, the audience of Jill’s are standing throughout the whole thing (obviously, if you need a chair, one can be arranged). We will be analysing your sales for the year and comparing them against the highest seller, which happens to be me! From celebrating the coronation of this year's Highest Seller to helping us cook up a delicious recipe - your physical contributions are vital to the storytelling of the show. It starts off as a seemingly quite innocent show about Tupperware but, towards the end, turns into a silly, camp, B-movie horror with a good dose of blood and guts to boot. Photo: Rah Petheridge Immersive Rumours: What was the initial inspiration for Jill's Tupperware Party, and how did that evolve into the show audiences will see this August? Coral Bevan: The show was born out of a birthday party I had a few years ago. I went with a cult theme, and Ricky decided to bring along a paperback 1980s microwave cookbook. We were inspired! The party descended into an immersive cult experience where we resurrected the author, and she instructed us to sacrifice our friend Neil with one of her recipes. The recipe was asparagus mousse. Over the years we’ve written it into a short film which we never made… not yet anyway… and now it's a show! Immersive Rumours: Unlike Wayne Wayneson’s Rock Hard and Fisherman Jon, which were both solo shows, you appear alongside Ricky Hunt in Jill’s Tupperware Party. What does having a second performer on stage unlock when it comes to performing the show? Coral Bevan: I can’t wait to perform alongside another human for the fringe. Solo shows are great in many ways, but they get lonely; you've only got you to hype yourself up, and if you're having a bad day, well, ain’t no one there to save you.. Just gotta pull your socks up and get on with it! But having someone else on stage to bounce off - it’s THE BEST! You can have an actual conversation on stage with another human! It's a game changer for me - and I ain’t never going back! Photo: Rah Petheridge Immersive Rumours: You, Ricky and David Alwyn - who all make up Asparagus Mousse - will likely be familiar faces to London-based immersive theatre fans. How did the company first come about, and how would you describe the dynamic between the three of you? Coral Bevan: We first met doing Secret Cinema’s Stranger Things in 2019 - we were so incredibly lucky because our cast was just so excellent! The show ended just before lockdown, and over the coming months/years/eternity, the whole cast kept each other sane - having Zoom parties and various online events to entertain each other. Once lockdown was over, Ricky, David and I all worked together again on a few other Secret Cinema shows, but it was the passing of my father that stuck a firework up my arse! If anyone reading has experienced the death of a parent, they'll understand - there ain't nothing like seeing death to remind yourself to LIVE! I’d been wanting to create a show with my character Fisherman Jon for a while, so I asked Ricky and David to help me write and direct it; they agreed. That was where the trio started. Over the years, we’ve learnt more and more about how to write with each other, how each other works, what makes for a fun show and what audiences enjoy. I feel like this year we all had an epiphany! We realised we had over three decades' worth of experience between us in immersive theatre, and so we should translate that knowledge into comedy and form a hybrid! Photo: Rah Petheridge Immersive Rumours: You’ve performed at Edinburgh Fringe previously with Fisherman Jon and Wayne Wayneson. Looking back at those experiences, what lessons have stayed with you, and what advice would you have for those heading to the festival with a show for the first time? Coral Bevan: I absolutely love each of the shows we’ve made over the years. They’ve all been huge lessons. I often think we creatives all get bogged down by the fear of failing or worry that something isn’t perfect, but the truth is we all have to START, and with each step - you learn. So firstly, congratulations on getting here; you’re already doing what many people can’t find the courage to do! Give yourself a pat on the back. Don’t forget… Continue being the silliest version of yourself. Watch as many shows as you can - (what amazing inspiration!) Be supportive to your fellow comedians Have fun and enjoy the crazy ride. Look after yourself - it’s tough out there! Oh - and go to the beach on your day off! Immersive Rumours: Finally, how are you feeling ahead of taking the show to Edinburgh, and what are you most looking forward to during this year's festival? Coral Bevan: Last year was my first time doing a whole month in Edinburgh - what a ride! But I’m returning with a bit more knowledge under my belt about this beast that is ‘The Fringe’. I’m looking forward to making new friends and seeing old friends. Watching their crazy silly shows that have come from their crazy silly brains, but most of all, genuinely really excited about showing Jill’s Tupperware Party to the people in Edinburgh! By the end of the festival we hope there will be an army of 'Jills' who will help us spread the word of Tupperware throughout the world! So come and join us - you’ll be ‘in the company of friends’! Jill's Tupperware Party runs from 5th to 30th August (excluding 17th and 24th) at Belly Laugh at Underbelly, Cowgate (Venue 61) as part of the Edinburgh Fringe. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com Immersive Rumours will be at the Edinburgh Fringe this August. See our pre-festival coverage here.

