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- Broken Planet Show returns to Edinburgh Fringe this August
Photo: Broken Planet Show Broken Planet Show marks a return of apocalyptic proportions to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August at Just the Tonic at the Big Cave between 20th and 30th August at 16:30 daily. Comedy, circus and indie cosmic lunacy collide in an ever-changing nightly riot of world-class weirdos, hellbent on healing our planetary divide. This genre-bending cabaret is “a full hour of interactive chaos” (The List), uplifting and subverting audiences with its delightful pandemonium. This Fringe audience favourite features creator Callum Grant along with Clown Gods, Giant Babies, Fart Monkeys, the infamous Nerf Karaoke and outlandish acts from across the Fringe, accompanied by a live-looped indie score morphing every night. Broken Planet Show dares you to misbehave, laugh at your flaws and dance through the chaos. It's a rowdy invitation to take life less seriously in what Broadway Baby calls the 'Most Fringe show I've ever seen.' . Launched in 2023, Broken Planet Show kicked off as a living room performance by founder Callum Grant (Blue Man Group, Savannah Bananas). The message resonated with artists and collaborators alike and now continues to grow into a collective on a mission to save the world through comedy, music, performance art and more. The show has gone on to perform at theatres and festivals around the world, including Las Vegas (Fallout Fringe), New York (Brooklyn Comedy Collective), Chicago (The Newport Theatre), and more. Broken Planet Show is produced in part by Behave Yourself Productions LLC (Callum Grant) and Lottie & Dessie Productions (Jamie Hafner). Broken Planet Show runs at Just the Tonic at the Big Cave (Venue 88) from 20th to 30th August 2026 at 16:30. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com
- Review: The Shop for Mortals and All Fools at COLAB Tower
Lush design and a tour de force performance combine for an intimate take on The Bacchae. Photo: James Lawson The Shop for Mortals and All Fools opens its doors once again to venturous audiences keen to explore its mystical antiquities. By now, word of Vinicius Salles’s take on The Bacchae has spread from its mesmerizing sold-out run at Stanley Arts to the ears of immersive fans across the country. This new installation at COLAB Tower offers an intimate opportunity to dive into the Dionysian fervor for those who may have missed out on the original iteration. Set in a mysterious shop seemingly trapped outside of space and time, audiences are greeted with an impressive array of curios and antiques. The shopkeeper, Agatha (Emma Kirrage), encourages us to explore a number of decorative boxes which likely hide a secret about the true nature of the shop. Each box comes with a cryptic and poetic description of its history and use. While this introduction is an engaging invitation into the world of the play, it unfortunately isn’t given enough time. Due to the constraints of the running time and the low lighting of the venue, audiences will only have time to explore a box or two before being whisked away to the back of the shop. It’s empowering for an audience to be given an active role within the world, and we are promised that role will be of use at a later period in the show, but our role (and our agency within the show) is quickly abandoned for a more linear theatrical experience. What we are given in return is a tour de force performance. Audiences are invited into Agatha’s personal quarters in the back of the shop, where a table and several sofas and chests of drawers are overgrown with unnatural foliage bursting from unexpected places. Agatha takes on the singular role of storyteller, recounting the strange twists of her fate as a member of a hedonistic cult, and we are swept up in the whirlwind of her frenzied, orgiastic memories. Photo: James Lawson With the boon of recent adaptations of The Bacchae (including Sleepwalk Immersive’s Bacchanalia and the National Theatre’s The Bacchae), audiences will likely already be familiar with Agatha’s story of lust and loss. This production takes a more focused look at Agave (updated here to Agatha for a more modern audience), the tragic victim of Dionysus’s power struggle to be recognized as a god. It’s clear from the outset that Agatha is an unreliable narrator, and her hazy memories of parties, battles, and orgies are often told through movement, poetic monologue, and artistic imagery rather than solid facts. This approach adds to the frenzied dreamlike daze of Agatha’s experience, fueling the story through emotion rather than logic. But if ever there was a performer to cinch such a complex emotional storyline together, it’s Emma Kirrage. Deftly flitting between fragile humility and wicked abandon, Kirrage gives an intoxicating performance that combines brutal and graceful physicality, deep emotional range, and expert storytelling. It’s an unforgettable performance from a world-class performer. The set design (Bronia Kupczyk with pieces from Elina Pasok and Anita Wadsworth) is equally enthralling. A multisensory experience, the space constantly confronts the familiar with the eerie. Trees grow from inside dresser drawers, vines twist to form a voluptuous female bust, fabric wraps around chairs like dismembered limbs – all combining to create an ethereal liminal space haunted by the events of the past. There is a clear Punchdrunk influence across the experience (which is unsurprising given director Vincisius Salles’s time working with the company), and this production has capitalized on some of the best aspects of Punchdrunk’s work. At its best moments, The Shop for Mortals and All Fools captures the pervasive doom and majestic scope of productions like Sleep No More. It comes through in the otherworldly choreography, the clever use of stagecraft in repurposing props to shift the audience’s frame of reference, and the use of scent to evoke emotional responses to