A Trilogy of Immersive Shows from Virtually Opera
Step carefully, speak wisely, and keep your iron close – because in The Uncanny Things Trilogy, the supernatural is real, and the choices you make will shape the world around you. This isn’t just opera; it’s a living, shifting story where audiences become part of a community navigating uneasy alliances with powerful, eldritch beings underneath London’s streets.
Across three immersive, interactive shows, you’ll negotiate with ancient forces, swear fealty to a mercurial king, or decide the fate of a captured Uncanny Thing. With every decision rippling across performances, no two nights are ever the same.
We spoke with creator Leo Doulton and performer Sarah Griffin about the magic of live storytelling, building communities through theatre, and why opera might be the perfect medium for the wyrd and the wonderful.
Welcome to ET, Virtually Opera. Would you like to introduce yourselves?
LD: I’m Leo Doulton, the creator of The Uncanny Things Trilogy, presented by Virtually Opera.
SG: I’m Sarah Griffin (they/them), an actor, interactive performer, and theatre maker. I’ll be playing The Coordinator, Silent, and Citizen.
Where is the show being performed, and why did you choose this venue?
LD: We’re at COLAB Tower, an immersive-specialist venue with some amazing tunnels right under Southwark Bridge. It’s incredibly atmospheric, the venue team understands everything we want to do, and it’s in a great central location.
It’s also fully DEI-compliant, which is rare for affordable fringe immersive spaces.
What can audiences expect from the show?
LD: You’ll become part of a community, negotiating with supernatural creatures to solve local problems (Come Bargain With Uncanny Things), win favour (Come Worship Our Uncanny King), or seek justice (Come Murder An Uncanny Thing).
Each show is a stand-alone immersive opera – respectively ritualistic, comedic, and tragic—so there’s something for everyone. But if you catch the whole trilogy, you’ll get an even richer experience.
It’s an interactive show with deep lore and huge audience agency. Whatever choices the audience makes each night will shape the next show. If you come multiple times, you’ll build relationships with characters, see how your decisions create lasting change, and uncover what lies beneath the world of the play.
How long have you been working on this project?
LD: Six years now! It was meant to be a small experiment, but it worked catastrophically well.
What inspired the show?
LD: It’s been so long, it’s hard to pinpoint!
At its core, I love interactive theatre, opera, and fantasy, and this show fuses them all.
I love how immersive theatre invites audiences to be in the world, working together as a community, and how opera uses music to conjure other realms. As a massive fantasy nerd, I’m fascinated by how that fusion makes it feel like you’re actually performing magic. When you change the world, the music changes too.
Interactive theatre is also great at asking, “What do the audience want? How do we communicate with them?” Contemporary opera sometimes struggles with that, so I wanted to bring the best elements of both forms together.
For a sense of the show’s feel and structure, major touchstones are Parabolic Theatre’s Crisis, What Crisis?, Phelim McDermott’s Akhnaten, and Le Guin’s The Word for World Is Forest. I’d also mention The Magnus Archives, This Is How You Lose the Time War, and most versions of Faust (including playing a warlock in Dungeons & Dragons). And of course, the work of Terry Pratchett has been a huge influence.
If you could invite any special guest to see the show, who would it be and why?
LD: Terry Pratchett, without a doubt. His work and his deep understanding of humanity in difficult times have shaped The Uncanny Things Trilogy, especially in the character of Granny Weatherwax.
What’s your favourite element of the show?
LD: The way audiences build gentle communities in a world of danger. Interactive theatre is an artform for the lonely 21st century, and I love watching people come together, spend the night creating something, and leave feeling connected.
You’ll be performing rituals, conversing with supernatural creatures, and engaging with all the classic elements of interactive theatre. But at its heart, the show is about people – about talking to one another and deciding, How do we solve this problem? How do we relate to these supernatural beings? How do we relate to each other?
Compared to some interactive shows that require a steep learning curve, we’ve designed this to be accessible even if you’re new to immersive theatre.
SG: Completely agree with Leo. The most exciting part of this trilogy is how community-building is its central mechanic. It would be nearly impossible to navigate The Uncanny Things without engaging with your fellow audience members.
Each ritual has taken on its own unique character, which has been deeply moving to witness. Watching audiences make their own connections, discoveries, and choices in this world is electrifying.
Who do you imagine will enjoy the show most?
LD: Fantasy fans, immersive theatre lovers, and marginalised people looking to step into a world of crafting, care, and shared humanity. Also, anyone who enjoys alternative opera.
SG: Anyone who wants genuine agency in a created world. The audience has a huge scope to affect the narrative and the reality of the show.
Can you describe a moment in the production process that felt magical or transformative?
LD: At our second work-in-progress sharing, audience members were making offerings to the Uncanny Thing in exchange for favours. At one point, someone plucked out their own hair as a gift. That was the moment I realised audiences really believed in this world.
Just before that, someone had asked the Uncanny Thing for life advice about a serious personal issue. Seeing those moments side by side—the sense that this was a space for genuine ritual, where choices felt meaningful and profound—was transformative.
What do you hope the audience takes away from the show?
LD: A new perspective on how they relate to the world. These stories use the Uncanny Things as metaphors for community, for our world, and for our relationships with one another.
SG: I hope audiences leave with a stronger sense of their own power to affect the world around them – and possibly more confidence in wielding it. I also hope they experience a genuine moment of connection with the people around them, however fleeting.
What’s next after this run—for you and the show?
LD: We’d love to extend The Trilogy, so if anyone’s interested, let’s talk!
SG: I’d love to keep making this kind of exploratory work, so yes – please, extension, funding, and more collaborators!
In the meantime, I’ll continue as a crew member of the UCS Warspite for Bridge Command, take on another Coordinator role for Jury Games, and reprise some eldritch roles for audio dramas like The Shelterwood Chronicles.
What’s the most valuable piece of advice you’ve received in your career, and how has it influenced this show?
LD: It’s about beauty, and it’s about people.
Something special happens when people come together for art, and I hope this show is both entertaining and beautiful – made by a small community, for a larger one.
Many thanks to Leo and Sarah for guiding us through the mysteries of The Uncanny Things Trilogy. We promise not to pluck out our own hair in tribute… but we’re definitely intrigued.
The Uncanny Things Trilogy plays at COLAB Tower between the 4th and 30th March. Each part of the trilogy can be seen separately but you can experience all three shows in a single day on the 22nd and 29th March.
