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

Photo: Alex Brenner Immersive Rumours: Hi Owen and Tom. Thanks for speaking to us today! Do you mind introducing yourselves and telling us what your roles are at Bridge Command?  Owen Kingston:  I'm Owen Kingston, I'm the Artistic Director of Parabolic Theatre and Bridge Command. Tom Black:  I'm Tom Black. I'm the Executive Director of Bridge Command, working closely with Owen and the whole team to operate this wonderful ongoing sequential story that we're able to tell. IR: For those who have never been, what’s the Bridge Command experience like? Owen:  It's like being in your own sci-fi series. That's what we're going for. To come to Bridge Command and be a punter is to step into your own sci-fi world, and you be the hero of your own sci-fi story. IR: The first time you both spoke to Immersive Rumours was ahead of the show opening back in March 2024. A lot of the site was still under construction, but we were able to get a hands-on demo of the experience ahead of the public opening. Looking back at that time, what are your overwhelming memories of building and opening the show? Owen:  I think launching a new show is always, to some extent, quite a chaotic process, because it doesn't matter how well you plan it; no plan survives contact with the enemy. Unexpected things happen. When you've got something with as many moving parts and as complex as Bridge Command, it's nearly impossible for it to all go completely smoothly. This is by far and away the biggest thing we’ve ever done. Parabolic has always done quite small shows, and in the past, we've always been able to launch a new show softly and quietly to iron out the kinks without anybody really looking at it. We used to do a lot of stuff with the Croydonites Festival, and it was great because we had two or three weeks to perform to people who were either our hardcore fans, who were willing to come to Croydon to see us, or just the good people of Croydon who didn't really know who we were. You could try something new out of the public gaze and have a chance to fix it before that lens of publicity hit you. That's something that we didn't have with Bridge Command because it's that much more high-profile. The other thing that was memorable from that time is that we were not prepared for how different it would be to run this show for fourteen people than it is to run it for nine people. When we did the first version of Bridge Command back in 2019 on a shoestring budget in the basement of COLAB Factory, it was for six people. We ran that for months and months and months, and it worked really well. When we started planning this new version in January 2020, we thought we could expand it to nine people quite comfortably, and it would work similarly well. About six months before we were due to launch, we had a bit of a crisis with our investors when we were looking at the budgets and thinking, ‘Oh, crumbs, is this actually going to make enough money?’. The decision was taken, rather than to scrap the whole thing entirely, to up the audience capacity again. We did it to survive, really. If we didn’t find more capacity from somewhere, we weren’t going to be able to even open. We put work into that, but I think we didn’t have enough time left to put enough work into that. I think it's fair to say that when we opened, really full shows did not work as well as the shows that had eight to ten people. When we had an absolute maximum capacity audience of fourteen, there were problems because there were people who didn't have enough to do. I think we’ve fixed that problem now, but it took us longer than I would have liked to fix it. Making fixes just took longer than it has on any other show we've ever made in the past. I think it's the difference between - to use a naval analogy - trying to turn around a small boat as opposed to trying to turn around a supertanker. We really felt that with Bridge Command. It's so much more of a bigger proposition, so many more staff, so many more shows that we are running in a day, that to make a meaningful change just took way longer - four or five times longer. Tom:  With Bridge Command, we could meet the next morning and go through it, but then that night, whatever we did, we would be running not one version of the show, but four or five. We'd get loads more data, and of course, not every single one of them would have responded to the change we've just made in the same way. I’d underestimated the scale of being reactive; it became much harder, and it became more of a supertanker. We also had a lot of focus on the onboarding process and the training process. There’s two distinctions there - welcoming people in, literally both off the street and then through the various stages to get into the show and into the world of the show and making clear what's going on, but also the process of training people how to use the ship, the software on the screens, the mechanical things on the ship, all those things. You need to be shown how to use those. It's fair to say that it took us longer than I would have liked, but because of the problems we've mentioned, we didn’t 100% get it right when we opened. I'm really thrilled with how training now works for the show, and we've seen a huge change in feedback. It's been months and months and months, and pretty much no one has raised any issues with it, but it just took time to handle that. Owen:  Those first few months, I remember we used to try and teach people how to use the ships before we'd even put them on the ships. We used to have terminals in the bar and try to get people to play tutorials, but none of that stuck. It took us at least six to eight weeks to settle on what worked in terms of getting people to learn how to fly the ships quickly so that they could then do a meaningful mission afterwards. Photo: Alex Brenner IR: When you first conceived Bridge Command back in 2019, was it ever designed to be an experience that would appeal to absolutely everyone? You're trying to do one thing incredibly well, and that thing is obviously somewhat niche. Some people just don’t like sci-fi, right? Owen: Exactly. I think immersive works best when the product that you've made appeals very strongly to a particular audience. If I'm looking at the advertising, either it makes me go, ‘Yes, I want to do that immediately’, or it makes me go, ‘No, I'll never do that in a million years’. I think one of the problems that immersive theatre has had historically is that it's been all about massive spectacle. It's been about appealing to a very large audience. The economics of the industry have all been built around that. You can look at Punchdrunk or Secret Cinema, who’ve done great shows in the past, and that's been their business model. They want something that's going to attract loads and loads of people every night and justifies a colossal spend and an enormous set. That's one way of doing it, but I think the economics in the last few years have shown that that's not actually the sustainable, brilliant model that maybe it's been made out to be, or maybe even has been in the past. What we're looking at is something different. Parabolic's early work was all about taking much smaller-scale audiences, spending less on it, but making something that is really going to appeal to enough people to be able to see that. The beautiful thing about For King and Country was that you’d look at the advert for that, which said, ‘Can you win the war?’, and if you are in any way a World War II nerd, you're going to want to come and do that. If you're not, you're not. I think Bridge Command does the same thing. If you want to fly a starship, if you want to be like Captain Picard, Captain Kirk or Captain Janeway, then yes, that is going to be for you. If that doesn't float your boat, then maybe not so much. Building shows that are sustainable for a niche but large enough audience to sustain it - I think there’s an interesting business model there which can work. IR: Have audiences' reactions to the experience matched up with what you hoped it would be prior to opening? Owen: Broadly speaking, I’d say yes. Wouldn’t you say so, Tom? Tom: Yeah. I think so. I think in hindsight, we expected people to get really invested in their own naval careers, for want of a better term, and getting promotions. People earn medals and collect different patches. We've got a fan Discord now. It's run by us, but it is full of regular attendees, and we can see how much people are really interested in the ongoing stories of the main cast, so to speak.  Everyone who works here, from front of house through to the people running your ship, they're all actors. Everyone has got a character with a named role and a backstory and everything like that. We sell bar tickets, and there are people who come a couple of times a week; they'll maybe do one mission, but they'll come two or three times to hang out in the bar and play a game, read a book, do some knitting, but also chat to people. They might say ‘I've got a theory as to what's going on in such and such part of space’. Then the character who's in the bar with them will maybe chat to them about that. People really care. I would actually say that is a bit of a surprise. They care even more than I thought they would about hanging out with the characters on an ongoing basis. People always like the characters in Parabolic shows; it was always about the story and about the audience themselves becoming the main characters in a story, but the fact that there is this recurring cast, of us being the people who are on the ship with you when you're doing your adventures, and you can see them over a much longer scale than just the two and a half hours of Crisis, What Crisis?, or For King and Country, I think that's something we didn't… Owen:  We didn’t plan for that did we? Tom: Maybe unconsciously. We created these characters with it in mind, I suppose, without realising, but it's gone down way better than we thought it would be. Owen:  It’s become a soap opera in space for the people that become really invested in it. That's been fuelled by some of the special events and other things that we've done. We've been able to expand that a bit for those who are keen on it. Photo: Alex Brenner IR: Previously, you’ve done one-off events like War Games, and you’ve had two Treaty events so far, right? Owen:  Yup. We've had a couple of others since then as well. You know when there's the novelty episodes of Star Trek where the holodeck breaks or things like that? We did one that felt a bit like that, where all of the crew played by actors succumbed to a weird disease, and they had to be fixed by the audience. We've played with several different things now. We’re about to do one about ██████████ .  Although I don't think we're allowed to talk about that yet, so that's a big spoiler… Tom: Please don’t print that. Our staff has been very good at not dropping any hints about it, so we’re pretty sure the audience are going to have no idea what’s going to happen in that. It’ll be a nice surprise.  For a while now, the special events have been selling out before we really release any details at all. We've ended up in the situation where we haven't needed to reveal the really juicy element of it to sell it, because people are keen and they trust us, I suppose. IR: Are all of these one-off events non-canon or do they feed back into the ongoing narrative? Owen:  Oh, they're very much part of the story. What's happened with those, and it's happened organically rather than us specifically planning it this way, but each of those events has become a milestone moment in the ongoing story of the Adamas Belt and has actually shifted that story along a little bit.  When we ran the treaty, that then affected the missions that we were running. All of the different factions that people were encountering suddenly all of them had signed some form of treaty with each other, and that affected the interactions people had, and it became part of the ongoing narrative. Similarly, in some of the other events we've run, we've had a political election cycle running alongside as part of the story content, so that's fed into some of the things that have happened. It's all part of creating that sense of a world that isn't just static, you know? It continues to build and change and thrive. We're currently shooting a whole load of new content to update the news channel that we run in the bar. When we opened, we had about an hour's worth of TV news that was all relevant to the world. Some of that is very out of date now, so we're in the process of updating it. The plan for the events going forward is to try and do them every couple of months and have that be a way of moving the story along. When you watch Star Trek of old, you'd get lots of monster-of-the-week episodes, lots of things that are very inconsequential are all contained within one episode, and then every now and again, you'd have a big milestone story moment, like Captain Picard becoming a Borg or something like that. That's what we've tried to do with those special events. IR: You’ve also introduced bespoke campaigns recently. Can you tell us a bit about that? Owen:  Honestly, they’re peak Bridge Command. It's the best version of the show you can possibly create, I think. The first one that we did was with people who had met through playing Bridge Command. None of them were friends beforehand, but they had met just doing random pickup shows, and then they decided they got on well. They approached us and said, ‘Would you be willing to do this?’. We thought, ‘Absolutely, that sounds amazing’. So we crafted a story for them, which was over five shows. That story was a linked narrative, and their actions very much determined the outcome as well. We were able to be responsive to that specific group of people. It worked as a format, and it was terrific fun. It's like running a D&D campaign and has very much got that vibe to it.  We assign a member of staff to be the campaign manager, and that member of staff coordinates what's going to happen for the campaign, makes sure they get the staff they need for it, and makes the necessary tweaks to the story. It's terrific fun. What’s nice about it is that it works for people who have never played Bridge Command before but love the concept in principle. If they're willing to trust us upfront with the big wodge of cash, then we can very much give them the time of their lives. It’s one of those things that in your wildest dreams, you hope one day you might be able to make happen. It was one of the bucket list things to do with Bridge Command, and it's incredible to have had a chance to do it and to see it really work as well. Tom: It was huge fun to make, and one of the players in the first outing described it as a ‘love letter to Season 1’, because the campaign itself pulled on various threads that regular participants were used to from all the missions in Season 1. Characters, factions, even a couple of ‘whatever happened to x’ kinds of things.  Without giving anything more away I will say that this went down very well with that group, and we’ve now got half a dozen other groups playing through the same story - though it’s important to say that part of the luxury of a campaign is that the story and how it unfolds is tweaked to reflect your crew’s unique actions, even more so than a normal Bridge Command mission.  