Photo: Sarah Shtern Lost in the middle of a desert rave, Daisy accidentally finds herself with the fate of humanity in her hands. Through an endless cycle of ridiculous disasters, battles, and impossible choices, the audience guides Daisy through a world that seems determined to destroy her. Don’t Kill Daisy is an interactive comedy adventure game that the audience co-constructs in real time. Inspired by roguelite video games, glitch aesthetics, nostalgia, and being chronically online, every performance unfolds differently based on how the audience plays. Each audience member chooses an object upon entering the show that helps them guide Daisy through a collapsing world that time loops back on itself. Beneath the playfulness and chaos, the show quietly explores what it means to experience catastrophe together: climate anxiety, digital overwhelm, and seeking comfort while trying to fix things as they fall apart. Don’t Kill Daisy had a sold-out run in Hollywood Fringe 2026, with press calling it “unforgettable, delightfully weird, and unlike anything else at Fringe” (Stage Takes) and “a masterclass in solo showmanship. . . an hour of pure, unadulterated joy” (Immersive Scene Los Angeles). Kohl was previously featured on BBC Scotland and No Proscenium for her unique immersive style that has been called “the best form of escapism” (Lost in Theatreland) and “a curious, thought-provoking journey laced with tons of dark humor” (Danielle Riha, No Proscenium) Soleil Kohl is a US-based experimental performing artist whose work spans immersive theatre, clown, absurdist satire, audiovisual collage, and interactive storytelling. Her work has been presented across the US and internationally. She has created and collaborated on several participatory theatre experiences, and leads the creation of several immersive satires: hyper-absurd worlds that heighten and question the archetypes of reality, while inviting audiences to play within them. Recent theatre credits include Sweet & Lucky: Echo with Third Rail Projects and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. With Don’t Kill Daisy, Kohl continues building interactive work that is as joyful and social as it is structurally inventive. Don't Kill Daisy runs at Studio at theSpace @ Niddry St (Venue 9) from 7th to 15th August, and theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall - Haldane Theatre (Venue 53) from 17th to 22nd August 2026. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com

Photo: Anna Rishik Leo Lion, an NYC game-theatre artist known for interactive/immersive experiences, returns to Edinburgh Fringe with the world premiere of I WAS NEVER HERE (THERE IS NO SPY SHOW). In a fusion of absurd clown and escape room, audiences must race against the clock to help a blundering sleeper agent recover his lost memories and save the world. An hour of retro thriller meets looney toons meets ASMR, jam-packed with bizarre and frenetic crowdwork, as an audience of initiate spies cracks codes, defuses doomsday devices, and tries to follow one simple rule: Don’t talk about spy show. Lion’s second EdFringe outing follows the 2025 hit run of HELP ME!!!! (AN INTERACTIVE MIME SEANCE), which earned rave reviews and went on to tour to 10+ US festivals and stages in NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, & more. Lion and his company Firebird are known for interactive, immersive, genre-bending works like Liar’s Night, Scandalton, Insomnia, KafkaTech, HELP ME!!!!, and more. This show is created with Matthew Schott, creator of Saga of the Shining Emblem and A Thousand Rainy Mornings. I WAS NEVER HERE runs at Studio at theSpace @ Niddry St (Venue 9) from 7th to 25th August 2026 at 22:20. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com

Do you want to train as a ninja? Enter the Dojo and train like a ninja in this high-energy, interactive comedy experience from the international hit BATSU! Image: BATSU! Presents GANBA!! Face Off Unlimited, the creators of the roaringly successful international comedy game show BATSU! debut GANBA!! - their high-energy interactive ninja training show for families at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe at Underbelly Bristo Square Friesian from 5th to 16th August. 'Ganba' (ガンバ) is an encouraging Japanese sentiment to never give up. And in this new adventure, families will have the opportunity to step into the dojo and become warriors together. The show reimagines BATSU!’s Japanese-inspired comedy experience for a new generation, inviting children and their grown-ups to become the heroes of their own ninja adventure. Through sword training, physical comedy, martial arts, water fights and audience participation, families discover the Japanese spirit of GANBA!!: encouraging one another…and never giving up! Created by Jay Painter, Joe Tex and Brian “Bu-Chan” Walters, GANBA!! invites families into the dojo for an action-packed ninja training adventure, filled with audience participation and larger-than-life characters. Young warriors will test their focus, agility, teamwork and courage through a series of hilarious challenges as they train to defeat the Batsu no Akuma (ie: the Spirit of Punishment). Together they’ll discover what it truly means to GANBA!!: to encourage one another and always go for it. Mariko Iwasa is Sensei Mariko, who will guide the trainees on their journey; Yurika Ono and Rina Maejima are Shinobi Yurika and Shinobi Rina, the brave ninjas assisting the adventurers; and Steve Zegers is Deshi Steve - the long-suffering apprentice. Brian “Bu-Chan” Walters is the voice of Batsu no Akuma. Brian “Bu-Chan” Walters, the co-creator of GANBA!! said: As a kid who grew up in Japan, GANBA!! is exactly the kind of show I wished I could’ve experienced. Learning simple Japanese phrases, practicing ninja moves, and embodying the spirit of never giving up; it’s a great way for families to gather in our BATSU!-do Dojo and learn to encourage one another! Jay Painter said: At it’s core, GANBA!! is about resilience. Many of us are parents - and we wanted to create a show that spoke to our kids and their every day life. Every challenge in the show teaches a different lesson about focus, teamwork, courage and perseverance. Encouraging them to reach higher. Support each other. Pushing each other on. We want everyone, kids, adults to leave laughing. Feeling good and feeling like they can tackle every single mountain they will face. Mariko Iwasa, the master of ceremonies for GANBA!! said: You will learn the meaning of GANBA!!. This is positive word. An encouraging word. It means, 'You got this!' or 'Go for it'. Get ready to GANBAAAA!! BATSU! Presents: GANBA!! runs at Friesian at Underbelly, Bristo Square (Venue 302) from 5th to 16th August at 11:05. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com

Photo: Arthur Comely Most of us are familiar with the feeling of nervous anticipation that comes ahead of a first date. The eagerness to make a good impression, the hope that you connect in real life, and the desire to finally delete the dating apps all make that initial meeting a daunting prospect, even for the most battle-hardened singletons. Table for Two, which has been created by Magic Circle member Jack Kenyon and his long-time partner, Isabelle Dooley-Carmichael, frames an hour of magic around those feelings as Kenyon attempts to right the wrongs of past relationships (all of which were documented by an ex in a national newspapers agony aunt column) while trying to impress his latest date, who is chosen at random from the audience and remains on stage for the show's duration. Featuring a mix of mentalism and sleight-of-hand tricks, Table for Two moves along at a brisk pace once Kenyon's date has been selected, with each illusion woven into a loose narrative surrounding the show's central premise. Drinks materialise out of thin air, the pair get to know each other better through acts of mentalism, and Kenyon's insistence on picking up the bill has banknotes transform in front of the audience's eyes. Alongside the on-stage participant, other audience members are recruited for tricks throughout, tasked with sketching their ideal first date, shuffling cards and noting down what the couple orders from an extensive menu throughout the show, which allows for those not on stage to still be involved, albeit to a lesser degree than the audience member on the date. It's all solidly performed, and Kenyon is clearly a dab hand when it comes to close-up magic. Still, on the night we attended, a few of the tricks didn't land and were abandoned midway through, and the show's on-stage participant was unsure of how to respond at certain points. That uncertainty created moments of genuine awkwardness which, while perhaps appropriate for a first date, didn't always feel intentional and occasionally interrupted the show's otherwise smooth rhythm. To Kenyon's credit, he took these stumbles in his stride and wasn't phased when things didn't go according to plan, but the decision to have the same audience member on stage for the show's duration does make Table for Two particularly vulnerable to the chemistry between performer and participant. While a confident, playful date has the potential to elevate the show considerably, a more reserved person may unintentionally dampen its momentum and stretch its premise. Table for Two is an inventive concept that successfully blends close-up magic with the optimism of modern dating, and Kenyon has the charisma and technical skill to make much of it work. While it highlights the challenges of building a show around audience participation, there's enough charm, originality and impressive sleight-of-hand here to make for an enjoyable show, even if it never quite pulls off being something truly spectacular. ★★★ [Tickets gifted in exchange for an honest review] Reviewed at The Glitch in London at a WIP performance. Jack Kenyon Magic's Table for Two runs at Haldane Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall (Venue 53) until 29th August 2026 at 21:40. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com

Ontroerend Goed isn’t coming this year. But their box will be there. Their audience takes the stage in Handle with Care. Photo: Joëlle Desmet Eight-time Fringe First winners Ontroerend Goed return to the Fringe this August. Only this time, they won’t be present. Handle with Care is a show in a box that is entirely performed by the audience. No actors, no technicians – just a box, and you. The show started from two questions: How do you connect with people you will never meet, and how can we care for those who come after us? Ontroerend Goed guides the audience through the performance with instructions, letters, questions, and objects. Don’t expect pre-made scenes or a script that precisely dictates when to enter and exit. The performance emerges from the personal input of the audience and is therefore unique each time. Handle with Care has been touring since October 2025, and has since been unboxed and performed over 230 times, in 10 languages and in 16 different countries. Director Alexander Devriendt said: This project is part of a trilogy that I call 'An Hour Spent With Others'. After Funeral, where we explore new mourning rituals, and Thanks for Being Here, an ode to the audience, we entrust the entire performance to the spectators in Handle with Care. This time we fully embrace the collective aspect of that experience: the communal, the connection. And it's wonderful that there's no one there to see it, except the audience themselves. 
