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Later this month Crypt in Bethnal Green will be taken over by Sleepwalk Immersive for their debut show - Bacchanalia. Based on The Bacchae by Euripides, the show will see audience members enter the city of Thebes and be immersed in the story of Dionysus as they seek revenge on the family who have denied their divinity. It's set to be an intense and intimate immersive production, with just 40 audience members per performance. Ahead of the beginning of rehearsals for the show, we spoke to Sebastian Huang (Artistic Director) and Maya McQueen (Associate Director) from Sleepwalk Immersive to discuss the shows conception, their approach to creating immersive work and what audience members can expect from their 1960s-infused Greek tragedy. What inspired the creation of Sleepwalk Immersive? How did it come to be with the team you’ve got in place? Sebastian: Work on the show Bacchanalia actually started before we founded the company. I've been working on the show for about four and a half years now. We started with a tiny little experience in Brixton, and from that the show has developed, but I think about two years ago a lot of us started working in the bar team at The Great Gatsby Immersive. We met doing that and obviously, we all got on very well. So we started throwing around these ideas about The Bacchae and how we'd work with that. We did a couple of little R&Ds and from that, I think we all just had so much fun and loved it so much that we just decided to form the company. Maya: Yeah, it's been a slow-growing thing. Pretty much this time last year we started our first R&D where it was the first version with a smaller team. We made a 20 to 25 minute version of the show, which we shared with friends and a couple of people from the industry to get feedback, which was really, really useful. And then with Ruth (Howard - Movement Director), we approached her and presented the show to her and she really liked it and was happy to come on board to further out the team. Bacchanalia is based on The Bacchae by Euripides. Can you speak to what drew you to wanting to tell that story specifically? Sebastian: I love the play. I remember reading it for the first time and thinking 'How I never heard of any of this?' A lot of the great tragedies get a bit more attention than The Bacchae, so we were really keen to do it. A lot of the themes that come from Euripides, they're very translatable into immersive. It's all about the madness, it's about loss, it's about power dynamics. That's something we felt very confident in conveying in an immersive setting. Maya: Especially Greek theatre, so much of it is about justice in this huge wide world. It feels like a great place to bring an audience into, where you've got these two sides in these two towns and nothing can be fully concluded because that's what a lot of Greek theatre is about. You've got these different points of view and this person believes so strongly in this way of living and this person believes in that. It's presented to you and you think about it afterwards and I think that's a nice type of play to throw audiences into. You held a workshop for Bacchanalia last year. Can you share how that experience was and the biggest takeaways from putting that workshop on? Sebastian: There are a million things! We did two workshops and then an official R&D. I think every time we were learning, it was getting bigger and bigger each time as well. Every time we do something new, there's a million different things that we now have to think about. I'd say every day we work on this show we're learning something new, which is just a really lovely, privileged position to be in because we get to do what we love and we get to learn about what we love every day. Maya: I feel like with immersive in particular, one thing we've learned is it's really important that it feels really collaborative with the performers because they're the ones at the end of the day who are having that specific connection and contact with the audience member. So they're going to be fully on their own and it's important that they feel empowered in what they're doing, that their ideas are heard and they feel 100% confident that they can bring themselves and their ideas to the table because they are going to be alone in a room with a bunch of people and they have to feel confident in that. Sebastian: We're just so excited to get these cast in as well because they're all at the top of their game, you know? From the last things we've done, we've really been able to get the best cast we can, and to work with them very closely. You had a successful Kickstart campaign for the show, which exceeded the goal. How was it seeing that kind of response for a show that’s from a new company and is an unknown entity for most backers? Sebastian: We were incredibly fortunate that people were willing to give and willing to support us. So really, we wanted to give something back. We spoke to a lot of immersive superfans over the last few months and something they felt was missing from the scene is that some of these people who spend loads of money and loads of time coming to see these shows, they don't really feel like they ever get much back or recognition for their support of the industry. So it was very important to us that the people who come and support, they get something back. So that was kind of the idea around the Kickstarter. Putting something like a picture of their loved one or their name in the set, something like that - we want to show that we're here to work with the community, with the fan base, with the scene, not just tell them 'This is the work. Go enjoy it'. We want to include them in our work. Maya Particularly because they are so included within the form. A lot of creating this work was us looking at what do we as superfans of this work love. What do we come out of and go 'That was my favourite experience'? Often it's the little easter eggs and the tiny