Review: DOCTOR WHO - TIME FRACTURE (Immersive LDN)

"Would you like to jump through a Time Fracture with me?" asks The Doctor and away you go, off to explore Elizabethan England, far off planets and alternate dimensions.

This is Doctor Who: Time Fracture, an immersive production that places you at the centre of the experience it sells. A little too much perhaps, but more on that later.

We begin inside Unit HQ and we can't stress this enough, we are not watching Unit HQ, we are inside the building, all thanks to Rebecca Browser's designs. You are truly transported from the moment you enter the venue, to the gift shop at the end. Even the interval takes place in a cabaret bar on a spaceship as you fly at lightspeed to your next destination.

< SPOILER ALERT!>

The narrative begins strong. You have been volunteered by The Doctor to investigate a "Time Fracture" that appeared thanks to a bomb in WW2. Only now, in 2021, has it started acting up and it's down to us to venture inside and "Save The Universe"

Inside the first room, a frantic and urgent atmosphere is created incredibly well, with scientists running around all over the place, briefing us on our mission. These are just some of the 42 incredible live performers; each one didn’t just sell the world we were all in, they were the world we were all in. It is so easy to suspend your disbelief and run around with them as if the "fate of the universe" really is at stake. Initially they kept us on track with the story really well, making sure we all understood what was going on.

Once you leave the first room however, the story seems to slowly slip away, possibly due to the experience being so open ended and how a visitor perceives the storyline can change wildly, depending on which characters you interact with and which areas you are ushered into. For example, while we were sent to compete for Queen Elizabeth's hand in marriage, we were left wondering what we were missing out on with the group of people sneaking around, or what is behind those glowing curtains in the corner.

This is still a new experience though, and without Covid restrictions in place and a bit more refining from a directorial perspective, this will be fixed and everyone can be given a much clearer idea of the storyline, allowing the audience to fully appreciate what they have come to visit and the gravity of the final scene/scenario. Even if they are the last to join a room or wondering why they never got to meet Shakespeare!

That being said, the parts that we were involved in were wonderfully fun and completely immersive. The special effects were incredible. You can expect all of your favourite monsters to come to life before your very eyes, and, as much as you can try and look for it, nothing will take you out of the world created. It is all real, and any Doctor Who Fan will have such a fun few hours living their dreams of inhabiting the universe we love so much.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Callum Wallace

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