REVIEW: The UnDisposables present SURVIVE THE NIGHT at Old Red Lion Playhouse 15-17 October 2026
“A gloriously chaotic blend of slasher horror, interactive gaming and unpredictable theatrical mayhem.” ★★★★
Six friends head off on holiday together, bringing with them a tangled assortment of romantic complications and family connections. Their destination is a remote cabin in the woods, where, unbeknownst to them, a killer is lurking, ready to pick them off one by one. It’s a premise straight out of the classic slasher movie handbook, but while the scenario may be familiar, the way the story unfolds is not.
Before entering the auditorium, audience members are invited to scan a QR code and sign into the show’s interactive website. Enter your name, and you’re officially part of the action. Two buttons appear on your phone - red and blue - and throughout the performance, you’re presented with choices that determine what happens next.
And these aren’t merely cosmetic decisions. Seemingly insignificant choices can have devastating consequences, while others present life-or-death dilemmas. The audience votes, the majority wins, and the performers enact whatever fate we’ve collectively inflicted upon them.
A large screen dominates the back of the stage, displaying the choices while doubling as a video game interface, complete with character information and collected items. The technical demands are considerable, with multiple narrative possibilities and constantly shifting scenarios requiring lighting, sound and visual cues to respond to the audience’s decisions. Yet the whole thing runs remarkably smoothly, allowing the audience to become completely absorbed in the unfolding chaos.
Particularly impressive is the phenomenal sound design. Much of the murderous action takes place in darkness, leaving the audience to fill in the grisly details. Yet the extraordinarily vivid soundscape brings every sickening axe chop and disturbing squelch to life. It’s gruesomely effective.
The cast deliver strong, energetic performances while navigating the constantly shifting narrative, with several actors taking on multiple roles. The ensemble embraces the production’s horror conventions with infectious enthusiasm. Admittedly, one particularly dreadful Scottish accent threatens to become a horror story in its own right, but it’s a minor distraction in an otherwise accomplished production.
The characters and scenarios gleefully embrace slasher-film tropes, from going down into the cellar to the sort of spectacularly poor decision-making that has audiences shouting at the cinema screen. Here, however, we don’t simply get to shout at the characters. We get to make their bad decisions for them, and that’s where SURVIVE THE NIGHT really comes into its own.
At the performance I attended, decisions prompted cheers, jeers, laughter and vocal disagreements as opposing factions battled to determine the characters’ fates. Some spectators appeared genuinely invested in keeping everyone alive, while others positively delighted in the prospect of sending another unfortunate soul to their death. I must confess that, when faced with certain choices, I wasn’t entirely averse to sacrificing some of the more obnoxious characters myself. Sometimes it wasn’t so much about doing the right thing as choosing the lesser of two evils.
It’s this unpredictable audience dynamic that elevates the production beyond a clever technological gimmick. The collective decision-making transforms a roomful of strangers into an enthusiastic, occasionally bloodthirsty community. We become complicit in the action, celebrating our successes, lamenting our mistakes and discovering just how ruthless our fellow theatregoers can be.
And perhaps its greatest selling point is its replayability. With different decisions leading to entirely different outcomes, a return visit could offer an entirely new experience. How many theatre productions can genuinely offer that?
Distinctive, imaginative and tremendous fun, SURVIVE THE NIGHT delivers a gloriously chaotic blend of slasher horror, interactive gaming and unpredictable theatrical mayhem.
Box Office: https://weareoldred.co.uk/whats-on/grimfest/survive-the-night/
Reviewer Annie Power is a London-based playwright, screenwriter, producer and theatre reviewer. A contributor to London Pub Theatres Magazine since 2016, her work has been staged at venues across London, including Soho Theatre and The Old Red Lion Playhouse, and she won Best Writer at Underwire Film Festival. She is also the Founder and Artistic Director of Open Page Productions.
@anniesrpower