Belgian theatre-performance-group Ontroerend Goed has established a long track record at Edinburgh Fringe. After their international breakthrough with The Smile Off Your Face in 2007, they have been awarded several Fringe First, Herald Angel and Total Theatre Awards. With their often immersive performances, they invite the audience not only to watch but also to become part of the show: spectators as voters who eliminate actors, one-on-one theatre, the audience at the controls of the financial system, or now as main characters in a show in a box. Ontroerend Goed constantly seeks unpredictability, in form and content. Ontroerend Goed tours worldwide and creates remakes of their productions in other languages: versions exist in French, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Kazakh, among others. Over the past 25 years, the company has been awarded numerous prizes at national and international festivals. Ontroerend Goed's Handle with Care runs at Studio at ZOO Southside (Venue 82) from 24th to 30th August 2026 at 13:30. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com

Photo: Outernet Today, a free immersive experience launches at Outernet London in Tottenham Court Road, offering families, office-goers, and visitors a moment of escapism in the heart of the city. Chromatic States uses colour, space, sound and shapes to explore how colour is more than what we see, it is something we feel. Created by global experience studio Pixel Artworks, who work on London's New Year’s Eve spectacle, the experience will be open every day during lunchtimes (12-1pm) throughout the summer holidays and welcomes all ages. Visitors can drop in for free, with no need to book. Set across Outernet’s Now Trending and Arcade spaces, Chromatic States surrounds audiences with visuals, motion and an evolving soundscape to guide people through three distinct emotional states: Tension, Float and Wonder. Photo: Outernet Behavioural Scientist and Author, Patrick Fagan, commented on the immersive experience: The senses have a profound effect on our emotional state - to the point that they are almost one and the same. Psychological research has proven this for decades - whether it's lavender scents making people calmer in dentist's waiting rooms or a domineering red sports kit, making teams more likely to be successful. Colour and sound affect our physiological state, prime certain thoughts and memories, and tap into our deep shared subconscious. This is what makes Chromatic States so powerful: it allows people to step right inside an emotion. The experience is intended as a short, free escape from the rush of central London, giving visitors the chance to step inside a world of colour during their lunch break or summer day out. The experience was inspired by artists such as James Turrell, who is considered the ‘master of light’. His work explores light as both a physical and emotional medium, as Chromatic States does. Photo: Outernet Marta Marinho, Creative Director at Pixel Artworks, comments: Colour has the ability to change how we feel without us even noticing. With Chromatic States, we wanted to create an experience where light, colour, sound and movement work together to guide people through different emotional states. Rather than telling a story, it invites every visitor to feel their own. Jessica Dracup-Holland, CMO at Outernet said: Pixel Artworks were one of the first creative companies we partnered with, and this latest experience is beautiful. They share our understanding that to make something truly immersive, you have to tell a story and connect with people's emotions. Chromatic States does that perfectly, and we are very proud to be showing it across our immense screens. Chromatic States runs at Outernet opposite Tottenham Court Road station every day between 12pm and 1pm. For more information, visit outernet.com

Photo: Jon Street Alistair Aitcheson's My Date with Pierce Brosnan, which comes to the Edinburgh Fringe this August, is an interactive comedy that blends drag, clowning and video game technology. In the show, French maid Mademoiselle Cafetière comes face to face with the man of their dreams: Hollywood actor Pierce Brosnan. By scanning a QR code on their phones, audience members help build Cafetière's dating profile, place orders at her café, and give the lifeless dummy of Pierce Brosnan a personality through voice through a text-to-speech system. Ahead of its Edinburgh Fringe run, we caught up with Alistair to talk about wild audience interactions, the joy of embracing unpredictability and their highlights from previous years at the festival. Immersive Rumours: Hi Alistair. Thanks for speaking with us today! Your interactive show, My Date with Pierce Brosnan, is coming to the Edinburgh Fringe this August. For anyone unfamiliar with the show, what can audiences expect, and what role do they play within it? Alistair Aitcheson: I play Mademoiselle Cafetière, the loneliest maid in Paris, and it so happens, also a clown. Through a series of events, she ends up on a date with a talking dummy of Pierce Brosnan, which is controlled by the audience. At the start of the show, everyone scans a QR code, which takes them to a website where they can type in what they want Pierce Brosnan to say. When their message is submitted, it plays out aloud over the speakers, and I, as Mademoiselle Cafetière, respond in real-time to my talking celebrity lover. The whole show is about 50 minutes long, and in that time, you get to be part of the full story of Cafetière's lonely life in her cafe. You pretend to be the customers and order what you’d like brought to your seat. You write my dating profile. You write what Pierce Brosnan says and does on our date. Plus, there's also a big musical finale in which I improvise a song about our romantic honeymoon to destinations of your invention. Immersive Rumours: How did My Date with Pierce Brosnan first come about? Was there a particular idea or theme that you wanted to explore with the piece? Alistair Aitcheson: It all began with a livestream. I used to do these art-making livestreams where I’d get viewers to direct me to make paintings and dance routines, and I wanted to bring my love of clowning into that space. I turned my flat into a cafe, and the character of Cafetière emerged during the stream. Soon I was sending her on dates with imaginary suitors on the other side of the camera, collectively voiced by the viewers. I loved doing the streams and thought that I could turn it into a 10-minute act that I could take to a drag night. The dummy of Pierce Brosnan came in to act as an audience surrogate now that the camera wasn’t there. People loved that act and very quickly found ways to push the limits of what was possible with it and what they could provoke me into doing on stage. I found it all very exciting. Love and heartbreak are juicy high-stakes themes for me as a clown! I loved the big, dramatic situations Cafetière would end up in, and I wanted to know what sides of her we’d discover if I let the audience spend a bit longer with her. Photo: Filiz Moore Immersive Rumours: What do you enjoy most about the unpredictability of the show, and how do you handle it when the audience takes things in a completely unexpected direction? Alistair Aitcheson: The audience will always type things that surprise me. Pierce Brosnan will say things I can’t see coming, and the audience gets to see my genuine surprise as I'm wrong-footed by it and then see how I interpret it. Sometimes I’ll be really quick and respond with something clever that gets a big laugh. Sometimes I might struggle to respond, and I might really be floored by what you get him to say. That's also a funny