space. However, the show inherits Punchdrunk’s attitude towards agency as well. Audiences are only directly addressed at key moments, wherein they are given tea to hold to increase a sensory experience or are spoken to directly as an aside of Agatha’s monologue. But for the majority of the experience, the audience is simply that – audience. While there is nothing wrong with passive observation (audiences have been sitting in seats at theatres for centuries without an active role in shows, and it’s worked just fine), it does limit the show’s ability to truly immerse the audience in the world of the show. If the world is not reacting to the audience’s presence and input in the immediate environment, then are they really there? Photo: James Lawson That’s not to say the show props itself up on Punchdrunk’s style – quite the opposite. The Shop for Mortals and All Fools has more than enough personality and innovation to set it apart from other reference points, and makes a statement in its own right about its unique approach to theatre. The captivating performance of its leading lady, the unique and intriguing element of an actual storefront (with trinkets available for purchase; all proceeds go to the show’s partner charity, Emmaus), and the impressive and effective simplicity of the stagecraft set the show apart. The production closes with a return to the storefront. Given what they now know about the gods and her own experience, Agatha asks audience members to select which box in the shop holds a secret to the truth behind the shop. One lucky audience member is selected, both through intuition and fate, to have a private one-on-one with Agatha, stealing away once more to the back room of the shop. The sudden return of agency is an effective transition back to the real world waiting outside the shop’s doors, but the mechanic of challenging audiences’ understanding of the content at the beginning of the show seems disconnected from the central theme of the overall experience. Still, the promise of an intimate and personalized experience is a tempting one, and any excuse to experience more of Kirrage’s spellbinding performance is a welcome one. The Shop for Mortals and All Fools is an intimate and at times powerful adaptation of Euripides’s masterpiece. While it may not be the most immersive offering, the outstanding performances and inventive set design make it an unforgettable experience nonetheless. Tickets are currently available through the beginning of July, meaning the store may close its doors again soon, but here’s hoping it will appear again soon for audiences to explore the curious trinkets and the stories behind them for themselves. ★★★★ [Tickets provided in exchange for an honest review] Words: Danny Romeo The Shop for Mortals and All Fools runs at COLAB Tower near London Bridge until 4th July 2026. Tickets are priced from £35.00 per person. For more information and to book tickets, visit viniciussalles.co.uk
- Club NVRLND to transfer to The Vaults this November
Image: Club NVRLND Following last year’s sold-out Edinburgh Festival run, producers David Adkin, RJG Productions, and Midnight Theatricals in association with NewYorkRep have confirmed that Club NVRLND, the immersive nightclub phenomenon, will transfer to The Vaults, Waterloo, from Saturday 14th November 2026 until Saturday 31st January 2027. Conceived and directed by Steven Kunis (Hir, Straight White Men), with a book by Olivier Award-winning Jack Holden (Cruise, KENREX), Club NVRLND is a high-energy immersive musical, transforming The Vaults into Peter Pan’s underground nightclub, where audiences become part of the party, revelling in nostalgia, exhilaration and youthful abandon. Set to the biggest 2000s anthems by legends including Britney Spears, Rihanna, P!nk, Outkast, Coldplay and many more, audiences are invited to leave their worries at the door and lose themselves on the dancefloor! Video: Chew Boy Productions. Club NVRLND at Edinburgh Fringe 2025 Welcome to NVRLND, where the party goes straight on till morning. When runaway bride Wendy Darling stumbles back into Peter's world, she's forced to question everything she thought she wanted. Offered the chance to rewrite her story, Wendy's thrown back into a world of intoxicating fun and reckless adventure. Club NVRLND premiered at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it sold out every performance. This nightclub musical event is an irreverent, high-energy, immersive party where fairy dust is in the air, the drinks flow, and the night is always young. The production has choreography by Ashley Nottingham, executive music production and arrangements by Hugo Dunn-Vereker, set and costume design by Suzu Sakai, lighting design by Oliver Award-nominee Robbie Butler, sound design by Sound Quiet Time, casting direction by Lucy Casson, music production and arrangements by Liam James, Kieran Smith & Gregor Philp; post-production & mastering by Robin Sutherland and vocal arrangements by Simon Nathan, music supervision by Colm O'Regan with Aida Rocci as creative producer. Club NVRLND is produced by David Adkin, RJG Productions, and Midnight Theatricals in association with NewYorkRep and is presented by arrangement with Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity and Concord Theatricals Ltd. Club NVRLND will run at The Vaults near Waterloo from 14th November 2027 to 31st January 2027. For more information and to book tickets, visit clubnvrlnd.com
- Kaiser Chiefs' Ricky Wilson will play Teen Angel in Secret Cinema's Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical
Photo: Matt Crockett Secret Cinema has announced that Ricky Wilson, lead singer of the Kaiser Chiefs, will be taking on the role of Teen Angel in the critically acclaimed Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical across selected performances this Summer. He will be joining the previously announced Stephanie Costi and Lucy Penrose, who are returning as Sandy and Rizzo, respectively, reprising their roles from last year; and they are joined by Giórgios Michaelídes as Danny and Arcangelo Ciulla as Kenickie. Full casting will be announced in due course. Ricky Wilson said: At school I was in Grease, and I feel I have to redeem myself. I was not yet the international pop sensation I am today, and I only really wanted to do it cos I fancied the girl who played Frenchie (I was Doody), so this is my chance to show everyone I should have got a bigger part. I don’t believe anyone from that production is now a professional singer, so in short, I win. Photo: Luke Dyson This summer, Secret Cinema is welcoming audiences back to Rydell High once more with the return of Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, following its sold-out run in 2025. The production will open at Evolution London in Battersea Park for a strictly limited run from 22nd July to 13th September. Each performance of Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical is two hours and fifteen minutes. Come down to Rydell High and relive memorable moments from ‘Beauty School Dropout’, featuring Teen Angel star Ricky Wilson (Kaiser Chiefs, The Voice), and ‘Summer Nights’, to ‘Greased Lightnin’’ and ‘We Go Together’. Every iconic song from the 1978 Paramount Pictures film will come to life as a live cast and band perform against multiple movie screens. Photo: Danny Kaan From the moment they enter this modern live experience, audiences step into the world of the movie, exploring the iconic locations including Frosty Palace, The Autoshop, and The Carnival and immerse themselves in school spirit, training with Coach Calhoun, cheering on the T-Birds, taking part in a choir practice, and even tasting 1950s American diner-style delights. The innovative production is brought to life by the creative team of Matthew Costain (Director); Tom Rogers (Set Designer); Jennifer Weber (Choreographer); Howard Hudson (Lighting Designer); Gareth Fry (Sound Designer) and Ian William Galloway (Video Designer). Due to popular demand, summer 2026 will feature even more themed Roam and Return seating, allowing audiences to explore the experience and return to dedicated seating at Frosty Diner or The Drive-In. Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical will run from 22nd July to 13th September 2026 at Evolution London in Battersea Park. For more info and to get tickets, visit greasetheimmersivemoviemusical.com
- Interactive game show experience BuzzAttack is coming to London this July
Audiences can step up to the podium and compete in this interactive experience inspired by classic TV game shows. Photo: Fever/BuzzAttack Get your buzzers ready! BuzzAttack, the immersive TV game show experience, is coming to London beginning on 2nd July 2026. Inspired by iconic TV shows like Wheel of Fortune and The Price is Right, BuzzAttack invites participants to team up and go head-to-head in fast-paced trivia and brain-teasing challenges where speed, strategy and luck take centre stage. BuzzAttack is brought to life by Bombastik! and produced by Fever, the world’s leading platform for live entertainment, and Inventive Productions, an award-winning experiential company. The experience delivers a 60-minute adrenaline-fueled trivia showdown perfect for friends, families, corporate groups and competitive spirits alike. Photo: Fever/BuzzAttack Ben Taylor, Regional Manager at Fever, commented: BuzzAttack is a perfect example of the dynamic experiences audiences are looking for today - it’s interactive, social and, most importantly, a lot of fun. At Fever, we're committed to helping people connect in real life, through unique entertainment concepts that create lasting memories, so we're delighted to bring this brand-new game show experience to London. Upon arrival, guests are welcomed backstage to the vibrant BuzzAttack set to visit the dressing room before taking their place behind their classic gameshow podiums, where teams compete in rounds of pop culture, music, sports and current events trivia. With customisable categories, players can focus on the topics they know best, creating a tailored and exciting experience for every group. Between rounds, mini arcade-style challenges test agility and reward winners with spins on a wheel, adding a thrilling element of chance to the competition. Complete with buzzing podiums, fluorescent lights, and dynamic audiovisual effects. BuzzAttack delivers the full experience of being on live TV. Photo: Fever/BuzzAttack More than a game, BuzzAttack is a fully immersive experience. Its retro-style set evokes the golden era of television, giving participants the chance to live out their dream of being a TV contestant. Whether shouting answers from the couch or imagining themselves under the studio lights, this is the ultimate fantasy brought to life. BuzzAttack is from the same creators of Boom Lab, the group gaming adventure in the heart of Shoreditch that has wowed audiences worldwide, from Orlando to Melbourne. Their vision to “redefine recreational group experiences” comes to life again as BuzzAttack brings a bold twist to London’s cultural and entertainment landscape. BuzzAttack opens on Hackney Road near Hoxton Station on 2nd July 2026. Tickets are priced from £16.90 per person. For more information and to book tickets, visit feverup.com
- David Bowie: You're Not Alone will open in Manchester this December
