Voidspace Dispatches, January 2025: Friends of the Void, Cain's Jawbone, and an ISIS bride
interactive arts
Happy new year!
Though time is a meaningless construct in the void, we’ve been informed it’s a new year and wish you all a very happy 2025.
After a 2024 which saw some setbacks for the world of immersive and interactive arts, January is shaping up to be an exciting and event-packed launchpad for a comeback.
We will kickstart our own year of events for the Friends of the Void (in association with Theatre Deli), with a full programme of events in person and online. Mark your calendars and join us!
January - Thursday 16 January 6pm - First Voidspace Meets - Theatre Deli (including festival application Q&A) - no tickets needed
Sunday 19 January 8pm - Online festival application Q&A (free tickets here)
February - Saturday 8 February 6pm - Scratching the Void: interactive theatre scratch night (Tickets here)
March Thursday 20 March 6pm - Voidspace Meets - Theatre Deli - no tickets needed
April - Sunday 13 April 8pm: Strange Play - online meet & games night (Join here)
May - Sunday 4 May 8pm: Strange Play - online meet & games night (Join here)
June - 7-8 June: Voidspace Live 2025 (apply to perform)
July - Thursday 3 July, 6pm - Voidspace Meets - Theatre Deli - no tickets needed
August - Sunday 24 August 8pm: Strange Play - online meet & games night (Join here)
September - Saturday 27 September, 6pm - Scratching the Void: interactive theatre scratch night - Theatre Deli
October - Thursday 16 October 6pm: Voidspace Meets - Theatre Deli - no tickets needed
November - Sunday 16 November 8pm: Strange Play - online meet & games night (Join here)
December - Saturday 13 December 11am - Voidspace Xmas Market no tickets needed
Read on for more ways to start 2025 with a bang - including not one but TWO reparatory seasons from interactive creators (Chronic Insanity and Cirque Saw) and exciting new work catering for all interactive tastes.
2025 also sees a number of Voidspace Press publications, including Leo Doulton’s Rites of Angels and our first anthology of interviews and essays on interactive art. Watch this (void)space!
We hope that your 2025 is going off with a bang, and hope to see you this year, at one of our events, or someone else’s. The void loves you!
Voidspace at home
interactive arts to experience at your own pace
Voidspace in conversation:
This month we speak to two very different creators, who each have exciting work coming to London this month:
Joe Strickland of Chronic Insanity theatre, who are running a two week residency at the Clapham Omnibus Theatre and online from 14 January 2025, talks to us about his unique high-volume approach to making work;
Alexander Raptotasios, whose politically charged reworking of a classic, Antigone [on strike] comes to the Park Theatre from 30 January 2025, talks to us about how interactive and immersive theatre can function as a tool for communal engagement and connection.
Read previous Voidspace conversations with other friends of the void, including Gemma Brockis, Key of Dreams, Deadweight Theatre, Jury Games, Unwired Dance, Nick Murray, Leo Doulton and Chloe Mashiter.
Play at home experiences
Check out one of the earliest interactive novels: Cain’s Jawbone: A Novel Problem by Edward Powys Mathers is a notoriously difficult murder mystery meets puzzle book, first published in 1934.
Only a handful of readers solve the mystery a year: can you be one of them?
Voidspace explores
interactive arts listings
Online events
Lennox Mutual by Candle House Collective - Welcome to Lennox Mutual: a Life En-surance company, here to help you make the most of the time you have. We offer policies – to get yours, all you have to do is make an appointment.
For more information, book a one-on-one phone session. Our live representatives are trained to make you feel, make you think, and of course, make you smile. You’ve never experienced service like ours. Read our conversation with Candlehouse Collective here.Online
Various dates, 2025
CirqueSaw Repertory Season - Working at the intersection of art and technology, CirqueSaw, a series of science fiction, digital, play at home experiences
Void Main - Every astronaut knows the risks. Every trip up might not come back down and one wrong choice–however small–might mean the total loss of the mission. But this is just a routine call home during a routine science mission. In Void Main, your smallest choices determine the fate of one astronaut alone on a station 750 million miles away.
