Guy Fawkes Gunpowder Plot cleverly bought to life in VR immersive theatre show

IMMERSIVE theatre is always pretty good fun but when you throw VR into the mix, it’s something else.

A new experience just outside the iconic Tower of London has just opened, putting you right in the heat of Guy Fawkes’s foiled Gunpowder Plot.

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• The Gunpowder Plot Tickets, from £40 – buy here

Tom Felton – known to many as Harry Potter nemesis Draco Malfoy in the movies – stars as the infamous lead, though you only get to see him in VR form.

You’ll find yourself and your group thrust into the action as Catholic prisoners locked up in the Tower Vaults at a time of religious tension in England.

But you are suddenly offered a chance of freedom, if you agree to become spies who gather critical information about a suspected plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament, along with King James I – and we all know how that ended.

There is a false sense of choice in the experience, allowing the group to decide whether you want to prevent the explosion and mass of deaths, or withhold crucial information so it goes ahead.

The majority of us wanted to see how things could have turned out, but sadly for our twisted desire, the end result was still the same fate we know of reality.

VR is a great way to bring those more dramatic moments to life and the Gunpowder Plot features three.

Unfortunately, the graphics were not always that impressive and the headsets had the occasional glitch, but they were still a good bit of added fun.

Of the three, a boat ride along the Thames was probably the best of the bunch, with bumpy physical sensations and even real water splashing up at you for a cheap thrill.

Here we get the most of Tom Felton as Guy Fawkes – aka John Johnson.

While it’s all well and good having big names, the live actors physically present bring more to the experience, with strong teary scenes and a particularly tense moment where they attempt to hide you in tight wall spaces from guards and their dogs.

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The retelling is heavily dramatised, as you’d expect, but tries to stay as close to fact as possible.

We get a quick explanation at the end of what’s based on real people and who is made up.

Overall, it’s a packed hour and a half or so that flies by – and I felt like I actually learnt more about the story of Guy Fawkes than I previously knew.

Clearly a lot of effort was put into everything from writing to set designs.

But with so many VR experiences around now, the tech side needs some improvement to push the whole package up from good to great.

• The Gunpowder Plot Tickets, from £40 – buy here

The Gunpowder Plot

Tower Vaults, London

★★★★☆

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