At The Vaults we're all about immersive theatre. But, as director of our next show, Red Palace, and total hun Celine Lowenthal says, "there can be lots of feelings about what can and cannot be called ‘immersive’, ‘promenade’ or ‘experiential’ theatre. But, as far as I’m concerned, if the audience is having a great time, they feel looked after, and perhaps fed, and we can also sneak in some stealthy positive political provocations, everyone is a winner – whatever you label the night!"

We don't set out to ever make anything one way, or the same way as anything that came before. We're often blessed by the word 'immersive' simply because we're in a tunnel underground rather than a purpose built theatre. 

Our next 'immersive' show, Red Palace, begins on 24th Sept and combines burlesque, circus an...

We've been trying to reduce our carbon footprint, our waste and our negative impact for a while now, and I'm pretty chuffed to say we've come on leaps and bounds. 

Most of what we DON'T do is a result of NOT BEING ABLE TO - there's some serious gaps in the UK in opportunities for companies to actually do the right thing. Don't worry - we nag people about it. A lot. 

What we DO DO is listed below. If you've got any tips or suggestions to help us out please let us know (and keep on nagging). 

*Keep doing our own things too. Refuse that straw, buy that shampoo bar, turn your heating off when you're not in!*

This is what we're trying now:

WASTE

We work to reduce our waste as much as possible. We reuse all our building materials, furniture, sets and props as often as they’ll stand it.

We have our...

There are plenty of places to go where getting smashed with your boss would be weird… But bingo is certainly not one of them. This April, The Underground Bingo Revolution is coming to The Vaults and we decided to have a staff outing to see what it was all about. It was a bizarre night of adrenaline fuelled competition that literally left us buzzing in our seats. There was drinking and dancing, there was a gun full of money, a disco ball and a giant panda. Needless to say, it’s perfect Vaults’ material.

Upon arrival we stocked up on the all-important drinks and were shown to a booth. A collection of bingo-virgins, none of us knew what to expect, but we were armed with red dabbers and fistfuls of pound coins. With multiple rounds, both on typical bingo sheets and on electronic tables, th...

What made you decide to call it An Evening Of Meat? 

I guess it was the simplest title with the most complex undercurrents.Focusing on the word meat makes it a visceral and confrontational experience for the audience even before they attend. What do I mean by meat? Am I referring to -- Bodies? Animals? Food? Flesh? Meat of the matter? Meat as the fundamental part of something? I like offering a title that immediately provides multiple meanings - it's up to the individual audience member to discover for themselves...

What’s going to be different in the London show?

We are experimenting with new fashion designs from Singaporean designer Lisa Von Tang. I wanted to share the aesthetic influences of my 8 year experience with Asia since the origins of the show. Lisa's designs are made for warriors...

Our negative impact on our environment is the biggest issue facing us, human beings, right now. Running a large, city-centre venue obviously contributes to this A LOT, but we are trying to reduce this day by day – although it is completely terrifying how difficult, and expensive, it is to make this work. If nothing else -remember to REFUSE THE STRAW. 

Think of the turtles!

This is what we're trying now:

WASTE

All our waste is recycled by Lambeth Council.

We work to reduce our waste as much as possible. We reuse all our building materials, furniture, sets and props as often as they’ll stand it. We aim not to throw out any organic waste at all, and our incredible catering staff design every menu with no-waste in mind, aiming to use every bit of every thing rather than throw it away.

Everything tha...

It’s been 36 weeks since I first stepped through the doors of The Vaults to begin the placement year of my university course, and I can’t believe how much it’s changed me. This journey has been filled with wonderful adventures with a variety of bizarre personalities to help me through along the way, and it’s fair to say I wouldn’t have made it without their guidance.

Before starting my placement at The Vaults, I knew I was heading on an unpredictable and somewhat peculiar voyage into the underground tunnels of Waterloo but I never imagined it would make me fall in love with theatre all over again.  I was thrown straight into the deep end on my first day, helping set up the lighting, dressing rooms and photo-booth area for a Cornetto event hosting Little Mix as their main event.

Fair to...

How did you get Irvine Welsh to give you the rights to create the show? 

We had just had pretty good success with a 5 star sell out run of 'The Hard Man'. We felt we were tackling Scottish work that hadn't been done in a while or indeed ever been done as an immersive piece. We simply pitched our idea of what we wanted to do with the show and why we felt we were the right company to do it. The rest is history.

What other projects would you like to tackle after this run? 

There are so many different projects I'd like to tackle and people keep asking us what we will do next. I like that people are anticipating and suggesting what we could be or should be taking on next. I'll leave that as a surprise. 

What’s your favourite scene in the show? 

That's a tough one. If we were going for comic value I'...

Airswimming, written by Charlotte Jones, produced by Emma Playfair and Lily Newbury-Freeman brings you a strange, heart-wrenching, yet comic performance. With the use of a dirty bath, wobbly chairs and baby blue drapes, Becky-Dee Trevenen has created a minimalistic set which leads you into a 1920’s asylum. Joshua Gadbsy creates clear, complimentary transitions that really supported this non-linear production. Emma and Lily’s play left me besotted by their characters Porph and Dorph. They lead you individually into a journey of emotions whilst having blossomed a beautiful and uplifting friendship. It’s bizarre to think that if we were still living in the 1800’s how many women would be locked away for simply smoking a cigar. There surely wouldn’t be enough room for us all.

Names

Lily Newbury-Freeman and Emma Playfair

Company

NewPlay Productions www.newplayproductions.com

How long have you have been a company for?

We’ve been making creative babies together over lots of projects for 5 years, but technically we’ve been a ‘company’ for 9 months (can’t believe it took us that long to put our names together… New & Play… duh!)

Why did you choose The Vaults as your venue? 

It’s only ever been the Vaults for us. Lily has seen a few productions in the Vaults over the last couple of years, and loved the atmosphere!! When Emma moved over, we loved how much scope there is for creative possibilities. This has been one of those projects where our “DREAM SHOW” was drunkenly sketched on a napkin one night, and 6 months later has turned into a reality – the Vaults was at the to...

The premise behind Darling & Edge’s innovative idea is to redefine the stereotypical nature of an art gallery. When entering any art gallery or area where art is displayed, it is expected of you that you do not touch the artwork for fear that you will ‘tarnish’ the art. In the eyes of the art world it is typical that artwork is not physically interactive, but interactive on a deep and personal level. Darling & Edge have flipped the definition of a gallery on its head attempting to escape the expectation that artwork is only a deep philosophical process. Therefore within their exhibition you don’t only become the art, you become the artist.

A room covered with crisp white paper, expanding from floor to ceiling, left open and fresh to be manipulated and printed upon by the public. Rather...