Photo: Lightroom The hit show David Bowie: You’re Not Alone will extend its run at London’s Lightroom, with the production also opening in Manchester. The show, produced by Lightroom and designed by 59, a Journey studio, brings together extensive footage of performances and appearances, narrated by Bowie himself through archive interviews, to create an immersive experience exploring the life and work of one of pop culture’s great artists. The show will extend from its original closing date of 10th October to run in the evenings through the rest of 2026, with a full week of shows planned from 5th to 10th January 2027 to mark what would have been David Bowie’s 80th birthday on 8th January. Photo: Lightroom David Bowie: You’re Not Alone will also be opening in Manchester this December at Aviva Studios’ Warehouse space from 8th December to 10th January 2026. Richard Slaney, Lightroom Chief Executive, said: The response to David Bowie: You’re Not Alone has been phenomenal, and we’re delighted to be able to extend the run in London and see it open in Manchester. The show offers the chance to feel the excitement of those groundbreaking performances and get inside the mind of one of the greats. David Bowie: You’re Not Alone was written and directed by 59’s Mark Grimmer (Creative Director for the V&A’s David Bowie Is exhibition) and Tom Wexler. It showcases some of Bowie’s landmark performances that redefined popular culture, using a mixture of iconic, rarely seen and never-before-exhibited material, selected from thousands of hours of film in the vaults of the David Bowie Archive in New York, from Space Oddity through Diamond Dogs and ”Heroes” to ★. Photo: Lightroom Mark Grimmer comments: It says something about our relationship with artistic heroes that we're drawn to mystery, otherness, the alien... In Bowie's case, this is our construct, not his. Throughout his career, Bowie repeatedly resisted being figured as anything but human. Rather than undermining his mystique, we designed a show to celebrate Bowie as a champion of human creativity - focusing on the message he expressed time and again: that art, in all its forms, is our best hope for understanding what it means to be alive. David Bowie: You're Not Alone was made in close collaboration with and authorised by the David Bowie Estate. David Bowie: You're Not Alone runs at Lightroom near King's Cross. Tickets are priced from £25 for adults and £15 for students and concessions. For more information and to book tickets, visit lightroom.uk
- Jack Kenyon Magic's Table for Two to debut at Edinburgh Fringe
One magician. One first date. An entire audience along for the ride. Photo: Arthur Comely From the moment Jack Kenyon takes the stage, magic is in the air; expect drinks materialising from thin air, playing cards being eerily romantic, and the newspaper agony aunt who knows more than is humanly possible. Over 45 minutes, Table for Two delivers not only jaw-dropping magic but also touching moments which shift the focus from magician to audience. As a spectator steps into the role of Jack's 'date' for the evening, the show captures all the nervous anticipation, surprising moments, and magic of a genuine encounter - blending storytelling, mentalism, and sleight of hand into something truly unforgettable. Whilst performed solely by Jack, the concept for Table for Two was created by his long-term partner Isabelle Dooley-Carmichael. It’s an unconventional concept: a different date each night, but Isabelle envisioned moving away from a traditional magic show and creating something intimate and memorable to captivate the Edinburgh Festival Fringe audiences. This unique concept means that no two nights can ever be quite the same. Founded by Jack and Isabelle, Jack Kenyon Magic is made up of a small but powerful duo driven by a passion for pushing the boundaries of magic and creating shows audiences won't forget. As a member of the prestigious Magic Circle, Jack brings a mastery of the art which, when combined with Isabelle's love for live entertainment, results in performances that feel both bold and deeply relatable. Table for Two marks their debut at Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a show that promises to redefine what audiences expect from magic. Table for Two runs at Haldane Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall (Venue 53) from 7th to 29th August 2026 at 21:40. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com
- AEW presents The Last Match coming to London this Autumn
All Elite Wrestling have announced a partnership with The Last Match: A Pro-Wrestling Rock Experience, a groundbreaking new live entertainment event set to premiere in London’s West End this autumn. This partnership marks the first time a major wrestling company has stepped into the world of original musical theatre. Opening in the heart of London’s West End, AEW Presents The Last Match: A Pro Wrestling Rock Experience will transform a historic 52,000 square ft venue near Tottenham Court Road into an immersive wrestling and rock-and-roll wonderland, creating one of the most unique live entertainment experiences ever staged in the United Kingdom. Designed for audiences of all ages and part West End rock musical, immersive theatrical experience and professional wrestling phenomenon, AEW Presents The Last Match: A Pro Wrestling Rock Experience is set against the backdrop of one wrestler’s final pay-per-view event. The production combines an original 1980s-inspired rock score, powerful theatrical storytelling, larger-than-life characters that audiences will cheer for and world-class professional wrestling into a one-of-a-kind entertainment experience that features unforgettable songs, emotional performances, romance, comedy and spectacle, while telling the universal experience of retirement, legacy, love, family and finding the courage to leave your life’s work behind with your head held high. Whether you’ve attended hundreds of wrestling events or have never seen a single match, fans in attendance will be able to follow every moment of the story. AEW CEO, GM and Head of Creative Tony Khan, comments: On behalf of AEW, we are thrilled to collaborate with The Last Match: A Pro Wrestling Rock Experience in London this fall. This marks an incredible opportunity to partner All Elite Wrestling with an established theatrical production, showcase AEW stars during select performances and further expand our footprint in the London market. Jeremiah James, Director, Lead Producer, and one of the show's creators, adds: AEW Presents The Last Match: A Pro Wrestling Rock Experience is a West End rock musical that happens to take place in the world of professional wrestling. I