And the original group have now booked again, so we need to do it all again! We’ll be continuing their adventure, but it’s a whole new story. So there’ll be a ‘second campaign’ set of 5 missions available to anyone in a few months’ time. Photo: Alex Brenner IR: There’s something really interesting about how more and more immersive shows are operating with ongoing, multi-year narratives nowadays. The Key of Dreams is moving into a new story chapter later this year, Phantom Peak is constantly evolving, and of course, you’ve recently debuted the new chapter of Bridge Command. I think that structure goes a long way to explaining how those kinds of shows have managed to build a loyal fanbase, who return often. Owen: It's just really important to balance it against that first-time experience. If you focus too heavily on fan service and pleasing the returners, you get the same problem that TV series have, which is, if I see a TV series that's run for ten seasons, I'm going to think twice about starting at the first season. It’s a huge investment of time. What we’re always trying to be careful to do with Bridge Command is not put off people who are coming for the first time. We're always trying to be aware of how we frame the experience to people who are encountering Bridge Command for the first time, and making sure that we don't put too high a barrier to entry. Tom: Yes, the overwhelming majority of people experiencing Bridge Command are still brand new to it, though to get statistical for a second, we have seen the number of returning regulars go up, not down, while our overall number of sales increases – so that’s felt really good for our momentum, as it means we aren’t just maintaining the same number of people wanting to come back again and again. We’re winning over more and more new people all the time. Our regulars are very, very welcoming to newcomers, too. There are many happy stories of people coming on their own or in a small group and being nervous, and then being ‘adopted’ by experienced hands on their crew, who afterwards encourage them to join our Discord server and become part of the community. IR: We're a couple of months into Season 2 of Bridge Command now. When you started to structure and work out the plans for these new missions, what were the big takeaways from the first year or so of running missions? [Owen laughs] Owen:  I'm laughing because there was a massive one. When you look at any TV show, particularly sci-fi TV shows, you see the same plots recur over and over again, redressed. You see it a lot in sequels to movies, too, where essentially people are coming to see it because they loved the first movie, so you want to give them enough of the first movie that they liked, but you also need it to feel different so they don't feel like they're just watching the same thing again. Star Trek's a perfect example of something that does that all the time, and Stargate SG-1, which I love, does that really noticeably. I was having a bit of a thought experiment in the lead-up to beginning to write for this new season, and I was thinking, ‘What are the basic plots of Bridge Command?’ The process of analysing that brought me to the conclusion that every single episode we had up to that point was basically the same plot redressed - ‘Save the Guy’. We would send the crew out to go and do something, and they would save a character and bring them back. Every mission did that in some way or another. IR:  And how many mission stories did you have in Season 1? Owen:  I think 10 or 11 missions, and they all did that in some way. The thing was, we hadn't noticed! So we’d done a reasonably good job of making it different every time, but we said, ‘We have to do some different plots’. So we actively went into the new season saying ‘We're going to, at most, do one or two Save the Guy plots and everything else; we're going to really work hard to think of different things that the audience do’.  IR: So what caused you to end up making so many ‘Save the Guy’ missions in Season 1? Owen:  It had arisen, I think, because of how we staff the shows. We put three performers on each show. One of them will be the flight controller, who is the games master. They’re a performer, but they’re also making things happen behind the scenes. We have somebody who goes on with the crew at the beginning to train them in how to use the ship, and then we have an actor whose job it is to play whatever the prominent character is. One of the best ways to get a character onto the ship is to have them pick up or rescue somebody. That was one of our big takeaways - just spotting what we'd done by mistake.  As Tom was saying earlier, we also underestimated how invested returning audiences would get in not just the world of the show and the stories we're telling, but the characters on the Warspite that our actors played on the regular. We purposefully built in more plot points and story points that allowed for character developments and interesting things to happen to them. That was part of it as well. Photo: Alex Brenner IR: When we first spoke 18 months ago, you mentioned that you had ideas for the next four or five years’ worth of Bridge Command. Is that still the plan now that you’re some way down the road from opening? Owen:  Absolutely, yeah. What we found actually is that it's going to stretch further than we thought. We'd come up with quite a lot of ideas, and what we found, again, is part of that supertanker analogy of it taking a long time to steer Bridge Command in a particular direction. It's taken us longer to get some of that content out there because, actually, if we make new content, it doesn't just sit there for a couple of weeks or even a month. In order to get it through our whole fan base, it takes several months for people to play through all of those things. I think that elongates that timeline a little bit. We're anticipating at least being there until the end of next year. We'll see beyond that. I think how we're doing financially will dictate whether we extend. We have a 10-year lease on our site with a three- and five-year break. We'll make a decision at some point before the end of next year as to whether we want to go on past the end of that three-year break and into the five-year break. That will be purely a financial decision at that point. Is it still making enough money to cover its cost and also making money for our investors? I think that's the critical thing. They won't want to take the risk of us being there another two years and then dipping down into being loss-making. That's for the future to see, but we're pretty committed to being there throughout most, if not all, of next year. IR: Outside of Bridge Command, are there any new Parabolic shows on the way in the not-too-distant future? Owen:  There’s not much to say there, apart from there being some huge opportunities that have opened up, which we would love to take advantage of. Currently, we're not on any kind of ticking clock time scale to take advantage of those, which is great, so we can keep ploughing a lot of effort and attention into Bridge Command for as long as it needs it, but I think we're looking at least one more, really high-profile show in the next few years. I can't really say anything about what that will be. There's also the back catalogue of things. It's now been maybe six years since we did the last performance of For King and Country. I think that is still probably my favourite Parabolic show. There's been some talk of late about trying to bring that back again. I know certainly all the original cast feel as fond about it as I do, and it's been absent from the world for a while. There's a whole generation of new immersive theatre fans who've never seen it. I think it would be worth doing that again for people at some point if we can. IR: I think it’s fair to say you’ve got your hands full with Bridge Command at the moment. Owen:  Yeah. Any new Parabolic show will largely depend on Bridge Command. If we get to the end of next year and we're like ‘Okay, we've had a good time doing Bridge Command, but we think it's time to close’, then that would create space for us to work on something new. If Bridge Command goes on beyond the end of next year, then we may be looking at another couple of years before we make something new. It's a win-win as far as I'm concerned, because Bridge Command is a wonderful privilege to work on. There's nothing else out there that's quite like it, and as long as it can go on, I'd be very happy to be working on it. Photo: Alex Brenner Bridge Command is currently booking until 31st January 2026 in Vauxhall. For more information about the show, and to book tickets, visit bridgecommand.space

We grab our Orbs of Interaction and step into the Nether for Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue - a new immersive experience based on the best-selling video game. Photo: Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue Minecraft, the open-world sandbox game adored by kids worldwide, is far and away the best-selling video game of all time. In 2023, it was confirmed to have crossed over 300 million sales, massively outselling its closest rival, Grand Theft Auto V, by around 125 million sales, and despite being 14 years old, it has a monthly player count larger than the population of most countries. While fans of Minecraft around the world had been eagerly anticipating the opening of A Minecraft Movie, those in London had another reason to be excited: Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue has also just opened. Following a successful run in Dallas last year, this immersive Minecraft experience has its UK & European premiere at Corner Corner - a new venue in what's quickly becoming one of the defacto locations for new immersive experiences in London - Canada Water. Photo: Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue Aimed primarily at families, Villager Rescue invites guests to step into the Minecraft universe, where they're tasked with saving a group of villagers who have been infected by a zombie horde. Taking on the role of heroes, guests must work to craft a cure before time runs out while going through seven different rooms that are lifted directly from the game's diverse world. It all begins with the Orb of Interaction - a glowing handheld device that acts as a multi-tool throughout the experience. With the flick of a wrist, it's able to chop down trees, craft items, open chests, fight mobs, act as a bow and arrow and sword, and transport resources. Following an introductory video featuring a duo of Minecraft characters, Tobin and Dayo, guests enter a woodland-themed training room to learn how to use their Orbs first-hand. Photo: Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue With 360-degree projections on the walls and floor being rendered live in Unreal Engine, guests interact with the environment by waving or shaking their Orb of Interaction when standing on marked spots and can pick up items projected onto the floor by stepping on them. What these actions do depends on which item on the projected screens becomes highlighted - a tree will be chopped down for wood, an enemy knocked onto their back and despawned. The responsiveness of this project game world is pretty good, though sometimes you'll find yourself waving the Orb with nothing happening as a result. In what would soon become a running theme of our visit to Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue, the younger visitors in our larger group were running around collecting wood and stomping on projected apples with speed and dedication while the adults in the group took a more laid-back approach to resource gathering, likely aware that we'd need to preserve our energy for what was to come. With training complete, Tobin and Dayo guide guests through crafting tools and weapons by tapping their Orbs on chests or furnaces to collect resources and then placing them into the correct crafting table slots. It's a frantic game in which each crafting table is scored individually, allowing some light-hearted competition between guests. All of those resources are later used to expand and grow the village, which is presented on touch-screen displays in the following room. Photo: Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue Those already familiar with Minecraft will likely be aware of what happens to the village once nightfall comes - a zombie siege spells disaster for the village population and gives guests their quest for the remainder of the experience: save the villagers (hence the experience's title..) Moving through different Overworld biomes, including a forest, tundra, and mines, guests continue to gather further resources by using their Orbs of Interaction to open chests, chop down sugar canes and beat up spiders. At the show's midpoint, the most complicated room (for those unfamiliar with the game) has guests crafting Obsidian to build a portal into the Nether by combining water and lava. The Obsidian is transferred onto a portal until it fully lights up, which allows us to move out of the Overworld. Throughout the experience, there are a dozen or more real-world objects - like the portal - that respond to guests Orb's, which adds a much-needed element of tactility to the otherwise projection-heavy experience. Photo: Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue From there, it's a hop, skip and jump across a floor made of lava to fight a mob in an arcade-style game that has guests throwing felt 'snowballs' at a projection of Wither Skeletons, Zombie Pigman and finally, Blaze, in a fire-filled landscape. Regardless of people's familiarity with Minecraft, this portion of the experience is the most engaging and fun - it's also the only section that the Orb's are needed for. The previously mentioned energy conserved by the adults in our group was all but expelled following this section, with numerous comments about the experience being like a workout between older visitors. The younger guests showed no signs of flagging though... Rounding off the experience, all of our gathered resources are brewed into a potion to save the villagers, with a practical Brewing Stand letting off smoke to show its complete. All visitors to Villager Rescue, regardless of age, are given a unique 25-digit code to redeem a Minecraft Experience Digital Cape in-game, which is a nice souvenir of their visit for Minecraft players. Photo: Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue Judging by how much fun the younger members of our group were having, Villager Rescue delivers exactly what it promised: an opportunity for fans to step into the world they've spent countless hours exploring digitally in real life. While the experience might not convert non-gamers, it's packed with dozens of nods and small references to the original game that will delight long-time players. The opportunity to run around and play within such a faithfully crafted environment will also have a lot of younger die-hard fans smiling from ear to ear. If you have kids who love Minecraft, you probably don't need this review to tell you if they'll enjoy it - as they almost certainly will. For adults who are unfamiliar with the game and are without kids, the likes of Immersive Gamebox or Escape Arcade will likely offer a more rewarding (though equally exhausting) experience. Photos: Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue ★★★ Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue runs at Corner Corner in Canada Water until 4th January 2026. Tickets are priced from £27.00 for Adults and £22.00 for Children. To find out more and book tickets, visit minecraftexperience.com/london For more reviews of immersive experiences like Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue, check out our recent reviews .

