Deathcell by R Space Productions
The tagline for Deathcell reads - "The only thing certain in life, is death" which quite frankly doesn't ring true. We can think of a number of other certain things such as "ScareTOUR will always be at the opening of any new scare event" or more importantly "Anything that has been touched by Steph Ricketts is going to be awesome"
Yes that last one is certainly true here. Steph is well know to us as a veteran (she isn't old - just very experienced!) professional who has acted, managed, designed and worked on a number of major scare experiences. Over her years at Thorpe Park and Madame Tussauds, she has managed to terrify and entertain us in equal measures, and for her first foray into her own attraction, has pulled in a talented bunch of individuals from across the industry.
So what is Deathcell? It's hard to describe properly as it merges elements of promenade theatre, with room escape elements as well as full on scare attraction tactics. Invited into a post Brexit prison, we stepped through the main doors and were asked to don boiler suits, before being physically led to certain areas for the start of the show. Ingeniously we were split up as groups and got to experience different parts of the story - only really discovering afterwards what others had seen etc. This created an air of mystery and intrigue and would definitely make the experience worth doing several times just to see everything!
In between scenes we were shunted around by some frankly terrifying masked creatures. The air of dominance they radiated was perfect, and we all just followed orders despite them only communicating via some strange clicking noises. But the real story telling came in the actor led scenes, as we started to witness the true horror of what life in this prison was like. From realistic looking torture and sudden deaths, the actors threw their whole into these roles, and created a real underlying tension of fear and unease. And then came the room escape element.
Situated right in the middle of the experience, the room escape functionality felt a little too tagged in just to kill some time. Split into two groups we had to work together - sometimes passing clues and props between the locked doors. We can see what they were trying to achieve here but these scenes kind of slowed the action down - especially as we failed to work out one of the rooms and were just "let out" at the allotted time. There just didn't feel the tension or the sense of urgency that the rest of the attraction had. Maybe a countdown or some scares along the way would have helped, but we hate to say it - this was the weakest part of the show.
Once out - the main narrative continued with detailed story telling - a few more "quests" and finally a terrifying run out that was as intense as any scare maze we have ever done. We certainly flew out the final door into the sunshine!
All through the show, the attention to detail and the level of theming was like something we would expect from a company with a much higher budget. The sets were totally believable and immersive - which is even more amazing knowing that this was just for a 4 day temporary build. Once invited into the cell - it was hard to believe we were only in an old workshop in Greenwich. The sets, lighting, sound effects, music etc just all worked together so well.
As we said at the start - we expected something good from R Spare Productions due to the pedigree of the team behind it, but even we were amazed at how much we enjoyed Deathcell. Also it was far more theatrical than we were expecting which surprised us in a pleasant way. Serious thought had gone into the story and scripts with clear character arcs and development through the show. This mixed with just the right level of contact, made it a stunning debut from a company and we cant wait to see what they do next.
Yes that last one is certainly true here. Steph is well know to us as a veteran (she isn't old - just very experienced!) professional who has acted, managed, designed and worked on a number of major scare experiences. Over her years at Thorpe Park and Madame Tussauds, she has managed to terrify and entertain us in equal measures, and for her first foray into her own attraction, has pulled in a talented bunch of individuals from across the industry.
So what is Deathcell? It's hard to describe properly as it merges elements of promenade theatre, with room escape elements as well as full on scare attraction tactics. Invited into a post Brexit prison, we stepped through the main doors and were asked to don boiler suits, before being physically led to certain areas for the start of the show. Ingeniously we were split up as groups and got to experience different parts of the story - only really discovering afterwards what others had seen etc. This created an air of mystery and intrigue and would definitely make the experience worth doing several times just to see everything!
In between scenes we were shunted around by some frankly terrifying masked creatures. The air of dominance they radiated was perfect, and we all just followed orders despite them only communicating via some strange clicking noises. But the real story telling came in the actor led scenes, as we started to witness the true horror of what life in this prison was like. From realistic looking torture and sudden deaths, the actors threw their whole into these roles, and created a real underlying tension of fear and unease. And then came the room escape element.