little details that you come out with that nobody else has noticed. And so, especially with the set, it's so fun for someone to be going around and seeing how we've personalised these details. It feels like a comparison that could be drawn between yourselves and the work of Punchdrunk. Would you say they've been one of the inspirations behind your approach to immersive storytelling? Sebastian: I think that we definitely take a lot of inspiration from them. The company is made up of quite young people, so we're really one of the first generations to be able to grow up with immersive. Maya and I have been seeing Punchdrunk since we were quite young, we're big fans, but there are also a lot of other companies that we really respect and draw inspiration from - Third Rail, Parabolic, Immersive Everywhere - all these amazing companies that we've managed to experience. There's been a lot of talk and comparisons with Punchdrunk, but I would say in terms of the work we make there are quite a few differences. Their shows are very cinematic, almost. It's supposed to be like you're walking through a movie and I'd say the work we make is a bit more theatrical, a bit more focused on the live performance aspect of it. Maya: One thing we're really interested in is different mediums and how they blend together. Bacchanalia is going to be a mix between dance, physical theatre, music and puppetry. We want to see how these different things blend. And it works narratively within the play because of these two characters you meet who are polar opposites of each other. So we're exploring that artistically, but we're definitely interested in drawing, from other mediums and as well as inspirations like Punchdrunk and how they can blend together. The show is taking place within Crypt in Bethnal Green. It’s a very intimate and atmospheric venue. How much does the space inform the show and vice versa? Maya: I think completely. We wrote Bacchanalia as a bigger version of this show. So what people are going to see in a few weeks is about 30% of what we'd originally written. But what we did when we got the venue was go 'Okay, how does this show best work for this space?' Because it has to - there has to be that site-specific element within immersive theatre. Otherwise, it just feels like you're inserting something in and that's not fully breathable in that space. So we're definitely looking at the atmosphere as well as the rooms and how we can adapt different scenes to that. We definitely feel like we've then adapted what we'd written to build it for this space. Do you think there's a future version of this show that is 100% of what was originally written? Sebastian: Absolutely. 100%. We're not going to stop until it is as big as we want it. Bacchanalia seems like it'll be a very intimate experience - with six performers to forty audience members. What do you anticipate that'll be like for the guests? Sebastian: One of the things we really love about immersive theatre is the human-to-human connection, that real intimate personal level of performance. I think this show, in our dream world, would be for one audience member and they would go in by themselves and all this crazy stuff would happen just for them, you know? Obviously, we can't do that, so we try to replicate that sense of intimacy in that sense of being very personal with the performer. And we're quite lucky that Crypt as a venue does really help that - low ceilings, all the corridors. It's a very intimate space. So we're really looking forward to getting the audience in and seeing how that works and seeing how far we can push that. I think we always want to be dealing with quite a small audience - just because we believe that that makes for a nicer viewing of our work. We really want to just make sure that people who do come have a good time and they don't get pushed around, it doesn't feel super crowded. Maya: I think that's definitely the best kind of experience for performers and audience members as well. People will really feel like there's a full connection for an hour and a half with these one or two characters; because even for the performers they've got a small group of people in front of them that they can remember and have this whole experience with. I think that's really, really important to us. The show is set in a 1960's version of Thebes. What was it about that period that spoke to you when devising this version of the show? Sebastian: I think we just read the play and I was like 'Okay, well, obviously this needs to be in the sixties'. I think there are a lot of things in Euripides's play that lends itself very much to the hippie culture around that time, and we're big fans of the music as well so it's great that we can use some of that. I think it was really just the natural place to set it. Our first version of the show was quite abstract as to when and where it was set. I think as we explored the show more we started unpacking these themes. It just made sense to set in the sixties. Maya: A lot of the play is about this divide in culture where you have two completely different sides who live in completely different ways and see freedom as something completely different. The sixties just immediately jumped out to us with that. I think even it shows that during the time it was a very popular play that was revived and put on, which I think speaks to how people within the Sixties kind of felt quite akin to that. Finally, how are you feeling about opening the show to the public in the coming weeks? Sebastian: We're just really, really excited to get audiences in and to show people what we've been doing and hopefully start building a little community organised around this style of immersive. Every decision we make is to enhance the audience experience. It all comes from a love for the audience really. Sleepwalk Immersive's Bacchanalia runs from 12th to 31st November in Bethnal Green. You can find out more about Sleepwalk Immersive via their website and Instagram.

