Storehouse the immersive show at Depford Storehouse

Step inside STOREHOUSE, one of the most artistically ambitious, large-scale immersive theatre events ever to be staged in the UK.

In a vast, disused warehouse in Deptford – once the paper store of Britain’s most influential newspapers – you’ll uncover a sprawling, hidden archive, built to house every news story, message, memory and meme ever transmitted across digital networks the world over.

Since the dawn of the internet in 1983, these have been gathered and meticulously catalogued by an underground collective, in the belief that if all humanity’s stories are brought together, they will reveal a higher, universal truth that could change everything.

But the narratives inside the Storehouse are beginning to compete, and its only remaining founder is fading fast. A successor is desperately needed to safeguard the mission and decide what’s preserved, rewritten or destroyed…

Truth Lies Here.  Are you ready to take a stand? 

Storehouse is a large-scale, immersive performance that has grand ambitions, which it sadly doesn’t fulfil.  I’ll be honest, this is the most split I’ve felt about a show for a while, because while some elements are incredibly well done, some key elements are truly lacking.

Let’s start with the good.  The production of this show is truly epic, there has clearly been no expense spared on the epic and detailed sets.  The production and backstage staff have done an incredible job here in a show that has so many complex and layered technical elements that it really relies on to make the show what it is.  Similarly, the cast perform their parts well, doing a great job acting while trying to wrangle the audience to stay on beat and interact when required.

Sadly, where this falls down is in the storytelling.  There is a general feeling of too many storylines and ideas being pushed together, resulting in a messy, incomplete feeling show.  So many themes and storylines are set up and then taken nowhere, which is sad, as the premise of many of them felt really promising.  The core of the story is an important one that is worth telling, but it’s presented so heavy-handedly here and in a way that sadly just doesn’t seem to connect with the audience.  This is also reflected in the immersive elements.  There were many introductions of how the audience will be important to the story, but none of this plays out.  It feels like too many ideas were chosen but not completed.  Many times, the immersive elements feel shoehorned in with no real impact, emotional or otherwise, on what is going on with the show.  It feels almost like this can’t decide if it should be a site-specific play or an exploratory immersive event, and ends up with a foot unsatisfactorily in both camps.  This also results in the show being clunky and the timing of many scenes feeling off, either being rushed through or taking too long.  This would work so much better if they streamlined the ideas into one cohesive narrative.

Overall, it honestly feels like a shame; there are some amazing moments on this show and well-planned out moments, but they all come from technical aspects.  There are cool, large sets, props, and effects, but they just aren’t used to their full effectiveness in this show.  Storehouse is on at Depford Storehouse until the middle of September, tickets can be booked through the Sage and Jester website, with tickets starting from £25.

Tickers were gifted in exchange for review, all words and opinions are my own