This large-scale immersive show from Sage & Jester is visually stunning but buckles under the weight of its narrative shortcomings. Photo: Helen Murray In a cavernous warehouse on the bank of the River Thames in Deptford sits STOREHOUSE, the debut immersive promenade show from Sage & Jester. Anyone who's even mildly invested in London's immersive scene will have seen mention of the show over the last few months, with the company having hosted an extensive pre-show campaign, which included a roaming pop-up experience in the form of STOREHOUSE Truck , a string of events at The Pleasance in North London featuring conversations with the likes of Rachel Parris and Jamie Bartlett, and heaps of marketing on both social media and tube posters across the city. If London's immersive scene had been waiting for a new blockbuster production during Punchdrunk's downtime following The Burnt City and Viola's Room, STOREHOUSE, at first, appeared to be it. When first announced, it was pitched as 'one of the UK's most artistically daring and large-scale immersive theatre shows'. With a creative team made up of some heavyweight names, including Sophie Larsmon, Donnacadh O'Brian, and Caro Murphy, STOREHOUSE arrived with significant pedigree. Sage & Jester founder Liana Patarkatsishvili also has first-hand experience of the impact those in power can wield through disinformation after IMEDIA, an independent television station in Georgia, which was founded by her father, was seized by the Georgian government and used to broadcast fake news in 2010. Ahead of opening, all signs pointed to this show looking to tackle misinformation with a nuanced take from lived experience. Sadly, despite STOREHOUSE having some exceptionally beautiful spaces that are as detailed as they are huge, the show's narrative seems to have nothing new to say about the digital age, the impact of misinformation on everyday people, and our ability to fight against it. Photo: Helen Murray Within the world of the show, STOREHOUSE was founded in 1983 with a clear mission: to catalogue and archive every piece of information ever shared online and assign it a numerical value based on the quality. While the overall quality of the world's online posts has taken a dive since the creation of social media, all of this work was nonetheless in aid of something, 'The Great Aggregation', a seismic event due to have taken place on 1st January 2025 and provide a universal truth for all of humanity. It'll come as no surprise that The Great Aggregation never materialised, and as one of the show's characters put it, the whole thing was an 'epic fail'. While the facility was seemingly chugging along fine throughout the 90s and 00s, the workers at STOREHOUSE, who are made up of caretakers, book binders and stackers, have been struggling to keep up with the workload in recent years thanks to the explosion of social media. On top of that, the place is beginning to fall apart under the pressure. Ink is leaking from the ceilings, books are growing mouldy and covered in strange Rorschach test-like spots, and the walls of the facility have started to emit ominous whispers. In an attempt to get STOREHOUSE back on track amid declining staff morale, a recruitment drive is underway, and the audience, acting as new trustees, are invited to tour the facility to learn more about the work that's been done on-site for the last 40 years. Photo: Helen Murray The scale of STOREHOUSE is pretty staggering and easily dwarfs any other immersive production in recent memory. It's a positive step for London's immersive scene to have another company creating work at the scale often reserved for the likes of Secret Cinema and Punchdrunk, and while each group of audience members will only experience around 1/4 of the venue over their 90-minute experience, every square foot of Deptford Storehouse's gargantuan footprint has been put to use, with four builds of the main show space filling the building. Alice Help's production design, which is far and away the best part of STOREHOUSE, rivals that of The Burnt City when it comes to the kind of small details immersive fans lap up. Handwritten notes are scattered throughout the book binders' room alongside a host of 80s tech and period-accurate paraphernalia; the whispering stacks - complete with their shrines for daily worship - are akin to a cathedral made of sheep's wool and towers over audiences, while the willow stacks, which have been crafted and shaped using real willow, feel like stepping inside a vast, multi-layered woodland den. Underfoot, you find natural material like bark and sand, which adds further tactility to spaces already drenched in unique, organic materials. Photo: Helen Murray Coupled with some wonderfully responsive lighting design from Ben Donoghue, the show offers up the chance to explore and interact with spaces that are on a scale rarely seen within an immersive show. The exceptional design on display in all of STOREHOUSE's spaces creates an otherworldly, magical feeling that stands alongside Viola's Room in terms of evoking the senses, even if it easily eclipses Punchdrunk's recent offering in terms of scope. The final moments of STOREHOUSE see audiences ascend above the ground floor level they've spent so much of the show exploring to reveal the true scale of the production. It's so big you can barely make out the other end of the building, and looking across the entirety of Deptford Storehouse from above, it's immediately clear just how much care and attention has gone into building this world and how big a cheque it must have required to create. Photo: Helen Murray On the flip side, the story STOREHOUSE offers to audiences is deeply underbaked. There's a huge focus placed on the inner workings of the fictional facility, which is occupied by one-dimensional characters who don't seem to have any interest in the nuance of such pressing ideas as fake news, misinformation, propaganda and deep fakes. There's passing mention given to real-world examples of police brutality and racial injustice courtesy of stacker Rami (Scott Karim), and bookbinder Andie (Dawn Butler) shares a story of their big break in the art world never materialising due to cancel culture, but as soon as they begin to approach how these events impacted them on a personal level, they're interrupted by either a blaring alarm or another STOREHOUSE worker, who swiftly changes the subject. Those trying to keep up with the storyline of STOREHOUSE will find themselves bogged down in lengthy monologues that are pure exposition, covering in detail the inter-departmental politics of the facility. There's no mention of why governments, or those in power, would want to deploy misinformation and fake news, the impact it has on communities and everyday people, and how it's shaped our online spaces. Photo: Helen Murray With the show offering a frustratingly basic opinion on some of the biggest issues of our time, it's a surprise that Liana's Patarkatsishvili first-hand experience with these issues doesn't seem to have influenced the writing at all, with the story being told in STOREHOUSE failing to show the personal impact such campaigns have on everyday people. Before Sage & Jester launched, much of the company's creative team, including Liana Patarkatsishvili, operated under the banner of Medea. At last year's Edinburgh Fringe, they presented an audio experience called Illuminated Lies , which was made up of voice recordings from individuals who have been personally affected by misinformation and fake news. Less than a year later, and with a space infinitely bigger than the back of the black cab in which Illuminated Lies took place, to see the fallout and real-world consequences that these misinformation campaigns can have on individuals be completely absent from STOREHOUSE feels like both a step backwards and a glaring omission. Photo: Helen Murray In terms of interactivity, STOREHOUSE also offers very little for audiences to do and next to no way in which to influence the events that unfold during the show. There are a couple of small fetch quests in which audiences either search the space for postcards, listen to and note down the whispers coming from the walls, or try to match Rorschach-like ink spots from within the pages of bound books. There's a more substantial chance for trustees to try their hand at being stackers, which is soundtracked by Bucks Fizz's Making Your Mind Up, and involves running around the willow-lined stacks, but beyond that and some light interaction answering broad questions like 'What changes would you implement to STOREHOUSE?' and 'What inspires hope?', the audience are largely passive throughout. The combination of this light interaction with the underdeveloped story completely removes any emotional investment in the story on display throughout STOREHOUSE and makes the later revelations in the show's finale void of any real stakes. What should be a rousing call to arms, with audiences ready to get on board with the idea of dismantling the systems deployed by those in power, instead receives a muted response from most of the crowd. While the narrative of STOREHOUSE diminishes the impact of the overall experience, there's a lot to enjoy in experiencing the show's vast size and rich attention to detail. With a huge budget and an even bigger venue, this is immersive theatre on the grandest possible scale, and we should try to savour it when it so rarely comes along, shortcomings and all. ★★★ STOREHOUSE runs until 20th September at Deptford Storehouse. Tickets are priced from £37.50. For more information and to book tickets, visit sageandjester.com For more reviews of immersive experiences like STOREHOUSE, check out our recent Reviews .