moment because you get to feel the pride of being the one person in this room who managed to upstage the clown! I've done this show many, many times now, and Pierce Brosnan still asks to do things he's never asked to before. I think that's why I love doing the show so much. It really is a different show every night, even for me, and I have a lot of fun discovering where the audience is going to take us. Immersive Rumours: Alongside the unpredictable moments where the audience drives what’s happening, the show is structured to have four distinct acts. How do you balance those two elements? Alistair Aitcheson: You’re right in that the main story beats of the show are baked in. The show has a voiceover of Cafetière’s fairy godmother. She’s the one who adds Cafetière to the dating app. She’s the one who brings the dummy of Pierce Brosnan to life. She’s the one who pronounces them married and sends them away on honeymoon. In a way, the show has licence to go off in some weird, unpredictable direction precisely because the pre-baked story beats can try to bring it back somewhere rational. But if the audience is collectively fighting to reject the pre-baked story beats, it all gets beautifully rebellious! Let’s say Pierce Brosnan and Cafetière hate each other during the date. Well, the fairy godmother will send the two on a honeymoon anyway, and now the show takes a darker turn, and I can really play up the melodrama. One time, he died during dinner, and the show ended with Cafetière taking this lifeless dummy away on honeymoon and singing about what might have been. Photo: Filiz Moore Immersive Rumours: Have there been any particularly memorable shows or audience interactions that took the show in directions you never anticipated? Alistair Aitcheson: In one show, I had multiple audience members let me put my hand in their mouth and feel around their teeth for bits of food. Immersive Rumours: I was not expecting that to be the answer… Alistair Aitcheson: Yeah. I wasn't expecting that either. It came up as an order in the cafe, to be sent to these two people in the front row. I don’t think they’d typed it in, and I was fully expecting them to say no. So I asked, 'May I put my hand in your mouth?’ and they said yes and opened their mouths wide expectantly. So in pops my hand, and I ask, 'Can I pick out the bits of food?’ They laughed and nodded - turns out they were really up for it! The funny thing was, there was an audience member who’d said on the way in that he was afraid of clowns, and I told him, ‘That’s okay; don’t worry. I won’t pick on you.' But in this moment, I was filled with curiosity, and I wanted to see what would happen. So I turned to him and said, ‘You want in on this action?'. He opened his mouth wide and nodded his head like, ‘Come on in!' Immersive Rumours: Are there still elements of the show that you’re still tweaking and changing with each new performance? Alistair Aitcheson: Something that I’ve found has worked very well recently is having Cafetière be very gentle - at least at the start of the show. In earlier performances, I really enjoyed letting her be a bit more stroppy and grumpy with the audience. Those moments got good, big laughs, but for the beginning of the show, people need to feel welcome and comfortable in the space. Even if you’re not afraid of clowns, the idea of being sat in a tiny room with this very strange figure and asked to bear witness to her celebrity dream date… well, that can be quite intimidating. The audience isn’t keen to explore when they feel intimidated. So before the show starts, I’m now out in the bar mingling with people in character so they can get used to the idea that Mademoiselle Cafetière is approachable and kind, and she’ll go along with anything out of sheer curiosity. In that safe space before the show starts, they’re getting a pocket-sized version of how to interact with the show. If, as the show goes on, she becomes a little combative with the audience, the audience is on board with it because they know that she’s fun and sweet and on their side. Deep down, they’ve built some kind of connection, so they trust that this combativeness is a safe form of play – a provocation to take a few more risks. Photo: John Kolikis Immersive Rumours: You’ve previously attended the Edinburgh Fringe. What have been some of the highlights from when you’ve attended before? Alistair Aitcheson: I’ve got two shows that jump out at me. One of them was called The Ceremony, and it was by Australian comedian Ben Volchok. During the show, Ben never says a thing, but it was a show full of dialogue. Somehow, just through wordless interactions with the audience, he became able to conduct us to say aloud all the dialogue of the show, and we ended up creating a PowerPoint presentation with him, on his computer, about what The Ceremony is. It was so imaginative. As a performer, his ability to make that connection with the audience, to get to the point where the entire room is playing this game with him, where they’re constructing the show with him, was magical. Another show which I absolutely loved was called Spuds, and it was two guys dressed in potato costumes. They’re performing at the same time as me at the Free Fringe, so from a strategic perspective, I shouldn’t be shouting them out, but they are so bloody good. You have to go and see Spuds! When I saw them, they were performing in this tiny little venue with about 30 seats. The premise was that these potatoes were supposed to be running a TV shopping channel, but because of how big their costumes were and how many props they had on stage, they were constantly tripping over stuff and bumping into stuff, and it was flying everywhere. They’re trying to keep the show together despite having set up a situation where they are genuinely going to keep breaking the stage apart, and it was beautiful. This is exactly the kind of clowning I love! I feel like there’s a tendency in some acts to go onto a stage and want everything to be perfect, everything to be controlled, and to be able to guarantee that it'll be the same every night. Yet Spuds were so happy to set up a situation where things would go wrong in ways they couldn't see coming, and they would respond to that in the moment. You can see in their eyes that they’re genuinely surprised that their scene partner has tripped over the tripod and gone sailing into the wall. They were absolutely brilliant, and it was just this wonderfully playful and totally chaotic thing. Immersive Rumours: Finally, how are you feeling ahead of taking the show to Edinburgh, and what are you most looking forward to during this year's festival? Alistair Aitcheson: I’m nervous and scared, but in a good way. I think you have to be a little nervous, and if it’s not scary, it’s not worth doing. There are going to be difficulties and challenges that I could not have anticipated, but everything that I've learnt as a clown is true for real life as well. In the moments where you can't see what's coming, you have to adapt and learn on the fly. That’s where you find magic. Finding something scary and doing it anyway is what’s led to a lot of the work that I'm proudest of. Of all the games I’ve made and shows I’ve put on, my favourites all emerged because I took a risk. Let’s find out what wrongfoots me, and let’s find out what beautiful solution emerges that turns it into an even better show. My Date with Pierce Brosnan runs from 16th to 30th August at Front Room at Nineties at Laughing Horse @ City Cafe (Venue 85) as part of the Edinburgh Fringe. For more information, visit edfringe.com Immersive Rumours will be at the Edinburgh Fringe this August. See our pre-festival coverage here.