11, 12, 19, 25, 26 January 7PM GMT
labRats (workshop) - Despite all your rage, you are still just a rat in a cage. Luckily, you're also a rat who's been outfitted with a neural implant that allows you to communicate telepathically with the other rats in your cage. Maybe that'll help. 18th January 7 PM GMT
Chronic Insanity residency - Chronic Insanity Theatre - Chronic Insanity has produced over 100 shows in the past 5 years, and now they get to bring some of their favourite online experiences out of the vault:
Flavour Text - You stumble upon the sudden closure of your favourite takeaway restaurant. As you explore reviews and comments to understand why, you uncover a web of lies and deceit that stretches far and wide. 13-25 January 7PM
Myles Away follows the founder of a tech company facing a layoff before a major launch. This interactive production uses video and audio to explore the intersection of capitalism and discrimination in the tech industry. How far will you go for change? 13-25 January 7PM
PNOC.io - You are starting a new job as a User Experience Tester for Stromboli, the world’s leading internet company. As you conduct tests, coming face to face with their new AI, you uncover unsettling truths about their projects. This immersive experience examines tech ethics, misinformation, and the power of individual choices in shaping our digital world. 13-25 January 7PM
Red Breast explores the intertwining lives of four family members across generations. This Off West End award-winning audio play immerses you in their emotional journey. 13-25 January 7PM
There’s Something Among Us This interactive online found footage experience explores old wounds and unspoken truths, blending humour with suspense. 13-25 January 7PM
Workshops
Psychonaut Theatre with Riverside Studios - As part of their Try January series, a series of workshops around performance, stagecraft and production.
The Dance of the Actor: Building Stage Presence - 12 January
Exploring the Boundaries of Art in Performance - 19 January
The Artist as Producer - 25 January
Acting and Directing for Immersive Cinema Experiences - Join immersive theatre specialist Joe Hufton for an exclusive one-day workshop exploring the art of acting and directing for immersive experiences.
8 February
Portsmouth, UK
In-person events
January 2025
The Dead - ANU and Landmark Productions, in association with Museum of Literature - Immersive experience offering uniquely intimate way for small audience groups to experience James Joyce’s masterpiece.
Museum of Literature, Dublin
Until 12 January 2025
Łukasz Twarkowski: The Employees - Employees of the 6000 Spaceship grapple with a longing for an annihilated Earth. Told through fragmentary sections of reports, with a free-roaming audience between acts, this work explores what it means to be human and non-human. Performed in Polish with English subtitles.
Southbank Centre, London
12 January - 19 January 2025
Chronic Insanity residency - Chronic Insanity Theatre - Chronic Insanity has produced over 100 shows in the past 5 years, and now they get to bring some of their favourites to Omnibus this January. Enjoy award winning digital theatre, festival favourite interactive experiences, and some deep cuts from our vault of critically acclaimed theatre and performance, as well as some rehearsed readings of amazing work they hope to support in the future.
14 January - All Falls Down is an interactive storytelling adventure where the audience guides a group of friends after a plane crash. Navigate the wreckage and surrounding wilderness, making choices that determine their fate and survival against hidden dangers
15 January - 52 Souls is an engaging, interactive performance that delves into humanity’s complex relationship with death.
16 January - Imprisoned with the Pharaohs is an interactive horror experience. As magicians and archaeologists exploring a pyramid, your choices will determine the story’s twists and turns. Will you confront the ancient foe or escape to safety? Every performance is uniquely crafted by you!
18 January - In Andy’s Coming, the audience becomes the abandoned childhood toys of a university student, and they’re seeking revenge! After Andy leaves them behind, the toys plot their comeback in a thrilling mix of Toy Story and Kill Bill. Get ready for an interactive storytelling experience like no other!!
Omnibus Theatre, Clapham, London
14 - 24 January 2025
BAD FRUIT - An eclectic collection of events that unravel like a wheel of fortune. one to one oddities, music, surprise acts and a DJ set, all in keeping with Bad Fruit rotten style. Expect the unexpected. Including friends of the void Gemma Brockis and Silvia Mercurali.
17 January 2025
Jamboree, London
The Key of Dreams - highly immersive and interactive luxury 24 hour Lovecraftian experience set in a 17th century manor house, on the border of dream and waking. Read our conversation with creators.
Treowen House, Wales
January 23 and 25, 2025
COSMOTECHNICS - Discover immersive installations that reveal how plants can transform technology into an ally for resistance, resilience, and growth through the lens of four Latin American artists and collectives.
Until 26 January
FACT Liverpool, UK
Antigone [on strike] - Ferodo Bridges - Set in an interactive media studio where you vote and affect the story’s direction, this is a new play inspired by Sophocles’ classic tragedy Antigone and the real stories of the young women who became the so called ‘ISIS Brides’.
Park Theatre, London
30 January - 22 February 2025
Bridge Command - Fly your own starship adventure, from the creative minds behind interactive theatre titans, Parabolic. Read our conversation with Bridge Command’s Owen Kingston, here.
London
Until 31 January 2025
The Tavern - Fantasy Game Night - A casual night of connecting through play, conversations and shared interested. The bar, foyer and studio space of Hoxton Hall will be decked out with elements of post-medieval fantasy world Tephran where, guided by facilitators, you will play some of their traditional tabletop games. This is not an immersive performance but will be a social and playful space.