Immersive Rumours received complimentary tickets to this experience and as such, are disclosing this information before our review. They have had no input in the below and all thoughts are our own. Bloodbath is an immersive horror experience located in a secret location in Bethnal Green. It's been produced by ScreamWorks - a brand new name on the immersive theatre scene, and one we suspect we'll hear a lot more of in the near future. If this show is anything to go by, and their future plans are as ambitious as this show is, they'll soon hold the crown for having the most intense immersive shows in the city. Bloodbath was an overwhelming, boundary-pushing, scary and intense experience, which goes far beyond anything else currently on offer in London. For some time, the capital has lacked any truly scary things to do (for theatre anyway..) so it's great to see that change with the arrival of Bloodbath. Prepare to have your personal space invaded, the limits of taste and decency pushed, and all of your possessions taken off you and literally thrown in a bin (but of course, you'll get everything back at the end!). The show's story is a relatively simple one - you've been invited to visit the home of a real-life serial killer, and over the course of an hour you're piecing together the story of how he became who he is today and discovering what became of his numerous victims. We learn all this from chilling audio and video recordings, rummaging through the remains of his dilapidated home, and of course, hearing directly from the killer himself. Upon arrival to the secret East London location, you're greeted with Missing posters for his latest victim, Jenny McPhearson. Last seen mere metres from where you're stood, her whereabouts have been unknown to the authorities for several weeks. Jack, our host for the evening, is keen to avoid prying eyes - earlier in the day we received an email from him with meeting instructions that made clear that he's trying to avoid 'those in positions of power' from getting in the way of his 'great plan'. Missing poster for Jenny McPherson After check-in, and signing the waiver that grants the organisers permission to verbally abuse, touch, shock, force feed and restrain us, we have sheets thrown over our heads and are escorted inside. The reactions of those in the nearby petrol station forecourt are unknown to us, but it's no doubt quite the sight for passers-by. Unsurprisingly for an immersive horror show, the experience is linear and see's us moving from room to room over the course of the next hour. At first it's a gentle easing into the story as we're free to explore several rooms of Jack's house without interruption - learning more about the family history and the current state of affairs for Jack, his brother Abel and their mother, Grace. Through the walls we repeatedly hear loud banging and screaming - muffled voices and shrieks that leave us unsure if it's other guests genuinely fearing for their lives, or just the actors trying to scare the life out of them. Bloodbath is a show that seems to revel in taboo and voyeurism. With the whole world seemingly obsessed with true crime and real life murders, the show feels like a natural progression of our collective fascination with the grizzly stories you can hear on any of the hundreds of true crime podcasts available online. The show is inviting us to see what being in one of those stories would be like, and at points makes us complicit in what's happening to those around us. Photo: ScreamWorks A sequence mid-way through the show allows the audience to engage directly with the idea of pain as entertainment, inviting us to directly inflict it upon a helpless woman behind a glass screen. There's an anonymity afforded to audience members by the white cloth masks they wear for large parts of the experience. It encourages us to be worse versions of ourselves when given the chance. The small cast of actors we meet throughout all manage to perfectly flip between being darkly comic and genuinely scary. Abel, who we meet early on in the show, is a warm and welcoming psychopath who later turns into a terrifying Leatherface-esque figure, causing us to literally climb and crawl for our lives. Photo: Screamworks There are personal touches throughout the experience that made us truly feel like guests of a serial killer, rather than just a visitor to a show. These included photos of our party lifted from our social media accounts defaced and pinned to the walls, our names scrawled in blood on the bathroom mirror, and consistently being referred to by name - despite never having introduced ourselves. Nearly every one of the points raised in the waiver before we entered happened to either all, or some of us. Your comfort level with these kinds of things is going to vary from group to group, but we feel it's worth noting that if your group is a mix of genders, the female guests may be on the receiving end of the most uncomfortable interactions - or at least that was our experience when we visited. Photo: Screamworks While this might all sound quite heavy, overall Bloodbath is as much a psychological thriller as it is a traditional horror experience. It's not 60 minutes of jump scares and being grabbed, and you'll likely come out having had as many fun moments as scary. Our group all walked away saying we had an amazing time, and we'd definitely be back for whatever ScreamWorks have cooking up next. We would highly recommend reading the Consent page on the ScreamWorks website before booking, so you're able to get a better understanding of what you're letting yourself in for. You can of course revoke your permission for any of these things to happen to you at any time by using the safe word or action. Not for the faint of heart, Bloodbath is a killer night out for those looking to push themselves outside of their comfort zones. ★★★★¼ Bloodbath is located at a secret location in Bethnal Green, East London. The show is currently running until the end of May 2023. Tickets are available through screamworks.co.uk, with prices starting at £45 per person. Thank you to Jack and the team at ScreamWorks for inviting us to experience the show.

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.