This interactive game show experience puts teams centre stage, but it falls short of delivering a memorable time for those behind the podiums. Photo: BuzzAttack/Fever BuzzAttack is an interactive game show experience inspired by the likes of The Price Is Right, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. Across 60 minutes, groups of up to 12 people compete against each other across ten rounds of multiple-choice questions and mini-games in a TV studio-inspired set, complete with a large spinning wheel, smoke machines, and dynamic lighting. The experience, which is produced by Fever in collaboration with Bombastik and Inventive Productions, has already seen successful debuts in Madrid and Lille and is the latest in a string of competitive gaming experiences to open in London in the last couple of years, alongside the likes of Prison Island, Enigma Quest's Escape Arcade and Boom Lab. Photo: BuzzAttack/Fever The experience begins with groups checking in at the venue's reception, which is designed to resemble the backstage of a TV studio, complete with colour bar walls and video feeds from inside each of the experience's four studios. Each player (or small group, depending on the number of people booked into a session) registers on a tablet and selects three specialist categories from an impressively large list, all of which will feature during the game. With the list of categories ranging from the broad (2000s Movies, Pop Music, and Rock Bands) to the niche (French Fashion Houses, Minecraft and Roblox, and Prehistoric Life), there's enough choice to cater to basically everyone's skillset, even if your Mastermind specialist subject would likely be '2020s Internet Culture' or 'Obscure Harry Potter characters'. With everyone signed in and the session's total of twelve specialist categories chosen, groups are ushered into their studio. Before the lights come up and the game is 'on air', there's a fairly long pre-recorded video from an unnamed woman surrounded by sound mixers, who monologues about the impact nerves can have on the human body and attempts to lead everyone in a rendition of Seven Nation Army as a vocal warm-up. If we had to guess, we'd say that she's meant to be the studio's sound engineer, but it's pretty irrelevant, as she never appears again and is quickly replaced by the game's host - an unnamed AI voice - who guides groups through the remainder of the experience. Photo: BuzzAttack/Fever From here on out, the experience unfolds through a series of quiz rounds, all of which are presented in a different format but follow the same basic structure - teams earn points for correct answers, with the fastest to answer typically scoring more and those slower to lock in an answer receiving fewer points. The opening round, Quiz Time, Old Bean, is made up of general knowledge questions covering everything from geography and films to music and languages, while Pick & Mix Quiz gives teams the chance to pick questions of increasing difficulty from everyone's specialist categories. Wipeout allows teams to rack up points by maintaining a streak of correct answers (though they'll lose them all if they answer incorrectly), and Noughts and Crosses has teams working together to beat the opposing teams in a round based on the pencil and paper game. Closing things out, Read the Room requires teams to disregard their personal opinions and vote for what they think the most popular answer within the session will be. It may be down to the specialist categories chosen by the rest of our group, but nearly every question that came up during our play-through of BuzzAttack was easy to answer, and the experience was rarely challenging in the same way that any random pub quiz is. Because of this, the scores in each round were largely dictated by whoever locked in their answer first, meaning teams have to be correct and fast to get ahead. Photo: BuzzAttack/Fever Alongside the multiple-choice-based question rounds, BuzzAttack also features several arcade-style minigames, which are played at the podiums. Top Card and Odd One Out both require fast reactions, with teams needing to select either the highest value card or the card with a difference as fast as possible. Bash the Alien is a whack-a-mole-style game, with points awarded for each alien figure hit, and Simon Says asks teams to remember and repeat an ever-increasing sequence of button presses. The final minigame, which plays out throughout the hour-long experience, involves the roulette-style spinning wheel in the centre of the studio, which either rewards or punishes teams when their turn comes around in between the main rounds. For the most part, the wedges of the wheel contain rewards, such as additional points or the ability to steal points from other teams, but it can also be pretty punishing, with teams potentially forfeiting half of their overall points if luck isn't on their side. In an ideal world, every team would get an equal number of spins, but the logic behind which teams are given multiple goes is a little unclear, and during our visit, not all teams got a second chance to spin, which unevenly impacted the final scores. Photo: BuzzAttack/Fever Given that the experience is designed to emulate the experience of being on a television show, there's a surprising lack of cameras and live video footage throughout BuzzAttack. The central screens display the questions and explain the rules to each round, but there's very little shown on them to give the impression that BuzzAttack could be an actual shiny-floor TV show. This issue is exacerbated by the show's AI host, who doesn't react to anything that happens in the studio and rigidly sticks to the experience's pre-written script, removing any possibility for spontaneity, banter and connection between the host and the contestants. We'd have loved to see some cameras scattered around the studio, capturing which wedge the wheel lands on and players' reactions, and a human host who's able to respond to the game in the moment, as they'd have injected some much-needed energy into the game and have helped sell the illusion that BuzzAttack is a real TV show. Photo: BuzzAttack/Fever Despite an entertaining premise, BuzzAttack never quite manages to generate the excitement needed to make its game show format feel truly engaging. While an energetic group of friends could certainly create plenty of their own fun while playing BuzzAttack, the experience relies too heavily on players to provide that energy rather than delivering it through the gameplay. With more challenging questions, a scoring system that leans a bit less on luck and a human host capable of reacting to the action as it unfolds, BuzzAttack could likely capture the energy and unpredictability of a real television game show, but as it stands, it doesn't deliver on the fantasy of stepping up to the podium. ★★★ [Tickets gifted in exchange for an honest review] BuzzAttack runs at the Rosewood Building near Hoxton Station. Tickets are priced from £16.90 per person. For more information and to book tickets, visit feverup.com

Photo: Amanda Gostomski 404 Theater's DeepFake, which comes to Edinburgh Fringe this August, is an immersive show designed to be experienced by only one audience member at a time. Those who attend are thrown into the deep end of a virtual call, in which they have to argue their case for whether or not their fictional employer should launch a new AI software in the coming days. The show was described by No Proscenium as 'required viewing' and featured it as one of their Best Shows & Experiences of 2025. Ahead of its Edinburgh Fringe run, we caught up with the show's creators, Grace Goheen and Minh-Anh Day, to talk about the rapid rise of deepfake technology, why the show could only ever have been an immersive experience for one audience member at a time, and their highlights from previous years at the festival. This interview contains spoilers for DeepFake. If you're planning on seeing the show, we recommend returning once you've attended. Immersive Rumours: Hi Minh-Anh! Hi Grace! Thanks for speaking with us today. Your show DeepFake is heading to Edinburgh Fringe this August. What can audiences expect from it, and what makes it distinct from other shows they'll encounter at the festival? Grace Goheen: The biggest thing you need to know is that you are the only audience member for the show. You play the role of Alex Doe, who's the head of Public Relations at a big tech company that's thinking about launching a deepfake product, and you're put in the driver's seat of what it would be like to be at a tech company making these big, impactful decisions. We say it's part puzzle room because during the show, you get an opportunity to explore your environment and look through documents and memos around your office space. You also speak directly with your coworkers who are joining via Zoom calls, engage with the questions posed by deepfake