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

Parabolic Theatre’s new immersive starship simulator delivers an exhilarating and unique experience for visitors that rewards exploration and, above all else, good communication. Our review of Bridge Command... Photo: Alex Brenner Bridge Command, the latest immersive experience from Parabolic Theatre, officially opened its sliding doors in Vauxhall this past week. A reworking of the company's 2019 production, the show places visitors in charge of their own spacecraft, allowing them to navigate the vastness of the galaxy, engage in combat and negotiate with enemy factions. It's one of the most technologically advanced immersive shows to open in London in recent years and takes the decision-focused, responsive style of immersion Parabolic Theatre has always been best known for to new heights, far exceeding anything they've previously produced in terms of both complexity and scale. Back in 2019, Parabolic launched the original version of Bridge Command at COLAB Factory in Borough. Produced on a sh oestring bud get, using whatever props and set dressing they had lying around, the show was, by their own admission, pretty rough around the edges from a set design perspective. Appropriately, the show’s budget had instead largely been invested in the technology and backend systems that powered the experience, enabling them to produce a show that guests loved and found incredibly engaging. Allowing people to pilot their own starship and set off into the vastness of space made it the fastest-selling show in the company's history at the time. During this run, Bridge Command attracted the attention of investors, who helped fund the reworked, supersized version of the show now open in Vauxhall. Photo: Alex Brenner Warp forward to 2024, and in the few short months since the show soft-opened in March, it's clear Bridge Command has developed a loyal fanbase. Outside the venue, attendees introduce themselves to each other and connect over discussing their previous missions aboard both the UCN Takanami and UCN Havock. More than perhaps every other immersive show open in London right now, Bridge Command demands you get to know everyone else is in your group in order to succeed, with an upcoming mission to space serving as a pretty good icebreaker... Once inside, you're instructed to select a flight suit to wear for your mission. Everyone taking part in the experience is offered either a Bridge Command jumpsuit or bomber jacket to wear, which has room set aside for everyone’s current rank and ship name to be velcroed onto. First-time visitors sport the patches denoting that they’re Ensigns, the lowest rung on the United Confederation Navy ladder, while more experienced guests can have higher ranks and other patches denoting specific achievements. This is the first introduction to the multi-level progression system that Bridge Command has built into it, which is designed to reward repeat visits and encourage exploration of the show world. With everyone suited up, you're ushered into the teleporter, a huge white circular room that takes you from 2024 Earth to 2180 Space in a matter of moments. We won't reveal what tricks are being used here, but it's a wonderfully designed transitional space that makes it clear Parabolic Theatre isn't messing around when it comes to delivering on the promise of a high-budget immersive space experience. Photo: Alex Brenner Emerging in The Mess, the UCS Warspite's on-site bar, which is decked out with interactive terminals and relics of previous UNC missions, you'll find yourself alongside fellow pilots, engineers, and communications officers eager to celebrate their recent successes or calm their nerves before being deployed. In total, there are four different mission types on offer within Bridge Command: Diplomacy, Intrigue, Military and Exploration, all of which will see guests acting on behalf of UCN in one of the numerous Officer roles visitors must select from. Ranging from Helm to Weapons, Radar, Engineerings and Comms, as well as, of course, Captain or First Officer. All of them are important in their own way, and things can easily go wrong at any one station, leading to a knock-on effect across the ship. For our visit, we were taking on an Intrigue mission that on the surface sounded simple enough. All that was required of us was to deliver a military officer onto a nearby ship nestled inside a cluster of asteroids, assist them in retrieving a datapad, and then leave the area without being seen. Given Bridge Command takes inspiration from episodic sci-fi series like Star Trek, and dropping someone off at a ship just to take them home would be a very dull episode of TV, it's little surprise that things got a bit more complicated and action-heavy as our mission progressed, with alarms blaring, sparks flying and enemy ships coming at us from all directions. Both the UCN Havock, and UCN Takanami have complex systems that need constant attention and careful resource management. Besides the touchscreen consoles at every station, the crew must interact with numerous physical elements to keep the ship running smoothly. If the ship's overall energy levels run too low the Fuel Cells need removing and replacing, the Crystal Resonators that maintain the ship's shields can become destabilised, leaving the ship defenceless, and the Overcurrent Protectors may also need swapping out. With resources being used up faster in situations like combat and travelling at warp speed, it's a delicate balance to manage them all. Photo: Alex Brenner On paper, all of this may sound incredibly overwhelming. Thankfully for first-time visitors, there’s time set aside for explanations of every role before things kick off in earnest. You won’t be experts in your roles by any means, but the UCN seems to encourage on-the-job learning and embracing your mistakes - even if your crewmates might not. While the added pressure of knowing that if you can’t respond quickly and do what is needed, you may well become the weakest link ramps up the tension as you begin your mission, all of the roles are manageable and on the right side of challenging to stay on top of. As previously mentioned, one of the biggest parts of Bridge Command, and honestly the hardest thing to stay on top of, isn’t the numerous consoles, terminals, and screens, but the communication between players. When your crew is all on the same page and the group's instructions to one another are clear, progressing through the show's story is an exhilarating experience. Information and updates will fly across the room constantly as everyone operates as a cohesive unit, and obstacles like enemy ships are soon little more than debris.  On the flip side, these moments can easily spill over into disaster if communication falls apart. At one point during our visit, we collided with a large asteroid despite numerous shouts of 'Asteroid!' from all corners of the bridge. On this occasion, it took too long for the Helm to react, and our ship's hull took such a large amount of damage that the Engineering team had to leap into action to mend it. While it was drilled into us in the briefing that everyone’s actions will affect what happens in our mission, this collision with the asteroid confirmed that point in a very real way.  Photo: Alex Brenner Parabolic Theatre has always focused on creating experiences that give audiences agency and respond to visitors' decisions. These decisions - both good and bad - have lasting impacts on the narrative, with the show designed to respond and bend around players' decisions, however left-field they may be. While in previous Parabolic shows, most notably with Crisis? What Crisis? and For King and Country, this was largely confined to each individual visit. In Bridge Command, these decisions have longer-lasting implications. Each mission within Bridge Command has no set path to follow and gives visitors a huge amount of freedom to decide how best to approach any situation. The show then responds to those choices on the fly, meaning every version of a mission can have wildly different outcomes. All of this information is logged and will later inform what happens in subsequent visits. If, like us, you decided not to hand over important intel to UCN Intelligence at the end of your mission, that decision may well have consequences in the future for both you and your team. Photo: Alex Brenner Additionally, the show's individual progression system allows you to rise up the ranks of UCN over time. While we remained Ensigns with single-stripped shoulder patches after our first mission, those in the same position will in time progress to higher ranks based on how much time they spend aboard the ship and how well they perform while on the bridge. During our mission debrief, our Radar operator received their first promotion, prompting cheers and applause from the rest of the crew - it was a surprisingly emotional moment for not only them but the rest of the group that they’d just worked alongside.   For fans of interactive storytelling and sci-fi adventures, Bridge Command is an essential experience. With a level of freedom that is almost unparalleled, there's little else out there anywhere in the galaxy that comes close to what Bridge Command offers. We'll no doubt be reporting for duty again in the not-too-distant future to continue exploring the outer reaches of space and get the promotion that's so far eluded us... Photos: Alex Brenner ★★★★ ½ Bridge Command is currently booking until 31st January 2026 in Vauxhall. For more information about the show, and to book tickets visit bridgecommand.space For more reviews of shows like Bridge Command, check out other recent immersive reviews here .