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

Torches in hand, we venture into Bethnal Green's most haunted house to experience the latest show from London's top immersive horror producers. Halloween is an apt time for an immersive theatre company that specialises in horror experiences to return with a new show. Following up the 8-month run of Bloodbath, which occupied their venue located below the arches of Bethnal Green, Screamworks are back with a show that offers big scares and a compelling story for those willing to dive in head first... Set within the abandoned home of the Luff family, who all died in 1937 in a bloody murder-suicide, visitors are invited by paranormal investigator Hector Phoenix to explore the family home and uncover the story of what caused their horrific deaths to occur. Screamworks previous show blurred the boundaries of what is the norm in immersive experiences, with actors force-feeding and tying up visitors, on top of at its climax attempting to undress those who have braved the show, it was an arresting experience for those who attended. The most confronting parts of Bloodbath saw visitors become complicit in the actions of a serial killer, and played with the ideas of voyeurism and torture being little more than entertainment for blood thirsty audiences. In our recent interview with Gary Stocker - the CEO of Screamworks - he shared how their commitment to creating the immersive experience may have put some visitors off by appearing too intense. Therefore it's no surprise that The Ghost Hunt's website seems to promise a show that's less intense than Bloodbath, with no physical contact between actors and visitors, and a storyline that's sold as more spooky than gory. On paper it may seem like a step away from the boundary-pushing experience that made their previous work so engaging, but in reality The Ghost Hunt is just as intense and terrifying an experience, with dozens of moments that had us jumping, screaming and recoiling in fear. Upon entry, each visitor is handed a torch - it's largely up to them to find their way through the space and discover what's hidden inside the various dimly lit rooms that make up the 45 minute long experience. Putting the responsibility onto visitors to find their own way helps ramp up the tension, and makes going around every corner a frightening prospect. You're free to explore at your own pace, which allows ample opportunity to pour over the clues scattered throughout if you're so inclined. A section midway through the show allowed us to sit around a makeshift ouija board as we quizzed one of the house's spirits on what had happened there nearly 100 years prior for as long as we liked. The shows cast of five, who can appear and disappear at a moments notice through a maze of secret doors and hidden entries keep you constantly on edge. One moment towards the end of the show saw Hector Phoenix, the paranormal investigator who tasked us with exploring the house in the first place, appear behind us in a moment of complete darkness. Elsewhere, Geoffrey Luff - with a knife sticking out his back as he's slowly dying of blood loss, cornered our group in one of the rooms as we were interrogated on what had become of his children. The key difference between Screamwork's productions and your run of the mill scare experience is the ambitious storytelling. The Ghost Hunt tells a cohesive story that is drip fed to guests across it's 45 minute duration. Through various newspaper articles and letters scattered across the shows 10 rooms, along with some set pieces that offer both scares and exposition, you leave the experience having learnt about the supposedly true history of the shows setting. Previously we claimed that Screamworks would soon to be the leading immersive horror creators in London. Based on the screams both from our group and the echo's of those elsewhere in the venue during our visit, they've delivered a show that confirms that theory, and we now feel they're hands down the top creators of immersive horror experiences in the city. While time is limited to experience this show before it closes on 31st October, future plans for the venue involve an escape room featuring live actors that will open in November. We'd recommend trying to get down there before this show closes as it's easily one of the best scare attractions on offer in London this Halloween season. ★★★★ Screamwork's The Ghost Hunt runs from 5th October to 31st October in Bethnal Green. Tickets are available to book here.

A journey into the Underworld for 20 guests a performance, COLAB Theatre's modern-day retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice opens in their brand new venue on the Southbank. Immersive Rumours received complimentary tickets to this show and as such, are disclosing this information before our review. They have had no input in the below and all thoughts are our own. Following a year-long silence from COLAB Theatre, the immersive theatre company returns with a brand-new show - The Descent - which sees guests join Orpheus on a journey into the Underworld to try and save their wife, Eurydice. Situated in their brand new venue near London Bridge, the show takes place across multiple floors of their new creative hub - which is also available for fellow creatives to use for everything from office space to rehearsals and workshops. Based on the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, the show's opening sees guests invited into a boardroom to hear a pitch from Orpheus. He's inviting us to invest in Look Back Industries, a somewhat shady-sounding company that is working to both delay death and bring those who have passed back to life. This pitch is soon interrupted by an urgent phone call - we learn that company co-founder Eurydice has passed away after being bitten. Orpheus asks us to assist in bringing back his wife from the Underworld in exchange for a share in the company. With that, our descent into the Underworld begins... Photo: Alex Walton Taking place across the basement floor of their new venue, guided only by Orpheus' torchlight, we sheepishly creep through dark corridors and rooms. The tension builds as we venture deeper into the bowels of the building, with a number of jumpscares culminating in our group being cornered in a walk-in freezer as demons patrol outside. It's an effective sequence that saw a good amount of screaming from members of our group, especially when several were singled out to either hold closed the doors that stood between us and the demons or check previously unexplored rooms. Shortly after, crowded around a small computer screen, we're told we must find four specimens from previous experiments that are locked away within the facility. Combining all of them will serve as an offering to Hades, King of the Underworld, and ensure Eurydice's safe passage home. The impact of the show's scares, alongside your ability to be part of the story in a meaningful way, is sadly hampered by the group size. With each performance holding 20 people, it's too large of a group for everyone to have agency. Our group of 20 is at one point tasked with locating the breakers to restore power to the building - a task that requires 4 people at best. Later we're encouraged to split into four sub-groups - each focused on finding one of the previously mentioned specimens. While this alleviates some of the group size issues, most of the show's scariest moments were behind us by then, so you were more likely to just hear people's reactions on either side of you than witness the scares first-hand. Besides the various Underworld inhabitants we briefly encounter throughout the show, Orpheus (Alex Walton) is the only constant in the show. By acting as the sole narrative driver, as well as being tasked with keeping on top of what 20 people are doing at one time, they've got their work cut out for them. While it's not the scariest experience we've had this Halloween season, The Descent does more than enough to be an engaging and fun piece of immersive theatre. We walked away having made friends with several other attendees, and the collective experience of walking through the largely deserted basement of the building with little more than a barely-working torch did leave us somewhat rattled at times. We know COLAB Theatre have further shows planned for the near future, and as a showcase of their new space The Descent does a good job of laying the foundations for it being their new home for immersive work, even if this show doesn't quite reach the full potential of its premise. ★★★½ The Descent runs until 18th November near London Bridge. Tickets are priced at £28 and can be booked here.