technology in your capacity as head of PR, and see some of that technology play out during the show. Minh-Anh Day: The other thing I'll say is that there's no wrong way to play the show. There are people who come in, and they have a clear idea of who Alex Doe is - they're referencing co-workers that they know, and they're having tons of fun playing that, and then there are people who come in and say, ‘I'm Alex Doe, but I basically have the same opinions that I, as an audience member, already had.' Both of them are beautiful. Immersive Rumours: How did your company, 404 Theater, first come to be? Grace Goheen: The basis of 404 Theater came from Minh-Anh and me seeing a lot of theater where technology was an add-on to the experience, but not deeply and fully integrated into the narrative and the performance. Given that Minh-Anh and I both have backgrounds in tech - I work as a product manager at a data company, and Minh-Anh is a software engineer at a security startup - we wanted to bring the rapid innovation that was happening in the tech world, which we were seeing at our day jobs, into the theater space. Not just as an add-on to a show, but in the right format, which meant it felt like an integrated experience for audiences. Photo: Amanda Gostomski Immersive Rumours: And how did DeepFake first come about? Was there a particular news story or question around the technology that inspired the show? Grace Goheen: I think the biggest thing we were seeing was this rapid shift in deepfake technology. It's existed for quite some time, but it got really fast and really accessible really quickly. We wanted to use the show as an opportunity to push the limits of how fast and accessible this technology is for people. We were also alarmed by how easy it is to spin this stuff up and how little source material you need to make convincing deepfakes, so we wanted to build a show that spoke to that reality. Immersive Rumours: Was there anything that surprised either of you as you were putting the show together? Grace Goheen: As we were preparing for our first run at the Denver Fringe, we wanted to leave people with a souvenir from the show. The thing they walk away with is essentially a check to ‘pay’ them for their time. On the back, we wanted to have a little write-up on some of the laws surrounding deepfake technology in Denver. That was actually one of the most frightening experiences for me working on the show. Learning that not only was this stuff incredibly easy to use, accessible and pretty cheap, but also that there aren't really any laws surrounding it. We’ve been running this show for more than a year now, and the legal situation hasn’t really changed. Minh-Anh Day: By contrast, we've updated the materials that you look through as the Head of PR constantly, because new articles are coming out and new people are releasing products that are in this zone, so there's this really stark contrast between the speed of law and the speed of tech that’s visible in the way that we have to update the show, month by month. Immersive Rumours: Are you worried that at some point, the law will finally catch up and it’ll make staging DeepFake harder? Minh-Anh Day: We haven’t come up against that roadblock yet, and from what we’ve looked into it for the US, it would probably be fine, even in states with a deepfake law, because art is protected speech in the US, so it’d probably be a case of us saying, ‘Okay, we are doing something illegal in a sense, but it’s within the confines of an artistic show.’ That being said, when it comes up, which hopefully at some point it will, we’ll be speaking with a lawyer. Photo: Amanda Gostomski Immersive Rumours: Did you know from the beginning that DeepFake had to be presented as an immersive, one-on-one experience? Grace Goheen: Absolutely. I think people sometimes assume we’re a company that only makes immersive theatre, but we're really just interested in picking the right medium for the technology that we want to talk about. I can't imagine a version of the show that's not immersive. It’s a completely different experience to see a play about deepfake technology or watch a TikTok about how someone’s grandma got scammed because of a deepfake than it is to see it happen to you. There’s no world where this wasn't a one-on-one experience where you were the sole participant and seeing the actual technology being used against your own face and your own body. Immersive Rumours: What kinds of reactions did you get during early performances of the show, and how has that changed how you now present the work? Grace Goheen: The very first person we ever showed this to was a friend of ours named Katie, who screamed at the top of her lungs and frantically tried to attack the computer. That was really informative and helped us create a much safer environment for someone to experience the show in, because even though it’s deeply impactful and emotional, we also don't want people to feel totally frightened. We've changed a lot about the show since then. We created the role of Alex Doe for you to step into rather than playing yourself. We have a lot of signage letting you know what you're getting yourself into so that you're prepared for the experience. I would say 80 to 90 percent of our audience members end up laughing now, and it's this sick, delighted kind of laughter. Minh-Anh Day: I will certainly reinforce that we had a concern of ‘Are we going to really freak people out in a way that we don't agree with?’ Neither of us is really interested in making the kind of theater that is destroying the audience. Grace has done a lot of work on making the immersive part of the experience feel like something that audiences can really sink into and play the role to the fullest without fear. Grace Goheen: I think one of the coolest things about this show is that most people who see it walk out and want to talk to whoever's playing the receptionist for the next 30 minutes about the show. People often email us or message us on Instagram days later and say, 'I'm still thinking about this’ and ‘I told my parents about this.' The lasting effect of having an experience where you’re engaging with content about the technology that maybe you haven't looked into deeply before, coupled with the really emotional high that happens during the show, I think, leads to a place where it really sticks in people's minds and hearts. That feels so important to me because this is not an experience you can get in non-immersive theater. Photo: Amanda Gostomski Immersive Rumours: You’ve both been to Edinburgh Fringe as visitors before. What have been some of your highlights from when you’ve attended previously? Minh-Anh Day: Our experience of the Fringe has been that every year we discover a totally new genre and get to see something totally incredible in that genre. Two stummers ago, it was clown, and we really hadn't seen modern clown very much before. We loved [Lil Wenker’s] Bangtail. We loved Stamptown. There was a lot of really amazing modern clown work, and we didn't know that some of these things were possible. Grace Goheen: Last year, a big addition for us was circus. We'd never experienced modern circus, and there were some really incredible performances. We saw Sophie's Surprise 29th, and I was like, ‘I didn't know circus could be so silly and fun and delightful and hilarious.’ The Fringe has helped expose us to all the genres that are out there and helped us bring that back to our own work, especially if we're in the nature of looking at a piece of technology and thinking about what’s the right narrative or format for it. We're totally inspired by all the different forms that we see at the Fringe and are bringing that back into our own work. Immersive Rumours: And finally, how are you feeling ahead of your month-long run at the Fringe with DeepFake? Minh-Anh Day: I’m really excited. The longest run we’ve done with DeepFake so far is five days, and I’m so excited to be in a situation where we get to do several hours of this show every day and then go see shows at the Fringe, which is my favorite thing to do every year. To be part of that mix is a really special thing. Grace Goheen: Another thing that's going to be very cool about being there all month is getting to tap into the community that is also there as performers and artists bringing their shows to the Fringe. Specifically in the immersive space, there’s so much connective tissue because we're all looking for slightly odd spaces and all trying to get similar types of audience members. I'm just really excited to meet a lot of people and connect with folks. 404 Theater's DeepFake runs from 6th to 30th August (excluding 10th, 17th, 24th) at Top Belly at Underbelly, Cowgate (Venue 61) as part of the Edinburgh Fringe. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com Immersive Rumours will be at the Edinburgh Fringe this August. See our pre-festival coverage here.