am deeply grateful to Tony Khan and everyone at All Elite Wrestling for believing in this project and embracing a creative risk that has never been attempted before. Together, we’re helping to innovate a new form of live entertainment. Executive Producer Frank Licari adds: One of the things that drew me to AEW Presents The Last Match: A Pro Wrestling Rock Experience is that no two performances will ever be exactly alike. The story, music, and characters remain the same, but the live wrestling element creates opportunities for surprises, special guests, and moments that can only happen in that room on that night. Unlike most West End productions, AEW Presents The Last Match: A Pro Wrestling Rock Experience will actively encourage audiences to capture photos, videos and share their experience on social media in real time. AEW Presents The Last Match: A Pro Wrestling Rock Experience is directed under a vision years in the making by Jeremiah James, who previously starred in the acclaimed 2008 West End revival of Carousel at London’s Savoy Theatre and Executive Produced by Frank Licari, an Emmy-nominated producer whose work spans film, television, documentaries, and live entertainment. Also serving as Executive Producer and Wrestling Consultant is Chavo Guerrero, whose credits outside the ring include Margo’s Got Money Troubles, The Iron Claw, GLOW, and numerous film and television productions where he has served as wrestling coordinator, performer, stunt professional, and creative consultant. In addition, Book and lyrics are by Jason Huza, with Book, music, and additional lyrics by Sylvana Joyce and C. Robert Smith. Tatevik Hunanyan serves as Associate Director, with Bull James serving as wrestling booker alongside associate wrestling booker, Brandon Scott. Each performance will include a pre-show interactive wrestling experience, inviting fans to explore multiple wrestling-themed installations and exhibits before the main event. Tickets range from £30 to £80, with premium VIP experiences available as optional add-ons. Casting announcements, partnership news, and ticketing information will be released in the coming weeks.
- Immersive Civil Rights experience Colored (Noire) wins inaugural Annwn Prize
Photo: Ben Birchall Colored (Noire) by Novaya has today been announced as the inaugural winner of the Annwn Prize in a ceremony at Wales Millennium Centre hosted by broadcaster Alex Jones. The winner was announced by Chair of Judges Peter Swinburn and awarded £20,000, alongside a bespoke residency to support the development of new work. The jury congratulated all four shortlisted artists for their ambition, originality and innovative approaches to storytelling, reflecting the breadth and global reach of immersive, story-driven work today. The jury awarded the prize to Colored (Noire) by Novaya, created by Pierre-Alain Giraud, Stéphane Foenkinos and Tania De Montaigne, who blend live arts, digital storytelling and cutting-edge technology to create narrative-driven augmented reality works. The jury commended the work’s powerful emotional impact, extraordinary technical precision, and its ability to place audiences within the story. Colored (Noire) is an immersive augmented reality (AR) experience that transports audiences to 1950s Alabama at the heart of the civil rights movement. Equipped with AR headsets and bone-conduction audio, participants step into the story as observers - able to choose their proximity and perspective, not to change history, but to decide how they witness it unfold. The experience relives the courageous act of 15-year-old Claudette Colvin, who nine months before Rosa Parks, refused to give up her seat on a bus. Shortly before her passing earlier this year, Colvin shared a message with the artists that resonates throughout the work: “Wherever you are, never give up and always fight back.” The Annwn Prize is the first global award celebrating excellence in immersive storytelling, recognising works that place audiences at the centre of the narrative and push the boundaries of how stories are experienced. Chaired by Wales Millennium Centre’s Chairman, Peter Swinburn, the members of the Annwn Prize 2026 jury are artist, filmmaker and musician Larry Achiampong; critic and writer Arifa Akbar; culture and creative industries leader Sir Peter Bazalgette; musician and community builder Charlotte Church and writer-director Charlotte Regan. Peter Swinburn, chair of judges, said: Colored (Noire) is a work that stays with you - a story about the heart and its consequences that we could not stop thinking about long after experiencing it. Through an extraordinary use of technical detail, the work places you alongside the characters, allowing you to walk with them and witness something both profoundly moving and beautifully realised. At its core, storytelling is about empathy, and here that empathy is absolute - seamlessly interwoven with groundbreaking technology to create an experience that is as immersive as it is unforgettable. The inaugural shortlist brought together four works from France, Greece, the UK and USA, spanning augmented reality, branching film, expanded cinema and interactive installation. The other shortlisted works were: Consensus Gentium by Karen Palmer; Constantinopoliad by sister sylvester and NOWISWHENWEARE (the stars) by Andrew Schneider. Graeme Farrow, Chief Creative and Content Officer at Wales Millennium Centre, said: The inaugural shortlist has shown the extraordinary breadth and ambition of artists working in this space. The Prize marks an important moment in recognising immersive storytelling as a vital and evolving artform, and in championing artists who are redefining how stories are experienced. We look forward to supporting Novaya to develop new work through their residency at Wales Millennium Centre. The winning work was selected as part of a major exhibition of the shortlisted works at Wales Millennium Centre, running until 26th June 2026. The Annwn Prize is supported by Peter and Janet Swinburn.