Secret Cinema's latest staging of Grease is an all-singing, all-dancing spectacle, and a radical departure from the usual Secret Cinema format. Photo: Luke Dyson After a nearly three-year-long absence, Secret Cinema returns to London with a new large-scale production, recreating Rydell High for an all-singing, all-dancing version of the 70's classic, Grease. The film is well-trodden ground for Secret Cinema, who have adapted it twice before, but this 2025 production, which takes over Evolution in Battersea Park for a 6-week run, is a radical departure from the company's previous stagings, and a very different kind of experience from what the company are best-known for. It's been a quiet couple of years for Secret Cinema. Following their original, family-focused festive show Wishmas, which was staged at The Vaults in Waterloo in late 2023, Secret Cinema appeared to be lying low. There was radio silence on their social media, no new productions, and the only news to come from the company focused on Studio Secret Cinema, a new arm of the business which produces brand activations. According to Secret Cinema's Matt Costain , who serves as Creative Director for Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, this silence was for good reason. Throughout 2024 and early 2025, the company spent a considerable amount of time trying to determine what its place within London's rapidly changing immersive scene is, and looking at how to continue producing the kind of large-scale shows they’re known for, but more sustainably. The result of that soul-searching is the debut of a new format for the company, described internally as the 'one-world model'. The dozens of individual rooms and secret spaces most people have come to expect in Secret Cinema shows have been replaced with a large, open venue that is entirely accessible to every visitor. Alongside this, the structure of the experience has also been reworked from the ground up... Photo: Luke Dyson Long-time Secret Cinema fans will be familiar with the formula used in past productions. Audience were free to explore elaborate sets, interact with a large cast and witness recreations of key moments from the show's source material for several hours, before a grand finale and a seated screening of the film that the cast would perform alongside. For Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, these two distinct halves have been combined, with cast interactions happening alongside the screening, which is now the focus on the experience. The experience begins with the audience gathering in the outdoor fairground. Alongside carnival games, bars, food vendors and a Ferris wheel, there's a full-size funhouse. Towering over the space is a huge screen that plays a series of archival movie clips and in-world announcements. With doors opening 90 minutes before the screening begins, there's plenty of time afforded to guests to eat, drink and explore, but beyond a handful of roaming characters welcoming the audience to their first day at Rydell High, there's no meaningful interaction with the cast on offer and no recognisable faces from the film. Photo: Luke Dyson After the opening scene of Grease plays on the outdoor screen, the audience is ushered inside, where the scope of the show's new format is revealed. On two sides of the space, there's VIP seating split between a tiered drive-in, complete with dozens of vintage car bonnets, and a recreation of Frosty's Palace. In the centre sits a huge raised stage, where much of the action takes place, alongside a recreation of the Rydell Autoshop, the National Bandstand stage, cafeteria tables and sports bleachers. Regardless of where the audience is within the cavernous space, there are good sightlines to all of the action, but guests are encouraged to roam and follow the cast as they perform in all four corners of the venue. As the film plays out on a number of screens hanging from the ceiling, there's a black and white live feed of the on-stage action also shown, allowing audiences to see the smaller details in the cast's performances, especially during the musical numbers, which are all performed with live vocals. All of the big moments from Grease are faithfully recreated, including a showstopping performance of 'Greased Lightnin' on the centre stage that sees a red Ford De Luxe descend from the ceiling, and Danny (Liam Morris) suspended above the stage, flexing his muscles to huge cheers. The show's rendition of 'Summer Nights' sees the Pink Ladies and T-Birds in opposing corners, duetting back and forth from the bleachers and cafeteria table, and 'Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee' sees a huge four-poster bed move around the venue as Rizzo (Lucy Penrose) pokes fun at Sandy (Stephanie Costi). Jennifer Weber's choreography builds upon the film's original dance routines, adding a modern touch to these iconic scenes, and all of the show's numbers are wonderfully staged. It's a notable step up from the staging in the Birmingham adaptation of Grease back in 2023, and it far exceeded our expectations going in. Photo: Danny Kaan In terms of interaction, there are plenty of opportunities for the audience to get involved if they want to. Multiple scenes see members of the audience being pulled up on stage, including the National Dance Off and the Pink Ladies' sleepover, where guests can watch the scene on stage alongside the cast, surrounded by pillows and blankets. A Rydell High choir is quickly formed to sing on stage, and select audience members are picked out of the crowd to become silver-roller-wearing angels during 'Beauty School Dropout'. Alongside this, there are passing interactions with the cast as they move around the venue, including, in our case, a brief chat about Danny and Sandy's relationship with Principal McGee (Colleen Daley). Most of these opportunities are open to all, regardless of ticket type, but those with 'VIP Immersive' tickets are also treated to a pre-show experience where they're taught some of the show's dance routines alongside the cast, giving them added confidence for their moments in the spotlight. Photo: Danny Kaan As a first outing for this new format, there are a couple of things that could be tightened up, but on the whole, it's a massively successful change in direction for both the company and their future productions. With Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, Secret Cinema have delivered an engaging and confident communal experience for audiences that also happens to be one of London's best nights out this summer, and firmly re-established itself as one of the city's best immersive producers. It's good to have them back. ★★★★ ½ Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical runs in Battersea Park until 7th September 2025. Tickets are priced from £49.00 per person. For more info and to book tickets, visit greasetheimmersivemoviemusical.com For more reviews of immersive experiences like Secret Cinema's Grease, check out our recent Reviews .

With nearly 4,000 shows on offer across the month of August, planning a visit to the Scottish capital is a daunting task. Here's our guide to some of the interactive and immersive shows at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2025 that we think are worth your time. Images: Katie Edwards/Gameshow Spectacular/Lyra Levin/Uncle Barry/KISS WITNESS Spreadsheets at the ready! The line-up for 2025's Edinburgh Fringe is here. With nearly 4,000 shows on offer across hundreds of venues in the Scottish capital, the month-long arts festival is a daunting event to tackle, even for those who have been multiple times. To help out, we've put together a list of our recommendations for interactive and immersive shows at this year's Edinburgh Fringe. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, it's a solid jumping-off point for anyone looking to see what interactive and immersive work is being performed at the Fringe this summer. Expect more shows to be added as we get closer to August. Undersigned by Yannick Trapman-O'Brien Photo: Lyra Levin Yannick Trapman-O'Brien's interactive psychological thriller Undersigned has become a cult hit in the United States over the last few years, with numerous sold-out engagements and a long waiting list. Making its international debut this summer with appointments in London, Amsterdam, and at the Edinburgh Fringe, Undersigned is a deeply personal experience for one blindfolded audience member and is shaped entirely by the participant's input. Topics of discussion on the table in Undersigned may include money, power, sex, pleasure, violence, blood, horror and the occult, with a commitment that everything discussed in the show will never be repeated once it concludes. Every participant is only ever allowed to experience Undersigned once. Our friends at NoProscenium have previously described Undersigned as "thrilling in every sense of the word", and six months on from their appointment, Todd Martens from the Los Angeles Times commented, "..there are moments I’ll catch myself thinking about the show and the choice I was presented with". Fans of last year's The Manikins: a work in progress by Deadweight Theatre, which shared a bill with Undersigned on the immersive programme at the 2025 Overlook Film Festival in New Orleans, will know how impactful an extended one-on-one experience can be, and how important it is to go into some experiences blind, so the less you know going into Undersigned, the better. An invocation, a blindfold and a pointed discussion. This deeply personal, psychological thriller for one offers infinite possibilities and sharp choices. Repeat visitors are forbidden, and nothing said here ever leaves. As such, in place of summary, Management offers you a deal: after your appointment, you can reclaim a portion of your ticket price – or add what the experience was worth to you. Management bets we will exceed your estimation. After three years of sold-out runs and critical acclaim (LA Times, No Proscenium), we make our international debut with limited engagement festival appointments. Opportunity waits; come take it. 📍 Cowgate at Underbelly (Venue 61) 💰 From £22.00 🕒 31st July - 12th August 2025, Various times, 60 minutes 🎟️ Book via edfringe.com Uncle Barry's Birthday Party Image: UNCLE BARRY A recent highlight of both Side/Step Festival  and Voidspace Live 2025 , Uncle Barry's Birthday Party is an immersive show set at, you guessed it, a birthday party. With a spread of snacks and drinks, a killer playlist and heaps of party decorations, everything is in place to make this a great party, even if the man of the hour is running late.. As guests mingle and chat, everyone swaps stories of how they came to know Uncle Barry. Whether he's helped them as an AA sponsor, been a shoulder to cry on during hard times, or in our case when we attended, offered up a kidney in a time of need, everyone has the chance to improvise and make up as ridiculous a story as they wish about the man, the myth, the legend. It's a collective exercise in going 'Yes, and...' to every new story you hear, which quickly helps Uncle Barry reach mythical status amongst those in attendance, and acts as a world-class ice breaker when speaking to other guests. Sprinkle in some tension between a couple of guests (played wonderfully by the show's cast), a heartfelt speech that needs to be delivered once Uncle Barry arrives, and a conga line that snakes around the length of the venue, and you've got a wonderfully put-together hour-long immersive show that's as fun as Barry is loved. What makes for a fun party? People (you’re invited), gossip (someone has to spill the beans), booze (obviously), dancing (optional), flirting (encouraged), cake (yes), a good playlist (please)... and Uncle Barry! You're invited to share an evening with us celebrating Uncle Barry's Birthday, we know he'd love to have you. Image: UNCLE BARRY 📍 Muse at Braw Venues at Hill Street (Venue 41) 💰 From £14.00 🕒 9th - 17th August 2025, 20:45-21:45, 60 minutes 🎟️ Book via edfringe.com ARCADE by DARKFIELD Photo: Katie Edwards Fringe mainstay DARKFIELD return to Edinburgh this August with a collection of audio-based immersive experiences. While they're best known for creating linear 360-degree sound experiences delivered through headphones such as FLIGHT, COMA and SÉANCE - which all use binaural audio and complete darkness to immerse guests - the company's latest show, ARCADE, offers up a more interactive experience with its choose-your-own adventure design. Each audience member stands in front of an arcade machine in total darkness and takes control of Milk, an amnesic avatar dropped into the middle of an ongoing war between the North Block and South Block. By answering 'Yes' or 'No' when prompted, the branching narrative that makes up ARCADE all but guarantees everyone will have a different experience, and with Milk trying to navigate a war-torn world where violence is commonplace, there's some surprisingly dark subject matter to explore. Earlier this year, we reviewed ARCADE as part of DARKFIELD's Shoreditch Town Hall residency, and described it as a "unique and unsettling half-hour in a dystopian nightmare". DARKFIELD presents ARCADE: an interactive narrative that uses the nostalgic aesthetic of 1980's video games to explore the evolving relationship between players and avatars. Over 30 minutes in a completely dark shipping container, this choose-your-own-path experience will fully immerse the players using 360-degree binaural sound, sensory effects and a bespoke DARKFIELD ARCADE machine for each player. Players will be asked existential questions about free will and consciousness in a world where some may win and some may lose... 