Immersive experiences: London 2020 events to book now

Dante’s in-Furlough

The latest immersive experience to take up residency at the Vaults, Dante’s in-Furlough hopes to lure brave audience members down to the underworld, where the Devil is getting married. Travel through the many circles of Hell to navigate your way to the most debauched wedding of the century. Once there, you’ll need to lie, sin and cheat your way onto the all-important head table.

The experience is being brought to life by a keen team of entertainers, and guests can add a dining experience to linger in the Devil’s decadent lair for longer.

Price: £20 - £25 general admission / £55 - £65 for dining tickets

Funicular Productions: The Murdér Express

Back by deadly demand: The Murdér Express is one of Funicular Productions’ signature experiences, and it returns this autumn, taking new cohorts of pleasure-seekers on ‘a journey of a lifetime’. Head back in time to the newly opened Pedley Street Station, where you’ll be among the first to ride the new luxury train: The Murdér Express. Sip on cocktails, tuck in to a fancy feast but don’t get too comfy, as the train’s name unsubtly suggests, something more sinister could be on board. Look forward to entertainment and storylines from a professional cast, and a multi-course meal from MasterChef: the Professionals finalist and long-term Funicular collaborator Louisa Ellis.

Price: £60 - £65

Secret Cinema: Stranger Things – the drive-into experience

In November 2019, Secret Cinema launched its first foray into the world of TV with a Stranger Things experience, bringing the world of the hit 80s-themed Netflix show to life in a secret London location. Then Covid happened and now the adaptable company has relaunched the experience, with one fit-for-the-current-times update: it’s now a drive-in show. Drive to the Starcourt Mall (the focal point of season three’s dramatic finale), and unlock hidden truths about Hawkins, all from the safety of your car.

Price: $59

Cahoots: immersive dining experience

Cahoots, Soho’s beloved 1940s-themed speakeasy, has launched its first dining experience. Inspired by the WWII-set sitcom ’Allo ’Allo!, the new adventure sees diners welcomed into the London Underground-inspired bar by the disorderly husband and wife duo, René and Edith Artois. Here, they’ll enjoy a three-course feast while a talented cast resurrect memorable sketches from the wartime spoof.

No rationing here… instead, guests can look forward to French onion soup followed by a main of coq au vin then mille-feuille with fresh berries to finish. Cahoots being first and foremost a cocktail bar, the above comes coupled with a range of its signature cocktails.

Price: £60pp

HiddenCity: three immersive adventures across London

Immersive adventure connoisseur HiddenCity has relaunched three of their critically acclaimed escapades: The Hunt for the Cheshire Cat, Moriarty’s Game: The Professor’s Invitation and The Enchanted Mirror, providing some much-needed entertainment for adventure-hungry Londoners. Not for the narrow-minded, each experience invites you to choose your own path through the story, interacting with characters along the way. Following clues delivered by text, each small group (of two to five players) must immerse themselves in challenges that ‘open up parts of the city you never knew existed’, and, ultimately, affect the way their story unfolds.

Price: £19pp

Doctor Who Time Fracture: an Immersive Adventure

Doctor Who fans are invited to get a whole lot closer to the action thanks to a new immersive adventure: Doctor Who Time Fracture. The experience, which launches in London in February 2021, puts the audience at the heart of the story, taking them on a Tardis-fuelled journey across time and space. The mission? To save the planet, of course.

David Attenborough’s Our Planet live

David Attenborough's Emmy Award-winning Netflix series Our Planet is getting the multimedia concert treatment, with the world premiere of the two-hour Our Planet in Concert at the O2 Arena on 21 March 2021. The production reimagines the series as a live, immersive experience, narrated on screen by Attenborough, and combines the stunning natural-world visuals of Our Planet with innovative live production effects, including a 66-piece orchestra and live vocals from singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan.

Monopoly Immersive Experience

Monopoly's banking, spending and trading has entertained millions of players since 1935 and fuelled innumerable family arguments. Now Londoners can experience real-life Monopoly in a live-action immersive production based on the beloved board game.

Game-makers Hasbro and Selladoor theatre company have joined forces to create a 75-minute adventure where teams will face a series of challenges as they navigate the opportunities and pitfalls of the Monopoly 'board'.

Souvenir

Richard is hosting a surprise party for Anna and you're invited. Souvenir plays out in a different house or flat for each performance, as guests bring a bottle and enter into a celebration with their supposed friends. With the intimate shows limited to 14 people at a time, it's an engaging, disconcerting experience that you participate in as it happens. Soon the jollity gives way to Black Mirror-worthy tinges of technological dystopia.