Situated right in the middle of the experience, the room escape functionality felt a little too tagged in just to kill some time. Split into two groups we had to work together - sometimes passing clues and props between the locked doors. We can see what they were trying to achieve here but these scenes kind of slowed the action down - especially as we failed to work out one of the rooms and were just "let out" at the allotted time. There just didn't feel the tension or the sense of urgency that the rest of the attraction had. Maybe a countdown or some scares along the way would have helped, but we hate to say it - this was the weakest part of the show.
Once out - the main narrative continued with detailed story telling - a few more "quests" and finally a terrifying run out that was as intense as any scare maze we have ever done. We certainly flew out the final door into the sunshine!
All through the show, the attention to detail and the level of theming was like something we would expect from a company with a much higher budget. The sets were totally believable and immersive - which is even more amazing knowing that this was just for a 4 day temporary build. Once invited into the cell - it was hard to believe we were only in an old workshop in Greenwich. The sets, lighting, sound effects, music etc just all worked together so well.
As we said at the start - we expected something good from R Spare Productions due to the pedigree of the team behind it, but even we were amazed at how much we enjoyed Deathcell. Also it was far more theatrical than we were expecting which surprised us in a pleasant way. Serious thought had gone into the story and scripts with clear character arcs and development through the show. This mixed with just the right level of contact, made it a stunning debut from a company and we cant wait to see what they do next.
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Links:
R Space Productions website
You Review
Have you also visited this, or any other attractions recently? - tell us what you thought here
Mildly scary
We had been following the deathcell page and crowd funding page for some time, as the pitch sounded intriguing, and were excited to finally go. For a 20 minute event, we felt the ticket prices were on the high side, considering you can attend most of the big scream parks with lots of mazes for less money.
The experience began in the queue line with a roaming actor setting the scene for the event which was fun. Once inside the building, the plot got a little confusing, maybe a short video at the start would of been a good idea.
We were amazed at the level of detail the team had gone too considering it was a hired warehouse, which was evident in the shower room scene.
We then found ourselves in an escape room section which we found extremely hard and confusing and had to eventually be let out because we couldn't complete it. We were then led to a vending machine which gave one of our team members starbursts which is still as confusing to me now as it was then!
After another short scene, there was a final scare maze run which felt like the only real scare maze part of deathcell. We then exited into a small parking lot where there was some confusion where to get out and if in fact it was really over.
The event can be looked at in two ways. As a crowd funded project and first event, its a triumph. As a central London attraction with tickets over £20.00, it drastically fell short of its premise. Considering our group had to pay taxies and tubes to get there, it was an expensive evening that the event just couldn't live up too. I feel this event could of been done in a cheaper location outside of London where the team would have more space to create a larger experience as traveling to central London for a 20 minute attraction just didn't really seem viable.
We had been following the deathcell page and crowd funding page for some time, as the pitch sounded intriguing, and were excited to finally go. For a 20 minute event, we felt the ticket prices were on the high side, considering you can attend most of the big scream parks with lots of mazes for less money.
The experience began in the queue line with a roaming actor setting the scene for the event which was fun. Once inside the building, the plot got a little confusing, maybe a short video at the start would of been a good idea.
We were amazed at the level of detail the team had gone too considering it was a hired warehouse, which was evident in the shower room scene.
We then found ourselves in an escape room section which we found extremely hard and confusing and had to eventually be let out because we couldn't complete it. We were then led to a vending machine which gave one of our team members starbursts which is still as confusing to me now as it was then!
After another short scene, there was a final scare maze run which felt like the only real scare maze part of deathcell. We then exited into a small parking lot where there was some confusion where to get out and if in fact it was really over.
The event can be looked at in two ways. As a crowd funded project and first event, its a triumph. As a central London attraction with tickets over £20.00, it drastically fell short of its premise. Considering our group had to pay taxies and tubes to get there, it was an expensive evening that the event just couldn't live up too. I feel this event could of been done in a cheaper location outside of London where the team would have more space to create a larger experience as traveling to central London for a 20 minute attraction just didn't really seem viable.
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