Four and a half years in the making, wunderkind producers Sleepwalk Immersive debut an outstanding adaptation of The Bacchae that shows off only a fraction of their full potential. Immersive Rumours received a complimentary ticket to this show and as such, are disclosing this information before our review. They have had no input in the below and all thoughts are our own. Photo: Sleepwalk Immersive Initially conceived as a one-man show designed for a single audience member, the development of Bacchanalia has spanned a period of four and a half years. Expanding and growing with each new iteration, it took form last year in a series of R&D performances in Central London. Off the back of those shows, Bacchanalia has now taken over Crypt in Bethnal Green for a two-week, sold-out run. Based on The Bacchae by Euripides, Bacchanalia tells the story of the Greek god Dionysus as they seek revenge on the family members who have denied their divinity. It's an intense and intimate immersive production, welcoming just 40 audience members per performance. Photos: Ivy Corbin (@ivy_corbs) Set in 1960's Thebes, Bacchanalia ties the Greek tragedies' themes of rebellion and societal resistance to change to the moral panic and hysteria that surrounded hippie counter-culture that came to define the era. Bridging the gap between these ancient narratives and more contemporary events, it's a thoughtful and innovative approach to storytelling that pays off in spades. With a cast made up of Jordan Ajadi, Ruth Howard, Christian Loveless, Fionn Cox-Davies, Peter Broughton, Fania Grigoriou and Maya McQueen, it's a show full of exceptionally talented performers. The quality of this cast is a testament to the ambition of Sleepwalk Immersive, who have produced a show that stands shoulder to shoulder with some of the best immersive stagings London has seen in recent memory. Photo: Ivy Corbin (@ivy_corbs) Peter Broughton's portrayal of Dionysus - the God of wine and pleasure - is equal parts cult leader and dazzling showman, carrying themselves with all the bravado and self-assuredness of a God returning to claim what is theirs. While their push and pull with Christian Loveless' buttoned-up Mayor Pentheus is the driving force for the story as the two vie for control of Thebes, ultimately it's a futile effort for Pentheus - who all but lost the war the moment their cousin Dionysus arrived. Photos: Ivy Corbin (@ivy_corbs) Broughton spends much of the show flanked by Jordan Ajadi and Ruth Howard - the chorus of Bacchae who hang on Dionysus' every word. With their pedigree as performers well established, it's no surprise that Ruth Howard's work as Movement Director is excellent, with their choreography and movement on display throughout the show a great reflection of the uninhibited, free-spirited feel of 1960's counter-culture. Rounding off the cast are Fania Grigoriou as Agave and Fionn Cox-Davies as Tiresias, who both portray their roles with a weight worthy of the source material. Notably, Grigoriou's portrayal of Agave undergoes a poignant transformation throughout the show, reaching a powerful climax as she descends into madness, convinced that Pentheus is a lion whom she then fiercely attacks. Photo: Ivy Corbin (@ivy_corbs) Inevitably, Bacchanalia is going to be compared to Punchdrunk's work. With a cast made up largely of the immersive juggernauts alumni, and with a Greek tragedy as the source material it's an easy leap to make. The show wears its influence on its sleeves - anyone who experienced The Burnt City will be able to draw numerous parallels between the style of Punchdrunk's work and Bacchanalia. From the choreographed dance sequences to the strategic lighting cues and use of music, Sleepwalk's show feels like a concentrated embodiment of everything people have come to love about Punchdrunk's work. Photo: Ivy Corbin (@ivy_corbs) It'd be dismissive to say that this is little more than imitation though - Bacchanalia builds upon the inspiration taken from Punchdrunk and combines it with a lot of the most compelling elements of the immersive medium. Upon entering guests are offered outfits, as well as food and drink. Scattered throughout the space are dozens of documents and photos - including references to other immersive shows and mementos from audience members who backed the show on Kickstarter. All of this not only builds out the world further, helping the walls of the venue fade away, but demonstrates Sleepwalk Immersive's commitment to prioritising the audience's experience in every aspect of the show's creation. There are also moments of real humour throughout - including the use of a puppet bearing a striking resemblance to Grigoriou that was one of the funniest and most unexpected moments we can recall having seen in an immersive production. Photo: Ivy Corbin (@ivy_corbs) Artistic Director Sebastian Huang commented during our recent interview that this version of the show is only around 1/4 of what Sleepwalk has already envisioned and written for Bacchanalia. Given the success and response to this short run, it will no doubt return in the future at a grander scale. In its current form, this is one of the best new immersive shows of the year, so those yet to visit Thebes can rest assured that when the show does return, it'll be a sight to behold. Sleepwalk Immersive has captured lightning in a bottle with Bacchanalia. The fact that this version of the show is only a fraction of their overall ambition for the story is a marvel, and we can't wait to see where it goes from here. ★★★★½ Bacchanalia runs at Crypt in Bethnal Green until Saturday 25th November 2023. You can stay up to date with Sleepwalk Immersive via their mailing list or Instagram.

