Doctor Who Time Fracture: An Immersive Adventure Reviews

Hayley from London, England

DOCTOR WHO TIME FRACTURE

The first 40 minutes seemed chaotic , cast and audience seemed lost and unprepared, people were squashed into small areas, felt like those first couple of scenes would have been better if moved onto the end quicker, gradually got better , the further you got into the show the more control it seemed to have. The props were amazing and it’s worth it just to see the use of the doctors enemies and the ending when you finally heard from all the doctors. True whovians only, otherwise it will be lost on you.

Stuart Millinship from London, England

NEEDS A LOT OF WORK ON CROWD CONTROL

Saw the show at an early preview. This type of immersive show is where there are main staging area(s) for all of the audience and where major event(s)/scene(s) occur. You can interact with characters, be selected/guided for scenes off the main area, And/or free to explore until moved to/back the area for next major scene. Examples of this type of immersion are "The great gatsby" and "Alice Underground". The show/cast needs is to manage the audience, break it up into groups for some scenes, Ensure the main area is entertained with character interactions/minor events, ensure the audience experience the essential parts of the story but also that information/tasks they learn/do appear relevant and impact the story (even if really they don't) and ensure everyone is back in place for any major scenes. Ideally an audience member will feel they have an individual experience. Done well it's fantastic but this show needs a lot of work on audience management as at present it a bit of a mess.

Emma from London, England

BRILLIANT BUT NOT COVID-SECURE

Let’s start off with the fact that this event is not ‘COVID-secure’ the size of the sets make social distancing impossible and the actors will stand half a meter from you with no mask, having to shout due to the loud music. So if you are worried about COVID don’t go, as it will ruin the experience, wait (it is open until April 2022.) The experience itself was great the unit headquarters scene at the beginning was very manic and let the performance down, so STICK WITH IT, it gets better I promise. Once you are through to the next ‘area’ it is much more interactive with different actors taking groups and directing you around. The bar area was loud, but the drinks weren’t awfully priced by London standards (£2.50 for a coke, £5 for a beer, £10 for a cocktail etc.) The finale wrapped up the story nicely and the weeping angel part was brilliant.

Dave Smith from London, England

DISAPPOINTING.

I have to agree with other reviewers, the initial encounter with UNIT was a shambles. Lots of actors with groups trying to shout over one another then being herded to another actor to be told the same thing over and over. Got very confusing and chaotic. Got split from our group. I get that the idea is we share our different adventures but some encounters were inexplicable cut short before we were herded to another area and arriving in the middle or end of goodness knows what. Encounters with monsters were sparse. I encountered loads of historical characters but few monsters. Have to say the actors are all brilliant but I’d recommend smaller groups, less UNIT chat at the beginning and more monster encounters. The section on Gallifrey was much better, though tended to drag. It was an experience but no inclination to return

Carole Matthews from Leicester, England

DISAPPOINTING AND DEFINITELY NOT COVID SECURE

I love immersive theatre and had very high hopes for this, but it was a disjointed, confusing experience. It definitely is not ‘COVID-secure’ - far too many people crammed into, and moving past each other in small spaces, social distancing is impossible and the actors will stand very close to you with no mask, having to shout due to the loud music. We thought we'd be in small groups, but we were shunted into the first room to find lots of people already milling about. It was incredibly noisy - the cast shouted various things at us - nobody seemed to have any clue what was going on. A solitary dalek appeared - completely underwhelming! It felt like this section was just a 30+ minute staging post. The next part could have been brilliant, but again there were far too many people to be 'managed'. We had a fun chat with Shakespeare and thought things might be looking up, but then our host didn't seem to know where to take us next! The Pig Man might have been brilliant, but none of us could hear what he was saying over the ridiculously loud background noise. Then there was more confusing wandering about before the interval. The singers in the bar were very good, but we were there much too long. After the interval there was a really well done element (see below if you don't mind a spoiler) and we again hoped things were improving. We were wrong! The final scene felt like it dragged on forever! None of us fully understood the point. The whole experience really needs much tighter audience management and a more cohesive script. SPOILERS - having seen other reviews - I expected more than 1 Dalek and 1 Cyberman. There was no sense of threat or urgency when the solitary Cyberman wandered (didn't stomp) into the room and then just stood there as the large number of people who had to move to the next area prevented any rushing. The reason I've given it 3 stars instead of 2 is because of the Weeping Angels which was really well done - such a shame that there wasn't much more in the same vein.

Michelle james from London, England

DOCTOR WHO FAN

To be fair it was so disorganised it was stupid. Social distance guidelines went out the window. Didn’t feel safe at all. People didn’t know what they were doing. Even the actors didn’t seem to know what they were doing. You really didn’t get to see much of the story at all. All disjointed. Props good though. Expected to hear more from the doctors and others. Also the drinks were really expensive. I wouldn’t go to anything like that again.

Nick from London, England

A MESS

I completely agree with the other reviewer here: worra shambles. That's to take nothing from the cast, who put in heart and soul, and were subtly guiding bewildered punters from room to room, when clearly they had no idea what was going on or where they were supposed to be heading. Respect to them. Less respect to the script - perhaps this was just too ambitious a project? It did not work. We were guided into the first room by an amiable scientist, in a group of about 15 - our group for the trip, I imagined. However, in the first room - a kind of UNIT HQ packed with screens - we joined at least two other groups, and this haphazard mass of confused punters wandering around would sum up the experience. UNIT personnel took turns to shout scripted gibberish at us, over backgrounds of sirens, bangs and whistles. Two Daleks were trundled out, stood into doorways, did nothing then were trundled back. Our first monster meet: distinctly underwhelming. Later, we met an Ood, Brian, whom my daughter liked very much, and he sent us off to meet a Pig Man for some reason or other. That was the gig: WE - the punters - were supposed to be saving the world, so were occasionally tasked with something pointless to make us feel useful. The most bizarre part was when we ended up in a "spaceship" where a couple of female aliens sang (beautifully) songs by David Bowie, Radiohead and Katy Perry. There, we found a table and sat there, with no clue what to do next, until eventually my daughter asked for a drink from the bar. I spent £7.50 on 2 small cans (of lager and Coke). After a good half an hour, we made a desperate break for it as I spotted a small breakaway group perhaps escaping the madness. Otherwise I fear we'd still be there now. But there was one final room, filled with ten Time Lords emoting. By this stage I was praying for it to be over, and hang my atheism. Please let me leave. Even then, when it finally, mercifully ended, we were left milling about and had to ask where the exit was. There were a couple of decent moments - the stomping Cyberman actually scared me, and the dark corridor of the Weeping Angels worked really well. But they were short moments.

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