Sarah Kempton on The Secret Society
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Are you ready to join The Secret Society? Join the team behind CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation and step into their latest show, an immersive theatre, escape room, comedy show mash up. Sarah Kempton teases us with some of the shows secrets, but you’ll have to be there to find them all.
What can audiences expect from this show?
A comedy immersive experience. As you step inside the Secret Society’s chambers you become an honoured member of a very secret Secret Society. Take part in the rituals, climb the ranks, and solve the mysteries within. Part immersive theatre, part escape room, and part comedy show, this is a truly unique experience like nothing else! From the team behind the multi award winning CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation.
Is Camden Fringe going to be the show’s first time on stage, or have you already performed elsewhere?
This will be its first London show, we played Brighton Fringe earlier this year.
What was your inspiration behind the show?
We love escape rooms!! We do loads as a team, but it was always the comical moments we remembered and talked about for ages afterwards. The funny things we did in moments of pressure, or the way we reacted to a situation. So we wanted to create a show that mixed comedy with an experience, something you can laugh about with your mates for years to come!
Is this version how you originally envisioned it or has it changed drastically since you first put pen to paper?
We started working on this in September 2024, and it’s fair to say it’s changed a lot since then! The premise and goals have remained the same but the way to get there has had exactly 1 million drafts. Because it’s immersive, however, and the audience genuinely impact how the show will go, we’ll never have a final version, it’ll always be slightly different depending on what the audience that day do. And that’s the fun!
What brought you all together?
We’re all part of the team behind CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation. So we’ve worked together for 11 years now. We thought one new show every ten years would be fun?
How important is audience interaction to you?
Coming to this project as improvisors we are used to working WITH the audience to create the show. It’s a completely symbiotic relationship, the ultimate live theatre where that show will only ever exist for that one performance. There’s something so special about a truly unique theatrical experience that we wanted to bring to this. This is immersive, you are inside the play not observing it, but we always champion the audience, you’re never made to look silly or a fool – we’re the fools, you’re the heroes.
If you had to describe your show as a colour what would it be, and why?
It’s a secret.
If you had to describe your show as a meal what would it be, and why?
It’s a secret.
If your show had a soundtrack, what songs would definitely be on it, and why?
It’s a Secret (by It’s A Secret)
If budget or reality was not an issue, what’s the one piece of scenery/set you’d love to have in your show?
We’d like a Punchdrunk style full world with different rooms and environments to explore for 3 hours….maybe next year?
Thanks for spilling some of your secrets, but sounds like we’ll have to be there to get them all! The Secret Society is at the Museum of Comedy on Thursday 21 and Friday 22 August.