- Review: Voidspace Live 2026 at Theatre Deli
Photo: Dhiamara Coulson / Unseelie Images Voidspace Live - the UK's leading interactive arts festival - recently returned for its third edition, taking over Aldgate's Theatre Deli for the weekend of 6th and 7th June. As ever, the two-day event presented a huge variety of interactive work, filling every corner of the venue with so many playable art pieces, interactive and immersive shows, live-action games and installations that any write-up of the festival could only hope to capture a small percentage of everything that went on... With a stacked line-up of 30+ shows, including exciting work-in-progress pieces from the likes of Yannick Trapman-O’Brien (Undersigned) and John Robertson (The Dark Room); standout work that has appeared elsewhere in London over the past twelve months, including Aaron Oliver's What We Must, TomYumSim's Trainwreck, and Hakan Akgül and Joe Stepney's You Are The Lamb; and dozens of shows that debuted publicly for the first time at Voidspace Live, deciding what to book into across the festival's six performance sessions was far from an easy choice. Photo: Dhiamara Coulson / Unseelie Images In addition to the core line-up of scheduled shows, the festival also featured a further 30 pieces of playable art, interactive games and durational performances, making any attempt to check out everything the festival had that much harder, but wonderfully rewarding. While many of them were available throughout the weekend, several of the more popular experiences on offer required prior sign-up, with the time slots available in between scheduled shows filling up well ahead of time. The festival's curated line-up of work meant that regardless of whether attendees found themselves traversing a post-apocalyptic city, becoming hostage negotiators or working a trial shift at a coffee shop run by a puppet, the festival's unifying rule - that the audience always have a role to play and are a meaningful part of the experience - was present in every piece, and the quality of work on display was consistently high. Alongside all of the interactive work available, Theatre Deli's bar was a hub of activity throughout, playing host to day-long sessions of Bound Allegiance, a faction-based game that takes place between main show sessions and has those taking part vying to make sure their bloc is dominant, as well as countless conversations between audience members and creators. It had a constant buzz about it, with attendees swapping notes about shows they'd just seen and generally geeking out about all things interactive - something that’s often confined to industry events. Photo: Dhiamara Coulson / Unseelie Images Year on year, the scale of Voidspace Live has grown, with each new edition increasing in scope. What started as a one-day event in 2024 grew to a weekend-long festival in 2025, and the 2026 edition continued to offer more than ever before, with a huge increase in the amount of work included. As part of this continued growth, Voidspace Live 2025 saw several improvements over the 2025 iteration of the festival, most notably with the festival's booking process, which has done away with a ranked preference list and instead transitioned into giving attendees the freedom to book into whichever shows they like ahead of the festival - a welcome improvement that afforded those who went more freedom to plan out their time as they saw fit. The 2026 edition of Voidspace Live also saw the introduction of a new, accessible ticket type - Voidspace Lite - which gave attendees access to the festival's line-up of durational pieces, playable art and games alongside standby tickets to scheduled shows that weren't at capacity. Priced at just £15 per day, they were an undeniably great deal and ideal for those either looking to dip their toe into the festival for the first time or happy to leave the specifics of which shows they saw down to chance. Photo: Dhiamara Coulson / Unseelie Images With such a huge concentration of immersive and interactive work all under one roof for the weekend, the festival has firmly cemented its reputation as London's annual mecca for interactive art. For many of this year's attendees, it was already an essential date in the diary, but for the wider immersive and interactive industries, Voidspace Live serves as a vital showcase of what makes the UK's scene so exciting, especially in the wake of similar festivals - namely VAULT Festival - having wound down for good. Simply put: It's the highlight of the UK’s interactive art calendar and, for one brief weekend a year, the best place in the world to experience interactive work of all shapes and sizes. With the caveat that a good amount of work presented at Voidspace Live was either debuting for the first time or still being developed, here are some quick-fire, non-starred thoughts on some of what we saw across our two days at Theatre Deli... My Date with Pierce Brosnan by Alistair Aitcheson Photo: Dhiamara Coulson / Unseelie Images Alistair Aitcheson's solo clown show sees their alter ego, Mademoiselle Cafetière, searching for love in the most unlikely of places - a café in the sky populated by avian customers. At least, that's where the audience at Voidspace decided to set this performance of the show, which places Cafetière opposite a human-shaped pillowcase with a printed photo of the one-time James Bond stuck on. At regular intervals throughout the piece, the audience is given the freedom to dictate how things unfold by inputting their suggestions, answers and dialogue through a custom-built webpage. As you'd expect, the audience doesn't exactly make it easy for Aitcheson to keep things moving along, with countless left-field suggestions being offered up across the show's four acts. Regardless of whether it's requesting a shoe to be delivered to their table or adding useful information like 'No longer