📍 Potterrow Plaza - Container 1 at Pleasance Dome (Venue 23) 💰 From £15.00 🕒 1st - 25th August 2025, Various times, 30 minutes 🎟️ Book via edfringe.com Gameshow Spectacular - An Immersive Gameshow Experience Photo: Gameshow Spectacular Following a successful string of shows across London and, more recently, a sold-out run at the Brighton Fringe, Gameshow Spectacular is the perfect interactive, late-night Fringe show. Over 60 chaotic minutes, charismatic American showman Dom Blarke, fresh off losing their Las Vegas residency, invites contestants to compete on stage in a series of over-the-top, ridiculous challenges for the chance to spin the prize wheel and win as many Blarke Bucks as possible for their team. Whether you find yourself on stage trying to catch as many balls as possible in your oversized trousers, doing a perfectly timed shot of tequila while blindfolded, or proving you're the drunkest audience member through a breathalyser, there are a lot of laughs to be had as your teammates either cheer you on or commiserate your loss. Part improv, part game show, the experience is frantic, messy, and heaps of fun. Step into a world of comedy and chaos with Gameshow Spectacular! Hosted by the over-the-top American showman Dom Blarke, this high-energy experience is packed with ridiculous mini-games, audience participation and hilarious surprises. Forget boring trivia – teams compete in outrageous challenges, accompanied by dynamic sound effects and a fast-paced atmosphere. Expect absurd antics, unpredictable twists and non-stop laughter as Dom guides you through a night of pure entertainment. Whether you're on stage or cheering from the crowd, you'll be part of the action. Join us for the most fun, interactive and unforgettable night of your Fringe! Photos: Gameshow Spectacular 📍 Just Out Of The Box at Just the Tonic at The Caves (Venue 88) 💰 From £7.50 🕒 31st July - 9th August 2025, 21:20-22:20, 60 minutes 🎟️ Book via edfringe.com Stampin' in the Graveyard by Kiss Witness Image: KISS WITNESS Exploring the human desire for connection and a sense of belonging, this immersive theatre piece from KISS WITNESS uses silent disco headphones to guide the audience through the end of the world. Set in the graveyard of humanity, Stampin’ in the Graveyard follows AI chatbot Rose as she sifts through the memories of a vanished civilisation, learning about the woman who created her and piecing together the human life that was. The audience shapes the story in real time by interacting with Rose, choosing paths that lead to multiple endings. Rooted in the international creative team’s lived experiences of migration and exile, Stampin' In The Graveyard traces a thread of loss and loneliness - through inherited trauma, displacement, and ecological grief - ultimately investigating how we might move toward joy. Speaking on the show, writer, co-creator and performer Elisabeth Gunawan said: I don't think it's radical to say we live in frightening times - facing the destruction of our planet and the erosion of things we hold dear. I began making this show during the pandemic, when I was far from home and questioning what ‘home’ really meant. As a migrant, neither the place I was born nor the place I resided in offered the safety or belonging that 'home' seems to promise. I hope Stampin’ in the Graveyard can offer audiences a glimmer of hope and belonging in the chaos, even if it is fleeting. Image: Valeriia Poholsha ROSE is an AI chatbot that gives advice for the end of the world, powered by a black box of memories from people whose worlds have already ended. Tonight, ROSE unboxes her training data of human memories (and fabricates some in true AI fashion), to learn about the woman who created her. Stampin' in the Graveyard is an immersive headphone experience fusing physical theatre and live music to draw audiences into an ephemeral, apocalyptic world. Developed by the critically acclaimed and award-winning Elisabeth Gunawan and Kiss Witness 📍 Summerhall - Red Lecture Theatre (Venue 26) 💰 From £17.00 🕒 31st July - 24th August 2025, 12:15-13:15, 60 minutes 🎟️ Book via edfringe.com Thanks for Being Here by Ontroerend Goed Photo: Kurt Van der Elst Eight-time Fringe First winners Ontroerend Goed return to the Fringe with a show that celebrates the most essential element of theatre: the audience. Blending digital livestream with shifting spatial viewpoints, Thanks for Being Here  unsettles expectations as roles blur and the boundary between performer and spectator dissolves. The audience is filmed on entry, and throughout the performance live footage is layered with pre-recorded voices and merged with the faces of those in the crowd – captured in real time by the performers. Watching becomes part of the performance, not by following instructions, but simply by being present. After the show, audiences are invited to leave suggestions that can subtly shape future performances, meaning Thanks for Being Here  is never quite the same twice. A subtle, hopeful celebration of togetherness in the here and now, among a room full of strangers, it isn’t just a show – it's an homage to those who show up.  Speaking on Thanks for Being Here, Director Alexander Devriendt said: I used to want to shake people awake, but now I just want to reach out and connect. Everyone is awakening, slowly. In times of distrust, being positive can almost feel controversial. That’s why it’s hopeful to see that, even in an age of streaming and games, people still make the effort to go outside and experience something unique in the theatre. Thanks for Being Here is our way of saying thank you for that. Photo: Kurt Van der Elst Step into a world where the boundaries between audience and performers dissolve. Eight-time Fringe First-winning theatre company Ontroerend Goed transforms traditional theatre into an experience that playfully shifts perspectives through video. Despite its interactive nature, you're free to simply observe as the performers navigate the space. This isn't about putting you on the spot – it's about recognising that without you, there is no theatre. Thanks for Being Here isn't just a show – it's a celebration of your presence. 📍 Main House at ZOO Southside  (Venue 82) 💰 From £20.00 🕒 12th - 24th August 2025, 13:45-15:00, 75 minutes 🎟️ Book via edfringe.com The Ode Islands by Ornagh Image: Ornagh Blending live performance with responsive virtual reality, this one-woman show unfolds in a fully digital environment that shifts in real time with the performer’s movement and emotional state. At its centre is a woman, Ornagh, caught in a storm and cast adrift across a chain of surreal islands—each representing a different facet of her identity, from domestic roles to sexuality, gender, and body image. As she journeys through these shifting landscapes, she confronts the societal expectations that have shaped her, seeking to shed them and rediscover who she truly is. With a supporting cast of digital characters also performed by Ornagh, the narrative is carried entirely through the artist’s body, voice, and the digital worlds that surround her. Motion capture brings to life a series of fantastical characters she meets along the way, AI manipulation shapes their voices, and satellite data forms the virtual terrain. The result is a fragmented yet visceral exploration of memory, myth, and the boundaries of self.  Speaking on the show, creator and performer Ornagh said: The Ode Islands is a retrospective of my existing works, where each virtual reality environment I’ve created serves as a backdrop for this new theatrical experience. As a contemporary artist and a woman, I confront themes of gender, sexuality, and body image through layered, immersive storytelling. By harnessing the power of digital tools and AI, I invite the audience to join me on a journey of reimagining what freedom can look like in this digital age. Image: Ornagh A genre-blurring experience, fusing live performance with virtual reality environments shifting and reshaping in response to the protagonist's inner world. Swept into a storm while escaping a stagnant life, a woman is cast across surreal islands. Each strange landscape becomes a mirror, challenging her to let go of who she was and step into who she might become – a striking exploration of transformation and self-discovery. Visually arresting and emotionally charged, The Ode Islands invites audiences into a fluid world where physical and digital realities merge. A bold, boundary-defying performance pushing the edges of contemporary storytelling. 📍 Lammermuir Theatre at Pleasance at EICC (Venue 150b) 💰 From £12.50 🕒 31st July - 16th August 2025, 16:00-17:00, 60 minutes 🎟️ Book via edfringe.com Channel by Dutch Kills Theater Company and Wet Hands Photo: Alley Scott Inspired by the sonic meditations of American composer Pauline Oliveros, Channel has been created by Jack McGuire as an introduction to communal and attentive listening. Wet Hands (Jack McGuire) provides a welcoming space, creating a live soundscape through an experimental approach to layering sound. Audience members are invited to take part in this collective listening experience and encouraged to contribute to and become a part of the ambient soundscape. Channel comprises a physical and audio environment designed to be a peaceful escape, while also fostering a sense of connection and community. Jack McGuire has previously collaborated with Dutch Kills Theater Company at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Solitary (2019) and critically acclaimed Temping (2022 - 2024). Speaking on the show, Jack McGuire said: I think this can be a truly impactful piece and something the community at the Fringe really needs—a space to gather, rest, and recharge. Before diving back into the excitement of the festival, Channel offers a moment to pause, to recentre, and to reconnect in the midst of an intense and energizing experience. Photo: Alley Scott An immersive sound bath and communal listening space guided by live ambient electronic music. Designed to care for and reinvigorate the audience, the space invites you to sit, stand or lie down. The audience is invited to offer their own sounds to help create the sonic meditation, with the intention of promoting connection, attention and radical listening. This is a moment for attentive listening in a landscape that often overloads us with information. It calls us to action to turn our attention towards each other and the world around us, finding connection through the collective effort of listening. 📍 Assembly Roxy Snug  (Venue 139) 💰 From £10.50 🕒 30th July - 24th August 2025, 14:40-15:40, 50-60 minutes 🎟️ Book via edfringe.com For news, reviews and previews of upcoming immersive experiences, follow Immersive Rumours on Instagram or BlueSky .