We jump aboard the Wishmas Train to review Secret Cinema's latest immersive production at The Old Bauble Factory beneath Waterloo Station. Wishmas - an original immersive production from the Secret Cinema team - has opened at The Old Bauble Factory in Waterloo. Tailored for families and younger audiences, this 60-minute walkthrough experience promises a 'fully immersive festive realm, featuring live actors and enchanting storytelling'. Located beneath Waterloo Station on Launcelot Street, it takes place within The Vaults - a venue well known for having hosted a string of immersive theatre shows in the past. Photo: Matt Crockett Our Wishmas journey begins in the Sorting Office with one of the Wishkeepers - the elf-like assistants whose mission is to ensure every Christmas wish makes it safely to Father Christmas. With the walls of the room adorned with dozens of small birdhouses, we're told all about the journey wishes make, the important role Robins play in delivering said wishes, and a bit about the world of Wishmas. It's an extended scene in which guests sit and listen to a Wishkeeper deliver a monologue - something that occurs several times throughout the show. Whether that is a blessing or a curse likely has to do with how engaged your little ones are if you're visiting as a family... Photos: Matt Crockett One of Wishmas' strongest elements is undoubtedly the set design by Julie Landau. The Wishmas Train, with its candy-striped poles and festive dividers, feels like stepping into an alternate universe where TfL have extended the Northern Line to Lapland. The Merry Maps of Everywhere Room - where reindeers' movements are tracked across the globe - is a festive twist on a military command centre, and small details such as the individually labelled doorways in the themed hallways of the venue sell the idea that we're only seeing a small part of a much larger festive operation. Photo: Matt Crockett The latter half of the experience allows the audience to interact with the world in a tangible way - tasked with using Wishmas' reindeer trackers to locate missing puzzle pieces, and turning large cogs to reverse time with the Clock of Now. These activities, all thoughtfully designed with children in mind, provide rewarding ways to involve every guest in the narrative. It's a welcome shift from the opening half-hour, which lacked any hands-on activity. Photo: Matt Crockett The experience concludes with a face-to-face with Father Christmas. Always teed up to be the highlight of any festive experience, the show's ending delivers a series of wholesome moments. There are some fun sleight-of-hand tricks on display from both Father Christmas and his Wishkeeper assistant, and a short sing-a-long section in which we're all encouraged to take part. While we visited without any children, the reactions and looks of wonder from those in our larger group seemed to confirm that it's a heart-warming end to our time in Wishmas. On top of the standard tickets that give you access to the full 60-minute walkthrough experience, there are a couple of other ticket options available for those looking to extend their visit. These include a meet and greet with Father Christmas (which includes a gift and souvenir photo), as well as a visit to the craft workshop where you can make your own bauble to take home. Photo: Matt Crockett Following Secret Cinema being bought out by TodayTix in 2022 for around $100 million, the company seem to now be entering a new phase. Reports of them taking over a venue in Camden Town for future productions have alluded to them moving away from the large-scale, free-roaming experiences that helped them become so well known and instead pivoting to timed-entry walkthrough experiences more akin to Wishmas. While this show works overall given its target audience, the potential retirement of the format that served them so well up until now would be a loss for both audiences and the immersive industry as a whole. It's hard to imagine an adaptation of something like Stranger Things or Guardians of the Galaxy working as well as a walk-through experience. ★★★½ Wishmas runs until 7th January near Waterloo Station. Tickets start at £29 and can be booked via wishmas.co.uk