Photo: TomYumSim/Croydonites Back in 2024, the immersive industry was dragged over the coals when a short-lived immersive experience based on Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory opened in Glasgow and was met with widespread ridicule. Years earlier, the disastrous Fyre Festival prompted a similar reaction, spawning countless memes and several documentaries recounting how it went up in flames. These infamous failures serve as the inspiration for TomYumSim's Trainwreck, a satirical immersive experience exploring what happens when you outsource creativity and decision-making to AI and how hyperbolic marketing can lead to experiences overpromising and underdelivering. Ahead of the show's scheduled arrival at Shoreditch Town Hall, we spoke with one half of TomYumSim, Simone French, to discuss how viral failures inspired the show's creation, why audience participation is central to the experience, and why AI can never replace human performers. Immersive Rumours: Hi Simone! Thanks for speaking with us today. Can you introduce yourself and tell us about TomYumSim’s approach to making theatre? Simone French: Absolutely. My name is Simone French. I'm one half of TomYumSim Theatre Company alongside Tom Halls, and we've been making work together for 10 years now. We're both Australian and moved over to the UK at a similar time, and we’ve been working in the UK for seven years. Our approach to making work is very collaborative, and we have always been drawn to making interactive work. Our show A Suffocating Choking Feeling, which I perform in and Tom directed, uses social media and has the audience watching a livestream on stage that they can interact with. We made a show called Hotline, where people phoned us and got a one-on-one experience over the phone, which we tailored based on the menu the audience selected. We also made an immersive musical in Manchester where the audience drew on a long canvas, and we improvised music based on their graphic scores. Everything we’ve done, including Trainwreck - our most recent immersive piece - has an interactive element to it. That’s always been our modus operandi. Trainwreck has had many developments, and it's been a really fun chance to make the show collaboratively with Sven Ironside, whose bold creativity, playfulness and instinctive improv skills as a creator and performer have been perfect for bringing Trainwreck to life. Immersive Rumours: And what is it about creating immersive and interactive work that you find so appealing? Simone French: The main reason is that I’m so excited by the liveness, the interactivity, and being able to properly connect with our audiences. I find that really exciting and a little bit risky, and it’s a chance to see first-hand what's working and what's not and be really responsive. While it’s Tom and Sim that make up the name TomYumSim, it’s our collaborators Sven Ironside, Damian Bemben, Rob Smith, Paula Varjack, Ruta Irbite, Barry Fitzgerald, mentoring from Louise Mari & our audience that make up the Yum. They’re the middle of the sandwich, and we are the bread on either side. Immersive Rumours: For those who haven’t seen Trainwreck, how would you describe it to those who haven’t experienced it? Simone French: It's a wild ride set onboard a train that’s attempting to take the audience to a destination of their dreams. They get to decide where the train is going and make suggestions about what might happen on the train, and we, as the facilitators of Trainwreck, have to make that come to life. It's inspired by the viral Willy’s Chocolate Experience that happened in Glasgow back in 2024 and how it became an absolute flop of a show. I'm fascinated by failure and how things like that could have gotten to the point where they had to close within four hours of opening! I really wanted to understand what the key elements of its failure were. The show's creator had written the show with AI and also used AI for the marketing and set design, so I became really intrigued to see if using AI throughout the creative process is becoming the norm. In Trainwreck, the audience has to muck in to help keep the train on track as we use AI to help generate the script, music & train stops. It’s part of an attempt to see if it can be used practically or if it ends up contributing to the experience becoming a trainwreck. Photo: TomYumSim/Croydonites Immersive Rumours: We hopped on board Trainwreck when it was a part of Voidspace Live last month, so we know first-hand that it’s a pretty chaotic experience, but one that’s a huge amount of fun. Simone French: Yeah. It's a very fun and playful experience. We've had so many people say that, unlike other immersive shows where they often feel like observers, Trainwreck gives them a real role to play. There's a strong sense of collective collaboration, with everyone chipping in to keep the experience afloat. Audiences naturally want to help because they feel their participation genuinely matters. Immersive theatre can allow you to escape in a really beautiful way, and if it's really high budget, you can get lost in the world, but sometimes a lot of effort has gone into the design, and the experience is empty. With Trainwreck, it’s a question of can we still have that magic, that sense of collective play, and that cheekiness while knowing that I’m holding a paper fan to try and cool down the train while Sven is running back and forth on the other side of a window with a cardboard cutout of a tree to show the train moving. We're deliberately making it feel as though the audience has been thrown into a production that isn't ready yet, run by a corporate company that's only interested in ticket sales and has left the actors to fend for themselves. By keeping everything DIY and requiring the audience to help us, the show retains a playful sense of joy that undercuts the commercialisation of the immersive theatre industry. Immersive Rumours: Am I right in thinking you’ve also got experience of working on an immersive show that didn’t go to plan and ended up being Wonka-esque? Simone French: Yeah. It was called Escape of the Werewolf, and it was Melbourne's first scare experience. The plan was that it would tour all around Australia. They had a great website, and it sold out before they even made the show. In the end, it closed two hours after opening on the first night. Basically, nothing was finished. It was meant to be like an escape room, but you’re being chased by a werewolf. None of the doors locked, and half of the costume didn’t arrive for the werewolf, so it was just a werewolf mask and a human body. Rehearsals were very loose, the set was dismal, and everyone was so underprepared. The experience was meant to last an hour, but it only ended up running for 20 minutes, so the audience was understandably furious. As actors, we knew things weren't right, but there was already a queue of people waiting outside for the next session. Of course, fingers were pointed at the performers, and morale among the cast was awful. Who ends up taking the brunt when things flop? It’s the performers! That’s something we really connected with when the Willy Wonka experience happened in Glasgow. The producers and directors might be harder