Lander 23, Punchdrunk, 2025
Image: Punchdrunk
Image: Punchdrunk

Immersive theatre in London

Step into immersive theatre worlds with our guide to the best and most boldly interactive London shows

Andrzej Lukowski
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What is immersive theatre? A glib buzzword? A specific description of a specific type of theatre? A phrase that has become so diluted that it’s lost all meaning? Whether you call it immersive, interactive or site-specific, London is bursting with plays and experiences which welcome you into a real-life adventure that you can wander around and play the hero in.

London's best immersive shows at a glance:

I’m Andrzej Łukowski, Time Out’s theatre editor, and I have run the immersive gamut, from a show where I had to take my clothes off in a darkened shipping container, to successfully bagging tickets to the six-hour Punchdrunk odyssey there were only ever a couple of hundred tickets for, to quite a lot of theatre productions where the set goes into the audience a bit and apparently that counts as immersive.

There is a lot of immersive work in London, some of which is definitely theatre, some of which definitely isn’t, some of which is borderline, some of which is but doesn’t want to say it is because some some people are just horrified of the word ‘theatre’. 

This page has been around for a while now and gone through various schools of thought, but the one we’ve settled on for now is that the main list compiles every major show in London that could reasonably be described as ‘immersive theatre’, while the bottom list compiles a few of our favouite immersive shows thet you probably wouldn’t describe as theatre though it is, naturally a blurry line.

Whatever the case you can mostly only really decide what most of these shows are if you go and do them… prepare to immerse yourself.

The best new London theatre shows to book for right now.

Immersive theatre shows

  • Immersive
  • Peckham

What is it? This swanky immersive dinner theatre experience from swanky immersive dinner theatre gurus The Lost Estate is based on an opulent ’30s New York venue created by socialite and ‘queen of the speakeasies’ Belle Livingstone. Unless you opt for the cheaper late entry tickets, your experience will revolve around a six course ‘Park Avenue tasting menu’, endless old school cocktail opportunities, and live jazz compered by Livingstone herself (NB probably in fact an actor playing Livingstone).

Where is it? 133 Rye Lane.

  • Immersive
  • Elephant & Castle

What is it? Even if you have literally never wanted to be part of the crew of a spaceship you’ll probably have a fun time at Parabolic Theatre’s Bridge Command, an immersive theatre show slash team-bonding exercise slash LARPer paradise that sees you and your fellow contestants take command of the, uh, bridge of a spaceship and undertake a variety of missions that run the gamut from diplomacy to warfare. The show has entered its second ‘season’, which adds an alien threat to the interconnected stories.

Where is it? Arches 63 and 64 Albert Embankment (Vauxhall).

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  • Immersive
  • Royal Docks
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

What is it? First announced aeons ago and presumably costing a bob or two to create, this Elvis Presley-based immersive show is a slick affair, heartfelt in its admiration for The King. It’s by Layered Reality, who have had notable immersive successes with the ongoing adaptation of The War of the Worlds and the Tower of London-based The Gunpowder Plot.

Where is it? ImmerseLDN.

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  • Immersive
  • Royal Docks

What is it? FAME*FACTORY is a one-hour, 11-scene show by the production team behind the Academy Awards, designed to replicate the experience of being a celebrity – private jets, press conferences etc. Will that be enough to put you in a billionaire mindset? We’ll soon find out.

Where is it? ImmerseLDN.

  • Comedy
  • Bloomsbury
Faulty Towers the Dining Experience
Faulty Towers the Dining Experience

What is it? Despite being an unofficial tribute to John Cleese’s legendary ’70s sitcom, this long-running interactive dinner show captures the show’s spirit surprisingly well.

Where is it? President Hotel.

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  • Immersive
  • Wembley

What is it? At one point the children’s theatre sister company to immersive legends Punchdrunk but now more or less spun off as its own thing, Punchdrunk Enrichment return for Christmas with the second major show at its Wembley Park base. Fireside Tales is the first work for the company from its new artistic director Steve McCourt and offers a hopefully enchanting adventure for kids ages seven to 11. 

Where is it? Punchdrunk Enrichment Stores.

  • Immersive
  • West Kensington

What is it? London at Christmas has pretty much every stage variation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol that you can think of. This long running one from The Lost Estate is an immersive dining experience, in which we’re cast as guests at Dickens’s home, ready to be treated to one of his legendary solo storytelling performances.

Where is it? The Lost Estate.

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  • Immersive
  • Hammersmith

What is it? This admirably ambirious immersive show is, of course, an adaptation of Douglas Adams’s genius sci-fi comedy The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, following the intergalactic adventures of hapless last surviving human Arthur Dent and his eccentric alien pals. Taking over Riverside Studios’ Studio 2, Studio 3 and points inbetween, it’s created by Arvind Ethan David, a writer-producer who has previous with Adams’s work.

Where is it? Riverside Studios.

  • Things to do
  • pop-ups
  • Waterloo

What is it? What’s more Christmassy than visiting Santa’s grotto? Going for a pint or two with the man in red in his favourite boozer, of course. Humbug, an immersive Christmas dive bar, allows you to do just that – and join Mr Claus in rounds of games, sing-a-longs, live performances, storytelling and more. It’s all threaded together with a mission to cheer a weary Santa up and help him rekindle his Christmas spirit. 

Where is it? The Vaults, Waterloo.

Other immersive shows we rate

  • Things to do
  • Exhibitions
  • King’s Cross

What is it? Sister to the Bridge Theatre in London Bridge but a very different prospect, the Lightroom capitalises on the current craze for projection-based work by creating what is effectively a projection-based art gallery.

Why go? Its gargantuan exhibition-slash-documentaries are ravishing one offs and well worth a look above the usual Immersive Van Gogh-style nonsense. In its rep at time of writing is Tom Hanks’s spectacular space doumentary Moonwalkers, and Vogue exhibition Inventing the Runway.

  • Immersive
  • Tottenham Court Road

What is it? Yes, really: it’s a gigantic Monopoly board, allowing you and a group of fellow players to live out your dreams of rampant landlordism in the flesh. 

Why go? Although it’s based on Monopoly, it’s more like particpating in a live gameshow with a monopoly theme. And it’s a slick, enjoyable and good-humoured one that runs throughout the day - perfectly suited to family teams.

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  • Immersive
  • Canada Water

What is it? This ‘fully immersive Western town open-world adventure’ basically sees you free to roam around a 30,000 square foot steampunk-influenced Wild West town, interact with its inhabitants, get involved in its mysteries and sample the food and drink at its various watering holes.

Why go? Closer to a fictionalised version of one of those living museums than a theatre show, Phantom Peak is a grand storytelling experiment with a relaxed pace and plenty of rewatch value.

  • Attractions
  • Arcades and amusements
  • Stratford

What is it? The Eclipso Centre is a virtual reality ‘hub’ at Westfield Stratford City, which plays host to two 45-minute virtual reality experiences: ‘Horizon of Khufu’, in which you journey to Ancient Egypt, and ‘Life Chronicles’, a voyage through the history of life on planet Earth.

Why go? There are a number of VR gaming options in London at the moment – these two headset-based experiences are a bit more passive but for sheer depth of immersion they’re pretty mind-blowing.

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