Next month will see the opening of Once Upon A Kingswood Christmas - an immersive Christmas experience in South London. Running from the 16th to 23rd December, Once Upon A Kingswood Christmas is set within Kingswood House - a 19th century, 32-room mansion in South Dulwich. The family-friendly immersive promenade experience is put on by Cerebrum Entertainment, who have previously mounted a version of the show at Wentworth Woodhouse near Sheffield. Cerebrum Entertainment is an immersive events company that has previously produced experiences for the likes of Universal (Halloween Ends in Picadilly Circus) and New Line Cinema (It: Chapter Two at The Vaults). Delve into the magical world of 'Once Upon a Kingswood Christmas' and embark on a journey that will spark wonder and joy in the hearts of both young and old. Our show is a celebration of love, family, and the true spirit of Christmas. Immerse yourself in a captivating tale that will transport you to a winter wonderland like no other. Let your imagination soar as you discover the origins, traditions, and joyous inspirations behind this new and exciting Christmas Fairytale. With every moment you spend, you'll be captivated, amazed, and filled with the warmth of the holiday season. Help Bella find the Fairtyale Alliance, rescue Father Christmas from the clutches of the Snow Queen and save the Festive Season! Here's the trailer for the experience... Tickets are priced at £20 each, or £70 for 4x general admission tickets. Children under 2 years old are free. Once Upon A Kingswood Christmas runs from 16th to 23rd December at Kingswood House in South Dulwich. Find out more about the experience, and book via onceuponachristmas.uk

Sleepwalk Immersive have announced the cast for their debut show - Bacchanalia, an immersive retelling of The Bacchae by Euripides. Set to open later this year at CRYPT in Bethnal Green, each show will see an audience of just 40 audience members explore the space with six performers. Take a trip to the city of Thebes, where King Pentheus believes he has everything under control - that is until his divine cousin Dionysus turns up seeking revenge on the family who have expressed doubt about this upstart god’s status. Witness first-hand the clash between mortals and the divine. You will ask yourself … do you deny a god? The creative team behind Sleepwalk Immersive includes Sebastian Huang as Artistic Director, Ruth Howard as Movement Director, Maya McQueen and Peter Broughton as Associate Directors and Madeleine Houghton as Executive Producer. The cast features Jordan Ajadi (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). Full Cast List: Jordan Ajadi Ruth Howard Christian Loveless Fionn Cox-Davies Peter Broughton Fania Grigoriou Sleepwalk Immersive is also running a Kickstarter campaign for the show that includes rewards ranging from signed posters to show access with 'exclusive access to a one-person pre show experience'. You can back the project here. Bacchanalia opens on 12th November at CRYPT in Bethnal Green. For more information visit www.sleepwalkimmersive.com

Punchdrunk have today confirmed plans for a series of masterclasses and workshops themed around the companies approach to creating site-specific experiences, as well as intimate walking tours of The Burnt City's set for those eager to revisit the venue after its closure in September 2023. These experiences will be open to anyone who wants a deeper insight into the process and approach our creative team takes to unlock the possibilities of a space, create intricate design, build different environments with lighting and sound, and translate source texts into a language of physical performance. For those eager to visit and learn more about the world of Troy, our extensive set tours with knowledgeable guides are also available. You could be an artist looking to develop your own practice or are just eager to explore the world we created within The Burnt City. Details of the tours, masterclasses and workshops are below, as well as booking links: The Burnt City Set Tour Explore the world of Troy with these intimate walking tours. Our knowledgeable guides will lead you through the space, including 1:1 spaces, and reveal stories behind how this unique world was brought to life. Here you can ask questions about the building process and, if you wish, share your own experiences of The Burnt City. When: Various dates & times, 27 Nov-15 Dec. (90 minutes) Where: Punchdrunk Labs Tickets: £45, local residents £25 (includes a post tour beverage). Access patron tickets include a complimentary companion ticket. Book here. Who: Ages 11+ (under 16s accompanied by an adult). Anyone with an interest in The Burnt City, Punchdrunk, Greek mythology or immersive world-building. Performance Workshop Delve into the work and performance practice of Punchdrunk, the ‘world’s leading immersive theatre company’ (GQ Magazine). Join a member of The Burnt City’s company as they explore the unique process for performers, developed by Felix Barrett and Maxine Doyle, which has inspired and crafted Punchdrunk’s immersive work. Learn how to create genre-defying experiences through the blending of classical texts, contemporary dance and physical performance. When: Thursday 14 December, 10am-4pm (6 hours, including breaks) Where: Punchdrunk Labs Tickets: £150, local residents £85. Book here. Who: Ages 16+ with an interest in performance. No experience necessary. Design Workshop Step behind the scenes in this interactive design workshop where we demonstrate how we bring this multi-sensory world to life. Led by a member of The Burnt City’s design team, you’ll experience the evolution process involved in prop-making through building your own keepsake, inspired by the world of The Burnt City. When: Wednesday 6 December, 