has crabs' to their dating profile, Aitcheson takes all of it in their stride, bending over backwards to meet their requests. They show real commitment to the bit as things escalate further in the show's third act, when the lifeless Pierce Brosnan is imbued with life through a text-to-speech system. Trainwreck by TomYumSim The immersive theatre industry was dragged over the coals back in February 2024 when a short-lived immersive experience based on Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory debuted in Glasgow and was rightly met with widespread ridicule from all corners of the globe. Several years earlier, the disastrous Fyre Festival also drew similar feedback as the world watched the drama unfold in real time, spawning a million memes and several high-profile documentaries recounting how it went up in flames. These two incidents serve as the inspiration for TomYumSim's Trainwreck, a satirical and chaotic immersive experience that explores what happens when you outsource creativity and decision-making to AI and the hyperbolic marketing tactics that lead to experiences overpromising and underdelivering. Trainwreck's storyline (a loose term, given the countless disparate paths audiences go down throughout the show) revolves around audiences boarding a 'train' to an unknown destination. The route has been planned by Tom, an AI travel co-ordinator, but the train's hosts - Simone and Sven - handle all of the on-the-ground logistics, deferring to Tom for any major decisions and bending to his will. Whether that's through performing a one-act play with audience members that was 𝚐̶𝚎̶𝚗̶𝚎̶𝚛̶𝚊̶𝚝̶𝚎̶𝚍̶ written moments earlier, walking a troupe of audience members through delivering a baby, or leading an investigation into a Murder on the Orient Express-style slaying, the deliberately shambolic nature of Trainwreck means that it's a hugely enjoyable experience that's impossible to adequately explain to anyone who wasn't also onboard. You Are Pagliacci: Sad Clown Simulator by John Robertson John Robertson is best known for The Dark Room, a long-running text-based choose-your-own-adventure, in which audience members pick from one of four options and attempt to escape a pitch-black room full of deathtraps. The show has seen enormous success since it was first created 14 years ago, with performances at Glastonbury, Edinburgh Fringe and dozens more similarly impressive spots. For Voidspace Live, Robertson debuted an early version of a new game - You Are Pagliacci: Sad Clown Simulator - which saw audiences step into the oversized clown shoes of Pagliacci, a depressed clown who's desperately seeking a doctor's appointment. Structurally, You Are.. is near identical to The Dark Room, with four choices to be made at every turn, but the branching narrative that unfurls itself as each new player takes on the task of trying to secure an appointment is undoubtedly impressive, and the chance to see one of Robertson's games slowly develop the kind of in-jokes, lore and call-outs that have long been part of The Dark Room is hugely exciting. Yours Truly by UNCLE BARRY UNCLE BARRY's latest piece, Yours Truly, explores the power dynamics present in both romantic relationships and participatory theatre, while asking how we care for one another. Written and performed by Mia Foster, the show invites a single audience member on stage for the duration of the show to play an unnamed student who begins a relationship with their teacher, portrayed by Foster. Over the course of an hour, the ups and downs of the relationship unfold primarily through a series of heartfelt letters, which are read out by both of the on-stage performers and select audience members who pluck them off a fishing rod that floats over those watching on. Alongside these confessional letters are several scenes showing the awkward small talk, first sparks of connection and moments of vulnerability that come as you open your heart up to someone new, all of which are handled with a tremendous amount of care towards the show's recruited participant. As an examination of how we care for each other, even under difficult or strange circumstances, Yours Truly delivers a heartfelt and emotionally-charged case for opening our hearts to each other, and is another excellent addition to UNCLE BARRY's rapidly-growing body of work. Timonopoly by Brite Theater Photo: Dhiamara Coulson / Unseelie Images Following on from Richard III (a one-person show) and Hamlet (an experience) being presented at the two previous editions of Voidspace Live, Emily Carding returns with Timonopoly, the final part of Brite Theater's Coward Conscience Trilogy. Taking inspiration from Timon of Athens - one of Shakespeare's lesser-known works - this hour-long show sees Emily Carding play Fortune, and takes the audience through a rigged Monopoly-like game. With one audience member cast as Timon, and several more as their sycophantic hangers-on, the game has players rolling a dice and seeing whether Fortune will favour them. With each passing term, Timon's wealth is siphoned off, and before long, they find themselves with nothing left. Thanks to some clever sleight of hand from Carding, the outcome of the game is all but guaranteed, and the game's final act delivers a damning indictment of how widespread poverty and homelessness are in the UK, linking the play's original themes to the state of the world today, and directly to those in the room. Everyone Dreams of Burning Alive by TheMissingTheatre Photo: Dhiamara Coulson / Unseelie Images TheMissingTheatre's durational piece Everyone Dreams of Burning Alive took place on both days of Voidspace Live, with each performance lasting over 4 hours. The work focuses on a test subject, portrayed by Jack St Leger, who is confined within a small square marked out on the floor. Across from them is a second taped-off area, which one audience member can enter at a