​On the final day of Leake Street’s six-week VAULT festival, I took to the tunnel to have my senses livened by some classical music courtesy of a secret BitterSuite performance. Immersive theatre and dining experiences are now fairly common place on the urban social scene, but immersive concerts less so. 

Established by musician and composer Steph Singer, the BitterSuite collective is inspired by synesthesia and psychology and designed to make audiences really feel the music. The concert offered unique one-to-one experiences where each audience member was led through a choreographed sensory experience to Debussy, performed by Phaedra Ensemble instrumentalists. 

Taking lead from Samuel Beckett’s vision, internationally acclaimed director Max Stafford-Clark of Out of Joint theatre company recently took audiences into darkness with a blindfolded live performance of Beckett’s radio play ‘All That Fall’ at Camden School for girls, using 360 degrees sound design and unique audience proximity.

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“When asked by Beckett’s nephew what my vision for the play was, I replied that there would be no vision, that the play would take place in darkness," explained Stafford-Clark as he introduced the show, “He replied that that was exactly how Beckett imagined it – with voices coming from the void.” ​