The producer of Doctor Who: Time Fracture has described the immersive theatre production as a love letter to the BBC’s iconic TV show.
Brian Hook, 33, Chief Creative Officer of Immersive Everywhere who are producing the Mayfair-based show, worked closely with the BBC Doctor Who team to produce an immersive experience he hopes will put fans at the heart of the action whilst remaining faithful to the show’s 58-year history.
The show is set in the present-day, in the world of Doctor Who, where after a rift in time and space was opened on Davies Street in 1940, fictional military force UNIT has become overwhelmed and the Doctor has called for help: you.
Previews for the experience begin on Wednesday 26 May ahead of a 16 June opening, and with 17 immersive worlds, around 200 costumes and cameos including David Bradley reprising his role as the First Doctor, Hook is confident fans and non-fans alike won’t be disappointed.
He said: “We did the dry run of one of the first scenes of the show last week and about half the people in the room burst into tears. It was absolutely spectacular.
“It was so cool to see what a celebration of Doctor Who this is. We’ve made a love letter to Doctor Who, to Classic Who and to New Who, to all the eras, the whole 58-years of the show. It’s been such a privilege to work on.
“With immersive theatre you can put people right into the beating heart of the story, that’s the thing that we can do that you can’t do with traditional theatre. You can put yourself into it and explore the whole story.
“I can’t wait to share it with people. I can’t wait to get fans in there and find out what they think of it but I also wanted to appeal to people who’ve never interacted with Doctor Who before.
“Honestly you’re going to love it, it’s so cool.”
Hook has worked on well over 100 productions, and his team are the creative minds behind London’s longest running and critically acclaimed immersive theatre production, The Great Gatsby.
They first met with the BBC two years ago, but the show was as affected as every other facet of life when the coronavirus pandemic hit last March.
However Hook said that as other shows his team were working on were cancelled, focusing their attention on getting Doctor Who: Time Fracture off the ground gave the show a new passion and a new life.
He added: “In the last year it became the only thing that any of us still had to cling to, to work on and to develop.
“The conversations stopped being about what they were normally about and started being about hope. If we hope hard enough and work hard enough then we can do it. And that was what we needed, that was the magic.
“It’s taken a huge amount of people with a huge amount of faith in us and what we’re doing and in everyone involved to make this happen.
“They’ve needed to trust that we would take care of them during COVID. There have been other shows we didn’t feel comfortable bringing back but this just feels special. The first day of rehearsals was electric.
“I don’t think I’ll ever make a show quite like Doctor Who: Time Fracture. Every single person was bringing not just seven out of ten but 11 every day of the week. Everyone was bringing everything and was completely focused. Everything else completely fell away. I don’t think I’ll make a show in that way again, it’s completely amazing.
“It’s been a fascinating time to make theatre and I’ll never forget it.”
Doctor Who: Time Fracture opens to the public on 16 June, with previews beginning 26 May and you can buy tickets here.
Featured image credit: Luke Dyson
