Search Results

We jump aboard the Wishmas Train to review Secret Cinema's latest immersive production at The Old Bauble

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

received complimentary tickets to this experience and as such, are disclosing this information before our review

received complimentary tickets to this show and as such, are disclosing this information before our review Photos: Humbug/Grant Walker Humbug lies behind an unassuming door at the end of Leake Street - an area With a peace offering of a present, our larger group of 15 or so are invited to go and meet the main

received complimentary tickets to this show and as such, are disclosing this information before our review

received a complimentary ticket to this show and as such, are disclosing this information before our review

This review was originally posted in January 2020 Immersive Rumours received complimentary tickets to this show and as such, are disclosing this information before our review.

Photo: Luke Dyson It’s been a bit of a quiet year for Secret Cinema. Following the acquisition of the company in September 2022 by TodayTix, they’ve not mounted a show in the capital since Guardians of the Galaxy opened in late August 2022. Being one of three shows they opened last year (alongside Bridgerton and the long-awaited Dirty Dancing), many fans assumed that with the backing of their new owners, and now firmly in a post-COVID world, 2023 would be full steam ahead with multiple shows opening throughout the year. Instead, we had relative silence on the company's social media in the first few months of the year. After a lot of teasing, it was confirmed in April that their next show would be Grease. But this show would have a twist - they were leaving London behind, instead mounting the show in Birmingham. It’d be their first full show outside of the capital in the UK. They continued to depart from tradition as the event drew closer, releasing a map of the site in June (a month before it even opened!), and also confirming that phones wouldn’t be locked away this time. While it remains to be seen if any of these will become the norm going forward, Grease certainly seemed like an opportunity for Secret Cinema to rewrite its rulebook now they were under new ownership… The show does feel different to their two most recent outdoor events (Dirty Dancing and Romeo + Juliet) in a few key ways. Firstly, it’s much much smaller. With a reduced audience capacity, reduced venue size and even a reduced running time for exploration, it’s a more intimate and focused affair than has been the norm. Clocking in at a bit over 90 minutes from doors opening to the film starting, Secret Cinema Presents Grease packs a lot into its exploration time. Relative to Dirty Dancing or Romeo + Juliet, it has roughly the same amount of buildings and areas to explore, but in a much smaller space. This, coupled with the ratio of cast to guests also feeling higher, makes it easier to see more of the site quickly and get involved in what’s going on around you with ease. Photo: Luke Dyson The other notable difference between Grease and the company's other outdoor shows is the newly relaxed rules on mobile phones. While they seem to be still be trying to find a sweet spot between encouraging audiences to live in the moment, but also allow guests to still take photos inside that don’t include the cast, we found the use of phones to be a refreshing change that didn’t break the immersion of the event. You could get photos of your group inside the event without issue, which will surely help boost the awareness of what it’s actually like inside the gates - something that was tougher with guests' phones locked away previously. The cast all do an outstanding job of turning the Rydell High site into a living, breathing place - from the large re-enactments of songs like Summer Nights and Grease Lightnin’, to smaller character moments like Sandy perfecting stubbing out her cigarette with Frenchy, every pocket of the site has activities going on, and the cast are working non-stop to make the audience part of the world. If you're not being pulled into choir practice, or being hit on by Vince Fontaine, you might be taking part in an egg and spoon race for carnival tokens or pulling off the prank of the century against Principle McGee. Even during the films screening, the cast barely have a moments rest, with every big song lovingly recreated in front of the screen - the National Bandstand scene is the highlight of this, it’s a chaotic and meticulously timed spectacle that must have been a nightmare to choreograph and perfect in rehearsals. Photo: Luke Dyson Overall, Grease is a great immersive experience that more than does justice to the source material. With a knock out cast and some amazing performances, it's one of the strongest outdoor shows Secret Cinema have put on in recently years. Fingers crossed that future outdoor Secret Cinema shows will follow in the footsteps of Grease and be smaller scale, as it makes for a richer and more engaging experience overall. ★★★★½ Find out about future Secret Cinema shows at secretcinema.org

With A Most Mechanical Murder returning for one night only this June at Phantom Peak, we interrogate With A Most Mechanical Murder, the show is set within the universe of Phantom Peak. Because Phantom Peak is such a unique and big world, it gives us so many different ideas about where When we ran it previously, about 1/3 of the guests came because of Phantom Peak, 1/3 came because of A Most Mechanical Murder runs at Phantom Peak in Canada Water on Thursday 27th June 2024.

Productions staged an immersive experience based on The Picture of Dorian Grey that opened to rave reviews You can read our full review here, but it was an exhilarating experience that stood completely on its In our review of Bloodbath, we said that ScreamWorks may soon hold the crown for having the most intense Peak - Hallowed Peak: The Lunar Festival We've spoken at length previously about how good Phantom Peak With a sold-out run and amazing reviews, it was only a matter of time before the show expanded...

The Burnt City), Ruth Howard (Sleep No More, The Greatest Night of the Jazz Age), Christian Loveless (Phantom Peak, Tomb Raider The Live Experience), Fionn Cox-Davies (The Drowned Man, The Burnt City), Peter Broughton (The West, Phantom Peak) and Fania Grigoriou (The Burnt City, The Drowned Man).

Photos: Alcotraz 📍 Hoxton 💰 From £39.99 🕒 Ongoing 🎟️ Book via alcotraz.co.uk Phantom Peak - The Broken Chalice (Add-On Experience) Photo: Alistair Veryard Phantom Peak is an immersive experience we've covered Guests are free to explore the 30,000 sq feet town of Phantom Peak for up to 4.5 hours at a time, jumping Considering the cocktails at Phantom Peak will run you anywhere from £9.50 to £11 each, and with an exclusive For the avid Phantom Peak card collectors, there's also an exclusive trail card for those who take part