Hoxton Hall, London
31 January and 7 February 2025
Art Plays Games - Fun, playful and suitable for gamers and non-gamers of all ages, Art Plays Games looks at how artists are increasingly using games as a way to challenge conventional forms of storytelling and offer us new ways to make sense of the world today. Over the exhibition’s run, the artworks and games on display will rotate, introducing something different to discover each time you visit!
FACT, Liverpool
Until 27 April 2025
February 2025
ART / TECH / PLAY LIVE Producers’ Edition- This annual, special edition of ART // TECH // PLAY LIVE will explore the challenges and delights of making and presenting artworks involving emerging technologies. With keynote presentations and panel talks, we will discuss development, installation, exhibition, touring, and public engagement, exploring a range of case studies with the aim of identifying what new models for producing art/tech work might look like in 2025.
Cambridge
6 February 2025
The Shop for Mortals and Fools - The Shop for Mortals and All Fools is a site-responsive and immersive physical theatre experience conceived by Vinicius Salles and inspired by Euripides’ The Bacchae.
Stanley Arts, London
14 February - 1 March 2025
Side/Step Festival - Taking over an intimate restaurant space, we aim to bring together artists who are pushing the boundaries of their disciplines. With a non-traditional space we welcome work that steps out of whatever ‘traditional’ means to you. Whether that’s writing your first play or trying something different in your own practice. Side/Step is a laboratory for bold artists, a place for us to try something new, a place for us to gather and connect. Created together with Deadweight Theatre of The Manikins: A Work in Progress fame.
15-22 February 2025
102 Upper Street, London
Sunday Night Salon: Queer Renaissance - Join longtime void friends CN Lester and Leo Doulton for the next instalment of their interactive salon, hosted by the legendary Gay's the Word, inspired by our queer Renaissance forebears. 500 years ago Michelangelo wrote his exquisite sonnets of longing and desire to Roman nobleman Tommaso dei Cavalieri: 400 years ago Strozzi composed and sang of queer love and betrayal to the intelligentsia of Venice: this November, we invite you to celebrate their poetry and music, and the ideas they provoke, with friends old and new in the intimate space of the UK's oldest queer bookshop.
Gay’s the Word, London
16 February 2025
Painting Pickman’s Model - From the company that brought you the Uncanny Things Trilogy (with an interview forthcoming!). follow in the steps of Pickman and sketch a monstrous ghoul.* A unique opportunity to make your own pieces of art and get to know a horror from London’s corpse-filled graveyard. Part of London Lovecraft Festival.
Drayton Arts Theatre, London
16 February 2025
The Estate Sale of Randolph Carter - Also from Leo Doulton, it has It has been nearly a decade since the disappearance of Mr Randolph Carter, legendary occultist, academic, and explorer. We have been tasked with the disposal of his estate. Attendees will be able to confer, negotiate, and pool resources between collected lots; we encourage the avoidance of any underhand dealing. Part of London Lovecraft festival.
Drayton Arms Theatre, London
17 February 2025
March 2025
The Uncanny Things Trilogy - festival favourites Virtually Opera are back with a full three shows of ritual, community and extreme strangeness. Tickets on sale soon.
Colab Tower, London
3-31 March 2025
Bacchanalia - Sleepwalk Immersive - Following two sold-out runs in 2023/24, Bacchanalia is returning in March 2025 to take over the 160-year-old Hoxton Hall.
Hoxton Hall's Grade II* listed building, including its stunning tiered hall and labyrinthine network of rooms and passages, will play host to Thebes, allowing audience members to witness the city's violent descent into madness and debauchery at the hands of the god of wine and pleasure.Hoxton Hall, London
11 - 23 March 2025
Weird Hope Engines - Dying Earth Catalogue - The first exhibition of its kind, Weird Hope Engines foregrounds the practices of innovative designers, artists, and writers in the field of independent game design, and brings their work into dialogue with fellow-travellers in the field of critical art practice. exploring the shared experience of game space as a site of hallucinatory possibility…
Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham
22 March - 10 May 2025
April 2025
asses.masses - London Games Festival - a custom video game designed to be played from beginning to end by a live audience, one person at a time. It’s a 7+ hour epic story of a herd of unemployed donkeys trying to get their jobs back, all while navigating the perils of a post-Industrial society in which they’ve been made redundant.
Battersea Arts Centre, London
12 - 13 April 2025
Future Ritual Festival - A new festival of choreographic work, performance art, ritual offerings and sonic activations.
23rd to 27th April 2025
Various venues London and Venice
May 2025
Faust - Seth Kriebel & Zoe Bouras - Come in. Have a seat. Name your price. From the creators of The Unbuilt Room, Discover a new version of a very old story, with an interactive twist. Read our conversation with Seth & Zoe.
South Street Theatre, Reading
15 May 2025