Image: FAME*FACTORY   We all see mega-celebrities living their best lives, flashing on our screens and socials every day, and let’s face it… we all dream of what living that sort of life would be like. Well, people don’t have to dream anymore because now they can live life as an A-Lister at FAME*FACTORY . FAME*FACTORY, which launches this October 2025 at Immerse LDN, is a brand new immersive theatre show that offers guests the ultimate taste of superstardom. Fly on your own private jet, perform in front of your adoring fans, star in a photo shoot and a movie, walk the red carpet and maybe even give a winner’s speech. How will you play it? Are you staying humble or serving diva? Produced by Done + Dusted , the creative producers behind some of the world’s most iconic live moments including The Oscars, MTV’s Video Music Awards and The BRIT Awards, FAME*FACTORY is a bold, high-octane journey through the highs and headlines of the A-list life, complete with stylists, paparazzi, green rooms, gossip, and tabloid-worthy twists.  This is no solo ride either - every A-lister needs their entourage. A full cast of actors, from agents and bodyguards to photographers and publicists, guides guests through a show designed to blur the lines between reality and celebrity fantasy. Video: FAME*FACTORY Hamish Hamilton, creator of FAME*FACTORY, double BAFTA-winning Director and  Co-Founder of Done + Dusted, says:  I've been around fame and celebrity my entire professional life. Directing events like The Oscars, The BRITs, and MTV’s VMAs has given me a red-carpet view of the crazy world around the famous. So, one day, I decided to create a show that allowed everyone to experience the celebrity lifestyle. With cinematic production, playful satire and unforgettable photo-ready moments, FAME*FACTORY explores both the fantasy and frenzy of fame and what it really means to be in the limelight.  FAME*FACTORY opens at Immerse LDN near Customs House on 2nd October 2025. Tickets are priced from £28.50. To sign up for the waitlist, visit fame-factory.com

Deep in the Sussex countryside for three weekends a year, the Kingdom of Loxwood appears, ready to welcome guests into its hugely engaging immersive world. Photo: The Loxwood Joust The Loxwood Joust is an immersive medieval festival that runs in Loxwood Meadow, West Sussex, across several weekends each August. Founded in 2012 by Danny and Maurice Bacon, Loxwood Joust features live jousting tournaments, closer-quarters combat, living history exhibits and an ongoing storyline that spans multiple years, all of which form an experience that invites guests to immerse themselves in a world full of 'adventure, magic and captivating stories'. In recent years, Loxwood Joust has seen an increased focus placed on adding more immersive elements, including more developed character interactions and the introduction and evolution of story quests under the artistic direction of Paul Flannery, who has also worked on Phantom Peak and LaplandUK. The experience's overarching story has centred in recent years on Queen Helena, whose accession to the throne has been hard-won. In 2023, after losing an election to the aptly named Lord Villain, she was banished to the woods and left to plot her revenge. The following year, after returning to Loxwood and beating the then-ruler in competition, her coronation ushered in a new era for the Kingdom. Now, in the latest chapter of the story, an ancient law threatens her claim to the throne, requiring her to marry a suitable suitor before the final joust of the summer. Spread across several meadows and woodland areas, The Loxwood Joust is a full-day experience, running from 10am to 6pm, but it includes far more activities and shows than one could complete in a single day. During our visit, we only scratched the surface of everything on offer at Loxwood and could have easily spent an entire weekend exploring the Kingdom and interacting with its population, which is now possible thanks to the addition of on-site camping. Photo: The Loxwood Joust The southern half of the site, which is made up of meadowland, largely revolves around the arena. While it hosts two jousts each day, it is also the setting for the falconry display, the infamous Meat Grinder contest, and this year, the highly anticipated Royal Wedding. Across both scheduled jousts, the Loxwood Boars battle it out against the Guildford Guillemots and the Horsham Hornets in a tournament that draws in most of the site's visitors as spectators. There are factions of supporters for each team scattered around the edges of the arena, which stoke the flames of competition, but it's a hugely enjoyable spectacle even without allegiances. Lances shatter into splinters upon impact, riders fall from their horses, and a healthy dose of goading from the Guillemots and Hornets casts the Boars' opponents in the role of pantomime villains, eliciting boos from the crowd at regular intervals. Come mid-afternoon, many of the other activities happening around the site pause when the headline event, The Queen's Tournament, begins. Once the second jousting competition, which features the same level of shattered lances and booing, concludes, the focus shifts to the Meat Grinder, a 22-person free-for-all armoured fight with weapons and shields, where the last man standing wins. The finale of The Queen's Tournament is the Royal Wedding, which delivers the conclusion to this year's storyline. Photo: Martin Bamford For those seeking more combat beyond the jousts, The Fighting Pit, which runs for most of the day, offers a steady stream of competitors ready to battle in brutal, full-contact medieval combat. Armed with weapons and shields, these close-quarters skirmishes are short but intense, and the risk of injury for those involved makes it all the more thrilling to watch. It's easy to get invested in these fights, not least because those competing give it their all – grappling, charging, and in some cases, roundhouse kicking each other until one emerges victorious. Alongside all of this large-scale entertainment, there's an Archery Enclave and Knight School, where guests can get hands-on experience with medieval weapons without the pressures of the Fighting Pit; the chance to seek an audience with Queen Helena (Catherine Davies) and her right hand, Lord Cunningham (Mack Newton), in the Royal Quarter; as well as a mead bar, a bazaar full of items for sale, and several food vendors. Within the Enchanted Woodlands, live performances from medieval folk band Trobar de Morte  provide an otherworldly soundtrack to the area, which is steeped in supernatural goings-on and divination. In one corner of the woodlands, a coven of witches, including Tallow The Bog Witch (Anna Fraser) and Chlorine (Tasia Rhodes), gather around bubbling cauldrons, ready to invoke spirits. Elsewhere, the Guard Hut, which should be home to those sworn to protect the Kingdom, has been infiltrated by a troublesome spectre that has unfinished business to attend to. There are messages left from those beyond the veil, mysterious wooden symbols that have appeared amongst the trees, and a crumbling wall named Baulderon comes to life and speaks to guests throughout the day, seeking riddles, jokes and gossip from the Kingdom's adventurers. Photo: Martin Bamford One of the elements Loxwood has expanded upon for 2025 is their story quests, which are an additional £3 per quest. For this year's event, there are nine quests available, divided into three categories – Nobles, Heroes and Woodland Folk. Within each of these categories, there are bronze, silver and gold quests, denoting the complexity and amount of site-wide exploration required. Families with young adventurers will find any of the bronze quests a good fit, while those looking for a challenge that demands some leaps of logic and plenty of traversal across the Kingdom should focus on the gold quests. While the opportunity to become part of the story within Loxwood is likely a big enough draw for many attendees, each quest also includes a bespoke medal upon completion to sweeten the deal. During our visit, we worked through all three gold quests, which, according to some of Loxwood's population, is quite a challenge to fit into a single-day visit but is achievable and hugely satisfying for those looking to push themselves. In 'Grave Consequences', we tracked down the spirit responsible for a Kingdom-wide crime spree and helped them get their affairs in order before laying them to rest. 'The Perplexor' had us following a criminal mastermind's breadcrumb trail across the site, and 'All The World's A Plague' required us to decode a list of ingredients needed to soothe the ailments afflicting one of Lord Cunningham's 'friends'. Across all three of these quests, there's real humour and lightheartedness woven in every step. Much of this comes from Loxwood's talented cast, who will banter with adventurers, improvise based on their comments, and make a clear effort to involve everyone in the experience. There's also plenty of fun to be found in all of the written material scattered across noticeboards throughout the site and in The Kingdom of Loxwood Explorer's Guide, a theme-park-style map that is a huge help to first-time visitors and provides various clues and pieces of information needed to complete the quests in and amongst in-world advertisements for everything from Joust Eat to Hedgehog Grease. Photo: Martin Bamford While dressing up isn't required to enjoy Loxwood Joust, many attendees go above and beyond, arriving in elaborate outfits that match the experience's medieval setting. You can expect to see dozens of elf ears and flower crowns, visitors dressed in chainmail, and more axes, bows, and capes than you can count, as well as plenty of people proudly displaying their questing medals around their necks. More so at Loxwood Joust than any other immersive event we've attended in recent memory, the attendees were all incredibly open and friendly. We regularly overheard conversations beginning with compliments on others' costumes, and in our case, several chats with other guests started with questions about which quests we had completed. With so many of the attendees being dressed up, the sense of immersion was significantly enhanced, and the whole experience felt like stepping into a living, breathing medieval settlement. Photo: Martin Bamford One of Loxwood Joust's biggest strengths is how well it balances the large-scale, collective moments of spectacle, like the jousting tournaments and full-contact fights, with the smaller, more personal interactions with the Kingdom's cast of characters. When these two elements come together, they create an experience that's not only thoroughly entertaining for all attendees but also massively rewarding for those who want to engage with the world on a deeper level. With the organisers' commitment to continuously refining and expanding the show's immersive elements each year, an annual trip to the Kingdom of Loxwood feels like a very inviting, if not essential, appointment. We'll be back next summer, ready for more adventure. For Loxwood! ★★★★½ The Loxwood Joust runs at Loxwood Meadow in West Sussex on 2nd, 3rd, 9th, 10th, 16th & 17th August 2025. Tickets are priced from £35.00 per adult (children 14 and under are free entry) and can be purchased via loxwoodjoust.co.uk For more reviews of immersive experiences like The Loxwood Joust, check out our recent Reviews

We sit down with Secret Cinema's Senior Creative Director, Matt Costain, to discuss their much-anticipated return to London with Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical. Image: Secret Cinema It's been nearly three years since a large-scale Secret Cinema show opened in London. This summer, the company, which are known for creating immersive adaptations of popular films such as Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy and Back to the Future, makes its return to the capital with Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, which will see the debut of a new format for the company. With a cast of 30, a live band, and recreations of many of the film's locations, including Frosty's Palace, The Autoshop, and Rydell High, this version of Grease is a radical departure from previous Secret Cinema productions of the film, with the action taking place alongside the film's screening. Ahead of the show's launch, we were invited down to Battersea for a sneak peek at what to expect from Secret Cinema's return and spoke to the show's Creative Director, Matt Costain. In our frank conversation, Matt discusses what Secret Cinema has been working on since their latest production, how their previous business model presented some unique challenges, and how the company is adapting to fit into the rapidly evolving immersive landscape. Immersive Rumours: Hi Matt, thanks for speaking with us today. Do you mind introducing yourself and telling us a bit about your role within Secret Cinema? Matt Costain:  I'm Matt Costain. I'm the Senior Creator Director for Secret Cinema, and I've been with the company on and off since the very, very early days when Fabien Riggall first started it. He was about two or three shows in and asked me to come and work with the actors and the creation of the performance. Back in the day, when we were doing one-nighters, we didn't really ask anyone's permission for anything. We ran in, did a thing, and by the time anyone was worried about it, we'd gone. I stayed with Secret Cinema through the first couple phases of it growing up, and we did a lot of growing up in public back then. I ended up doing about ten shows up until The Empire Strikes Back, which was, I suppose, the pinnacle of the sort of thing we did in found spaces. After that, I needed a rest and a change. Secret Cinema grew a lot over the next few years while I wasn't around, but I then came back, refreshed and excited for Stranger Things, and have been with the company full-time ever since. Image: Dale Croft IR: Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical is the first large-scale Secret Cinema in London since 2022, and it’s been two years since the previous iteration of Grease at the NEC in Birmingham. What has the last couple of years looked like for the business? From the outside, it’s looked pretty quiet, but I'm sure there's been a lot going on behind the scenes. Matt: We’ve been extremely busy trying to make the next thing happen. This is the smallest violin in the world playing for the producers, but it turns out that putting on immersive shows is hard.  