10am-1pm or 2-5pm (three hours) Where: Punchdrunk Labs Tickets: £75, local residents £45. Book here. Who: Ages 16+ with an interest in immersive design and prop-making. No experience necessary. Production Management Workshop Learn how to transform abandoned spaces into the fantastic worlds Punchdrunk plunges its audience into. This Production Management workshop provides you with insight into the Production department’s role in building an immersive, site-specific experience at Punchdrunk. Through dynamic activities and exercises on the set of The Burnt City, our team will give you the tools to think and problem solve creatively, as well as give an overview of how to deliver a project that breaks the mould of theatrical experience. When: Wednesday 29 November, 10am-1pm (three hours) Where: Punchdrunk Labs Tickets: £75, local residents £45. Book here. Who: Ages 16+ with an interest in production management, lighting and sound. No experience necessary. Immersive Storytelling Masterclass with Felix Barrett An Immersive Storytelling Masterclass with Felix Barrett MBE. Punchdrunk is the spark that ignited the immersive genre, introducing mainstream audiences to this now hugely successful form. In this masterclass, the company’s BAFTA-nominated founder, Felix Barrett, offers an introduction into the techniques behind his creative process. From learning how to analyse a text, translating it into the physical space and breaking from traditional models of storytelling, this is an opportunity to understand the foundations to creating immersive shows – giving you the tools to push the boundaries in your own creative work. When: Tuesday 28 November, 10am-2pm (four hours) Where: Punchdrunk Labs Tickets: £350, local residents £195. Book here. Who: Creatives and mid-career professionals who wish to apply the insight gained through this masterclass to their own professional career. Immersive World-Building Masterclass with Stephen Dobbie An Immersive World-Building Masterclass with Stephen Dobbie. The Burnt City’s Sound Designer Stephen Dobbie shares his creative process, and explores the highly collaborative role sound plays within building the world and evoking feeling in Punchdrunk’s work. In this masterclass, you will learn to appreciate the particular details and textures of sound design, and how it is used as a mode of storytelling through a unique exploration of The Burnt City. This is an opportunity to both deepen your understanding of collaborative process and sound design, and unlock how the key tool of listening can elevate your own creative practice. When: Friday 8 December, 10am-2pm (four hours) Where: Punchdrunk Labs Tickets: £350, £195 for local residents. Book here. Who: Creatives and mid-career professionals who wish to apply the insight gained through this masterclass to their own professional career.

The Kraken Rum announce their new pop-up immersive Halloween horror experience in London, where the prices of drinks are determined by visitors’ heart rates during an 'immersive horror gauntlet'. A new pop-up immersive experience this Halloween by The Kraken Rum will see visitors don heart-rate monitors before being thrown into a unique horror experience. The price they pay at the end of the experience in the bar for cocktails will be dictated by how much their BPM increased while inside. Developed alongside The Recreational Fear Lab, the immersive pre-bar experience is 'scientifically designed to make hearts pound'. The event is described as 'an immersive horror gauntlet' that will be 'dark, suspenseful and heart-thumping-out-of-the-chest frightening, it has more scares per minute than the best horror movies and is designed with one aim in mind: raise heart rates.' Guests descending into this heart of darkness will find themselves in a twisted testing ground - an arena of terror designed to discover if they are brave enough to receive The Beast’s benevolence by way of lower-priced cocktails. Once through the gauntlet guests will find themselves in the relatively safe embrace of The Beast’s bar, where they’ll discover just how much they were able to control their BPMs – or not. Those with lower heart rates will have their bravery compensated, while those who let fear take over will be charged incrementally more. Mathias Clasen from The Recreational Fear Lab says the following... An increase in heart rate is among the most well-known physiological indicators of fear and research has identified a range of stimuli that reliably induces fear in the average person. It is this knowledge that hosts of Screamfest VII have used in an event designed to heighten fear, and, by extension, heart rate. Hearts don’t lie, even in the presence of masking smiles. Tickets for Screamfest VII: Shock Exchange are priced at £10 each and include a cocktail. All subsequent drinks will be priced in line with guests’ heart rates. Those with racing hearts won’t pay more than £7 and resting hearts less than £3. Those interested in attending will need to book quickly, as there are limited spaces available, with many time slots already sold out. Kraken Screamfest VII: Shock Exchange will run for three days at the Clerkenwell Catacombs, from 26th to 28th October. Tickets can be booked via Universe.