time. When within the square, they're encouraged to answer on-screen questions such as 'What are you most afraid of?' into a microphone, and interact with the test subject from afar. Their recorded answers become part of the piece and are played back at random intervals, and their movements when inside the square are mirrored and repeated by the test subject. With the audience free to come and go as they please, each visit to Everyone Dreams.. across the piece's four- hour-plus runtime will show a different stage in the subject's development. During our early drop-ins, we saw the test subject awkwardly struggling to interpret the looped audio recordings, and their attempts to mirror the movements of those inside the square opposite came with a noticeable delay, as if each action had to be processed before it could be performed. As the hours passed, the test subjects' movements were more fluid, their speech more coherent, and their understanding of those opposite them was more sophisticated. For us, the most interesting element of Everyone Dreams.. was seeing how audience behaviours evolved alongside the subjects. Early interactions were generally cautious, with participants being unsure how to engage and wary of pushing things too far, but with time, as people grew to have a better understanding of how the subject responded to their actions, participants would be more confrontational, attempting to confuse or upset the test subject, causing them to retreat into themselves. An ambitious and unsettling piece, Everyone Dreaming.. was massively rewarding to those who gave it repeat visits, and its durational format allows for a wide range of behaviours to emerge organically, both from audiences and the test subject. It was one of the standout pieces from Voidspace Live 2026. Overbrewed! by DreamCat Photo: Dhiamara Coulson / Unseelie Images Taking a healthy dose of inspiration from the Overcooked series, Dreamcat's real-life game prototype has groups of up to five people working a trial shift at a coffee shop run by Tony, a sentient sock puppet. As they battle an ever-growing list of orders, the baristas in training have to sprint from station to station to prep and grind the beans; brew the drinks; add milk, toppings, and syrups; and deliver the drinks to the counter against the clock. Additional levels of complexity are introduced with each round, as the orders get more complex, and a virus in the cafe's system needs to be purged through a physical floppy disk. While there's no actual coffee being made, with each step of the process instead being recorded on NFC tags stuck to the bottom of each cup, the amount of effort put into the order by teams is pretty substantial, and the ever-increasing complexity of orders ensures that teams are never resting on their laurels. Needless to say, given the game's similarity to a hugely popular series of video games, it's a heap of fun, even when you mess up orders or have zero clue about what needs doing, and we can't wait to see how it develops from here. [Tickets gifted in exchange for an honest review] Voidspace Live 2026 ran at Theatre Deli on the 6th and 7th June 2026. For more information about Voidspace, and to stay up to date with future events, you can follow them on Instagram at @_voidspace_zine or visit voidspacezine.com
- Guide: Edinburgh Fringe's Best Immersive Shows (2025)
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 You're looking at our 2025 guide. Click below for the 2026 edition. 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.
- exit strategy's How to Win a Gameshow to debut at Edinburgh Fringe
Photo: exit strategy New York City-based performance collective exit strategy will debut their first full-length work, exit strategy presents HOW TO WIN A GAMESHOW at theSpace UK (Niddry Lower and Venue 45) between the 7th and 23rd August 2026 as part of the Edinburgh Fringe. Meet Graham! Graham has been the star contestant of a popular gameshow for either 3 or 327 days. At least that’s what they tell him. Led by a series of violently charming hosts, Graham and the audience compete in EXTREMELY FUN and MYSTERIOUS games. The tasks are invasive, the stakes seemingly high, and the audience increasingly implicated. Part performance art, part improv show, part social experiment, How to Win a Gameshow blurs the line between performer and audience, rendering everyone subject to scrutiny by an ever-present, controlling, overarching force. How to Win a Gameshow is an exploration of our own capacities for complicity under observation; of our impulses as a group and as individuals; and of our presumed anonymity in theatrical, social, and technological space. exit strategy’s work pursues a state of primal, kinetic presence in performers and audience alike-often blurring the line between the two and challenges the expectation that audience members can ever be passive observers in theatrical space. Their work stands in direct contrast to film, social media, and all technologies of surveillance capitalism that encourage people to think of themselves as compliant consumers of art, and they ground their research interests in themes of surveillance, conformity, discomfort, danger, humour, cruelty and our ability to hold all of these realities simultaneously as one. How to Win a Gameshow was developed in residency at Triplets Amsterdam in the Netherlands with support from 4bid Gallery at Ot301 in Amsterdam, Target Margin Theater in Brooklyn, and CultureLab LIC in Queens. The production is made possible with the generous support of Triplets Amsterdam, 4bid Gallery at OT301, Target Margin Theatre, and CultureLab LIC. exit strategy's How to Win a Gameshow runs at Lower Theatre at theSpace @ Niddry St (Venue 9) between 7th and 15th August, and Venue 45 at theSpace @ Venue 45 between 17th and 22nd August 2026. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com