IR: Who knew!? Matt:  Who knew! All immersive companies will tell you the same thing. At Secret Cinema, we’re at the mercy of the studios, and sometimes we'll be quite a long way down developing a project, then, for some reason outside of our control, it stops. Also, the world has changed. The nature of immersive has changed. The word immersive has changed. Immersive means so many things now to so many people. We’ve been trying to work out what our place in that space is and create a sustainable business. So that's been happening behind the scenes -  a bit of existential soul searching, along with some business modelling. With the best love in the world, the early Secret Cinemas were unsustainable. We've always wanted it to be accessible to people; it can't just be a playground and a hobby for rich kids. It needs to be able to support the industry on which it depends, and the audience on which it also depends. We’ve been trying to find a new way of delivering the stories, but also, post-COVID, people were booking tickets in a different way. IR: How so? Matt: When we were looking at it, people were only really booking one big thing a year, far in advance. They would book Glastonbury, or Wimbledon, or get World Cup tickets, or insert favourite theatre show/ event here, and then book other things, like Secret Cinema, later. They wanted to see how their bank balances looked, or they would want to make sure it wasn't going to get cancelled, and that's a precarious model. Bearing all that in mind, and the expectation of these huge shows, means that if you're not careful, you get to the stage, which we nearly did, where the only thing you can consider doing is giant blockbusters. Everything else crumbles under the weight of the expected ticket sales and the costs. We had a lot of conversations with studios about how we could deliver films in a way that wouldn't be to their existing expectations, which was, to quote another company, creating Sleep No More for everything. It took a while for them to come around to that idea, but now we’re at a point where there are 5 or 6 projects stacked, waiting for the right combination of things to fall into place. If they do fall into place, we’ve got material for 3-4 years, and a number of shows a year, but it has taken two years of apparent inertia for that to happen. I know it’s frustrating looking in from the outside, going ‘When are you ever going to do something again?’ or if you read through the comments, it’s ‘When are you going to do a brand news show?’, with the next comment being ‘When are you going to bring back Star Wars?!’. Everyone has an opinion on how to be doing Secret Cinema, but we’ve been working hard, and it’s hard to communicate that. We thought it was best to keep quiet until we can put our money where our mouth is and come out with the three-year deal at Evolution, and Grease as the first step on this idea to a new way of producing work, with hopefully many more to come. Image: Dale Croft IR: The new format you’re adopting for Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, is this going to largely be what Secret Cinema shows look like going forward? Are we done with the days of tight corridors and secret rooms that you've got to earn entry into? Matt:  There will always be secrets. IR: It’s in the name, isn’t it… Matt: It's on the tin. There will always be things to find. Back in the day, we didn't even tell you what you were going to go and see. Our secrets - the way that we do things, and the way you can find something - have changed, but haven't stopped. One thing we are looking at is being flexible to the different titles that deserve different formats. There are some titles that you think, ‘Yeah, I get that. I'm on a mission. There’s a time pressure. It's important. I can do that.’ Other ones feel like you want to sit in the world. Grease represents the beginning of an idea for how to look at those titles. The film is unfolding around you, but the exploration takes place in and around the film showing. IR: As opposed to being two distinct halves.. Matt: Yeah. We've sort of been calling it the ‘one world model’. We have to be quite disciplined with ourselves because, as you said, we started with going, ‘Let's show this film in a place that's appropriate, so let's find a hospital that has 50 rooms'. The problem there was always, where do you find the big room to do the screening, or the finale, or what we call the hero moment? The next idea was to get a warehouse with a big space for the screening and the finale, but we're going to have to build those 50 rooms. Anybody who's involved in theatre or construction will tell you that building 50 rooms is an unsustainable business model. We then said to ourselves, ‘Okay, what if you're not building so many rooms but you're looking at one large space?'. We've all done the show where we've been in one large space and we've pretended there are separate rooms, which is just a lot of shouting. It's not satisfying, so then we started saying, ‘Okay, if we're going to be in one big room largely, we'll own up to it’. Let's help direct the main body of attention in the audience, so it follows a more theatrical path. Around that, we offer pauses, gaps and areas where you can go off and explore. That's where you have to be careful, because if you're not careful, you'll go, ‘Oh, just put a one-on-one there. Oh, just put a little room there', and before you know it, you've gone back to building 50 rooms.  Image: Dale Croft IR: For Grease, you've got some new ticket types, including the VIP Immersive ticket, which allows guests to arrive 75 minutes before, learn a routine and be on stage at points as well. Is that a reflection of the understanding that different audience members are looking for different levels of engagement?  Matt:  Absolutely. We've always allowed that to happen organically. We've always had super fans, people like PPSC ( Positive People of Secret Cinema ), who are wonderful and want to find every secret, get involved, do all that homework, and learn all the songs. We want to facilitate that type of stuff. There are also people who are fans of this particular title, whatever it may be, who want to see the iconic thing for that title, and then there are, broadly, people who go, ‘I don't know why I'm here. My partner has bought me a ticket. I saw that it looked fun. I saw a poster and heard it's cool.’ For those people, we offer spectacle and gradual invitations to join.  While we've tried to keep it accessible to people in lots of different ways, not everybody wants to do those things. We've found that some of that is a barrier to entry. Not everybody wants to dress up, and some people will find it off-putting. However, it's helpful for the world if it feels like the right world, so we encourage you to, and we offer people a light touch these days on how you might gently join in, rather than being as we were in the beginning, which was, ‘You must! You have to! There is no excuse for not dressing in one of nine elaborate costume types and entering carrying a cabbage!'. We're trying to be lighter, but we know that people want to do these things, so there will always be the opportunity for anybody who’s got a general admission ticket to join in anyhow. I would hate for Secret Cinema to become exclusive to the extent where it’s ‘Sorry you can't do that.’ It should always be the case that you can. For those people who know they really want to, it offers an inside, backstage track. You can get a VIP ticket, which means coming down early, learning some things so that you can join in, so that you can be in the front row and maybe be a choreography ambassador almost, where you can be passing on what you do, and being like team leaders, if that interests you. At the other end of the scale, there are some people who just want to sit and watch, so we've got this Roam and Return seated ticket. You've got your table, you've got your seat, you can go back to it - it's yours - but you can get up at any time and wander off and join a bit that you feel like.  Image: Dale Croft IR: Finally, what advice would you give for someone who has never been to a Secret Cinema show before, maybe has never done any immersive stuff, but is looking to come to Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical this summer? Matt: You know what? The first thing I'd say is relax. You get out what you put in, but that doesn't mean that you have to go crazy. If you want a relaxed time, you can relax. We're not going to make you do anything you don't want to do. We're not going to embarrass or humiliate you. If you want to dress up, however gently, you will probably feel more at home when you are there, rather than going 'Oh, I wish I had’. Be a little bit brave, take a little bit of a risk. There's something really, really pleasing and really rewarding about getting on the tube wherever it is that you live, as the only person in a black leather jacket and sunglasses. Gradually, as you get nearer the venue, you’ll get other high school students and teachers and people in other outfits getting on. You think, ‘Oh, you're going where I'm going’, and by the time you get to the destination station, there are throngs of people walking up the drive to Evolution in outfits. That's a really powerful feeling that sets you up really well. Image: Dale Croft Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical will run from 1st August to 7th September 2025 at Evolution London in Battersea Park. For more info and to get tickets, visit greasetheimmersivemoviemusical.com

Image: Secret Cinema With rehearsals now underway, further casting has been confirmed for Secret Cinema's Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, which opens on 1st August at Evolution London in Battersea Park. Returning to London after an extended absence, this latest Secret Cinema production is the debut of a brand-new format for the company and promises to bring the beloved movie musical from Paramount Pictures to life like never before. The newly announced cast joins previously announced Pink Ladies and T Bird, Stephanie Costi  as Sandy, Liam Buckland  as Kenickie   and Lucy Penrose  as   Rizzo. Liam Morris  leads the T Birds as Danny, alongside Andilé Mabhena as   Putsie, Darragh Rochford  as   Doody   and  Myles Thomas as Sonny. Donning Pink Ladies jackets alongside Sandy and Lucy are Toni Pais as   Marty,  Brooke Ramsay as Jan   and  Gerardine Sacdalan as   Frenchie,   who all appear alongside schoolmates Imogen Kingsley-Smith  as Patty Simcox and Jacob Stebbings  as Eugene Felsnic. Photo: Liam Morris as Danny/Stephanie Costi as Sandy/Lucy Penrose as Rizzo/Liam Buckland as Kenickie At a launch event for Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical last month, Immersive Rumours caught up with the previously announced cast members ahead of them starting rehearsals for the show. Stephanie Costi, who's playing Sandy, reflected on the significance of the role: "Sandy is such an iconic role to step into and has always been a dream role of mine. She goes on such a huge journey in the show, and it’ll be incredible to recreate that. " Liam Buckland, who is playing Kenickie, shared the same enthusiasm for their role in the experience: "Kenickie has been a dream role for me ever since I was a kid. I think it’ll be really nice to explore different sides of him and see what our takes on these characters will be." For Lucy Penrose, who played Rizzo in Secret Cinema's 2023 production of Grease in Birmingham, it's a return to a role that she loved playing previously. "It was one of my favourite jobs I've ever worked on. I think the Secret Cinema fans are the best. They are so engaged, and they give so much, so I’m very excited to see everybody in the world again." The cast of Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical in rehearsals Photos: Secret Cinema Also confirmed for Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, Colleen Daley as Principal McGee, Julie Cloke as her secretary, Blanche and Rhys Owen as Coach Calhoun. David Fearn will appear as Teen Angel/Choir Master, and Waylon Jacobs will play television teen-dance show host, Vince Fontaine. The company is completed by the ensemble cast, which is made up of Morgan Baulch, Dylan Blake-Colbet, Ziki Buswell, Erin Corfield, Leah Dane, Bella Donald, CJ Driver, David Heal, Reece Kerridge, Sunny Lee, Kelly Mbarga, Rose Mary O’Reilly and Aaron Shales. Each performance of Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical will be a two-and-a-half-hour spectacular which blurs the line between screen and reality, and for the very first time, the entire film is brought to life all around the audience with actors and immersive elements seamlessly blending with the on-screen action. Render of Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical Image: Dale Croft With a 30-strong cast and live band bring to life all of the songs from the film’s hit soundtrack including ‘You’re The One That I Want’, ‘Beauty School Dropout’, ‘Greased Lightnin’, ‘Look At Me I’m Sandra Dee’, ‘Summer Nights’, and ‘We Go Together,’ Secret Cinema's production fuses the film and its iconic moments with a modern live action experience. Secret Cinema's return to London with Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical sees the introduction of a new ticketing structure. General Admission (Free Roam) tickets start at £49, offering general access. VIP Seated (Roam and Return) tickets will, for the first time, allow attendees to join the world of Rydell High with the option to return to designated seating throughout the event and start at £79. Premium Immersive (Join the Cast) tickets begin at £149 and offer a new level of interaction, with ticket holders learning choreographed routines in advance of the performance, before joining the company during the experience. This 2025 production marks the first of three consecutive summer events from Secret Cinema, at Evolution London, their most central London venue to date. Future productions based on other iconic titles for 2026 & 2027 will be announced later in the year. Renders of Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical Images: Dale Croft Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical will run from 1st August to 7th September 2025 at Evolution London in Battersea Park. For more info and to get tickets, visit greasetheimmersivemoviemusical.com