to find as they’re all doing logistical things out of sight, so of course, it’s the actors who have to field the complaints and the anger. I’ve done some other immersive experiences in my time, and sometimes the rehearsal process hasn’t been the best supported, but if it goes well, it’s often just because of the synergy between the cast, and they’re good at problem-solving on the fly. In one show I did, there were multiple things happening at once, but there were so many one-to-ones happening that a lot of people were just standing around waiting. I ended up gathering everyone together and started doing a Simon Says dance number while catwalking around the room. It ended up being a really joyous and amazing group experience, but it wasn’t planned. I feel like sometimes you can save something as a performer, but if the audience is dissatisfied, you end up bearing the brunt in the moment. Photo: TomYumSim/Croydonites Immersive Rumours: It sounds like a lot of those experiences have translated into Trainwreck in various forms, and you’re working through the trauma of being in those tough situations. Simone French: Yeah, it’s the trauma of working on those shows and wondering if those shows had a more detailed creative approach and better preparation, would they have worked? There's also the question of how many frills you actually need for something to feel magical. For me, it's the performers who create that magic. It comes from everyone sharing the same artistic vision, understanding what we're all working towards, and taking a genuine interest in the audience's experience. Years ago, Tom and I made a show in Melbourne called SALIGIA, which was a cult-based piece about Scientology we made alongside a load of other collaborators, and that had masks that were blotted out so you couldn’t see anything. In the show, we gave people tasks like trying to find keys to open these doors with blindfolds on, and if they were willing to give themselves over and confess things, they’d get rewarded in a Scientology-like way of the more you give, the more you get. Once we took away their sight, it became a very exciting experience. You don't always need elaborate spectacle to create impact. The question for us is: can we capture that magical feeling the first time we encountered immersive theatre and distil it into something the audience can genuinely feel. Immersive Rumours: Every time you’ve staged Trainwreck, elements of the show change depending on the venue. How does the show change when you bring it to a new space, and what can audiences expect from the Shoreditch Town Hall version? Simone French: That’s a really great question, because Sven & I are adapting the show again for Shoreditch Town Hall, this time using more live AI and us operating the tech. Damian Bemben, our creative technologist, is also updating the AI-generated personalised videos & software for us for each show. Plus, the destinations of the train are bespoke to each show, either decided by the audience or the AI. All of that is consistent regardless of where the show is performed, but the aesthetic shifts each time, which has been really fun. For the show to keep evolving, we need to respond to the building and the aesthetic of it and lean into what’s already in the space. The journey we take the audience on to get into the building changes with each new venue, depending on what’s in the nearby area, and that can be either indoors or outdoors. The aesthetic of the train and the energy of it change a lot, too. For Croydonites, it was meant to be a slick, modern Eurostar-style train, whereas for Voidspace Live, it was more of an old commuter train with no Wi-Fi and nowhere to charge your phone because we were performing in essentially an office space with fluorescent lights. I think Shoreditch Town Hall will be our most detailed version yet. The venue has got this beautiful Victorian servants' quarters where the chancellors would have their meals prepared, and it’s a heritage-listed building, so we’re going to adapt all of the in-world material to have more of an older-world train feel with our designer Rob Smith’s help. Immersive Rumours: The group of passengers for each show has quite a large impact on the trajectory of how things unfold. What have you learned from having different audiences throughout each iteration of the show? Simone French: You’re right in that the audience has a huge impact. When we did the show at Croydonites Festival, one of the shows was for young people from the Croydon Youth Theatre Organisation there, and for many, it was their first time seeing immersive theatre. They were amazing; they were so on board and so open to playing. Plus, it was exciting for them to see a train world being built inside a venue they were used to rehearsing in every Saturday. A familiar space was transformed into something completely different and magical. What's also been really fun is when audiences come in completely blind, with no knowledge of the Glasgow Willy Wonka experience, and you hear them asking, 'Is this meant to be happening?' At the Croydonites Theatre Festival, I was running around handing out snacks inspired by Willy's Chocolate Experience. I was splitting pieces of popcorn in half and giving half a kernel to one person and the other half to someone else. You could see the confusion on people's faces as they thought, 'What's going on? She doesn't even have enough popcorn'. That's exactly what we wanted. Because they don't know whether it's a mistake or part of the show, they end up going on a much bigger journey as everything gradually reveals itself and the show becomes more immersive. If we can get to the point where audiences arrive with a completely blank slate and still have fun and fully embrace the ride, then I think we've achieved something really special. Image: TomYumSim Immersive Rumours: It seems like the show’s stance on AI is that it can’t ever replace human creativity. Is that a fair reading of the show’s opinion? Simone French: My feelings on AI are that without live performance, the liveness of us as Sven and Simone, and the audience being part of the experience too, there isn’t anything there. There’s no show. AI can speak and create imagery and songs, but without our interaction with it, the magic of live performance and immersive isn’t there. Trainwreck examines where the magic of immersive performance really comes from, and for me, it comes from the relationship between the performers and the audience. The Glasgow Willy Wonka experience might have been very different if it hadn't promised something it couldn't deliver and if the performers had been supported properly by a clear artistic vision, a thorough rehearsal process and a shared sense of purpose. AI is advancing at a rapid speed, and it’s getting harder to know what’s real or not, but I know what people are coming to immersive theatre for: to feel special and feel connected to something. AI can only contribute to aspects of that, but it can never become the sole creator of it. TomYumSim's Trainwreck runs at Shoreditch Town Hall on 10th July 2026 as part of the Summer in the Ditch festival. Tickets are priced at £12 per person and can be booked via shoreditchtownhall.com