This week's roundup finds us in the big three: London, NYC, and LA for a trio of productions that range from highly participatory theatre to history brought to life via projections.
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The Butterfly Effect (Los Angeles)
Last Call Theatre
$65—75; Stella Coffee; Nov. 8 - Dec. 6, 2025
"Is it better to have a difficult conversation now or later?" "When do you know you're an adult?" "What if you could go back in time and change your fate?"
These are some of the complex questions that pop up, both literally and figuratively, in The Butterfly Effect, the newest show from Last Call Theatre. one of the most prolific and consistently inventive immersive theater companies working in L.A. right now. These warm-up questions, printed on "connection cards" and posed by the characters to audience members, are explained within the narrative as a quirky tradition conceived by the original owners of the Connection Cafe. As an audience member, you are there to celebrate the grand reopening of the cafe after a change in ownership and a remodel. There's plenty of interpersonal drama among the new owners, their staff, and a handful of patrons, but the real intrigue lies in the fact that the cafe is reportedly the epicenter of some strange, possibly time-travel-related, phenomena going back decades, to the time when the original Carthay Circle Theater used to stand on that very spot.
In reality, the show takes place after hours at Stella Coffee, an actual cafe tucked into an unassuming office building on San Vicente where, and this part is true, the old Carthay Circle Theater once stood. It's a cool little detail in a show held together by big moments and intense emotions. Between those moments, there's a good deal of busywork, however, with the characters assigning willing participants various tasks to complete. It's not clear which, if any, of the interactive tasks given out in the first act affect the outcome in any real sense. It's not until the second half that the show really kicks into gear, and its quest lines and themes come into focus in some very interesting ways.
Each of the eight cast members, many of them skilled immersive veterans, does an admirable job of drawing in whatever audience might be crowded around them at any given moment. Director Ashley Busenlender, founding member and Creative Director of Last Call Theatre, effectively balances integral group scenes with intimate moments that give the actors the space to develop a sustainable rapport with those who choose to follow their storylines. It takes some time to get there, but The Butterfly Effect ultimately lands as a thoughtful exploration of grief, love, memory, and the intricate threads that connect us all.
— Cindy White, Los Angeles Correspondent
Far Away (New York City)
Stairwell Theater
PWYC (suggested donation: $45); Box of Moonlight, , Nov. 6 -25, 2025
Stairwell Theater is focused on making immersive productions of classic texts in site-specific environments, including Shakespeare and Aristophanes in settings such as bars, basketball courts, and stairwells. To celebrate Fall of Freedom, a call for artists to unite in defiance of the world’s recent turn to authoritarianism, Stairwell mounted a version of Carol Churchill’s Far Away. Far Away is a surreal commentary on fascism, a piece of absurdity that wasn’t perfect, but featured a terrific set of performances and some interesting site-specific staging.
Far Away is a set of vignettes from an unnamed country in conflict. Through a variety of disconnected scenes — a child asking about the smuggling work of her guardians, hatmakers creating costumes for convicts and complaining about their jobs – Churchill depicts the cruelty and moral ambiguity of despotism and revolution. The world is surreal and crazy, but tones of threat, discipline, and paranoia pervade the work, causing it to swing between absurdity and horror. The script was the weakest part of the piece. While some scenes hit the mark beautifully (for example, an absurdist dialogue about which animals have sided with which political factions), at times the metaphors become labored and too literal, and at times the play drags from the repetition of the same joke played too long.
That said, Stairwell’s production of Far Away was compelling. The adult leads were universally good, finding complex combinations of fear, complicity, and resistance in their performances. There were striking visual moments, notably a death march of resigned prisoners wearing ridiculous hats. And the site-specific production lived up to its immersive promise. Box of Moonlight is a warehouse space which Stairwell activated through cold neon lights and dispersed action that traversed the entire house. At times, the performers marched directly into the audience, forcing us to get up and move our stools so the actors could continue. These disruptive moments were largely saved for the most disturbing moments of the show, making them raw and close as the characters forced themselves into our space.
Overall, while I think the play itself could have been tighter, I was impressed by Stairwell’s direction and performance. What I saw was certainly a show specific to that site and certainly in defiance of authoritarianism. Far Away can’t fix fascism, but it was moving to have its absurdism both narratively and literally push its way into my attention.
— Nicholas Fortugno, New York Correspondent
The Last Days of Pompeii (London)
FKP Scorpio Entertainment, Madrid Artes Digitales, Fever
£24; Immerse LDN; through 15 March 2026
Hot on the heels of FKPS/MAD’s last production, their notably similar exhibition on the fall of Pompeii has arrived at the ExCel Waterfront. While slightly smaller in physical scale (Immerse LDN doesn’t boast the vaulted ceilings Dock X does), The Last Days of Pompeii offers all the same elaborate electronic entertainment, this time to the backdrop of ancient Italy.
While their Titanic offering left me looking for evidence of the disaster, Pompeii leaves no such ambiguous feeling: visitors are confronted with (resin cast) ash bodies and a virtual reality experience of a Coliseum battle from on-the-sand seats, including man-to-man and man-to-animal combat and the flooding of the arena to stage ship battles. Another hall-sized projection loop is present, this time of the iconic volcanic eruption and significantly more violent with the destruction of city streets to flaming lava fireballs and the choking snow of neverending ash. It’s an impressive and at moments overwhelming experience.
With a couple more all-ages hands-on activities, Pompeii charms with a digital dig-through-the-sand archaeology exercise and a metaverse walkthrough of the Villa of the Mysteries in concurrent stages of decay and glory which is a particular pleasure for my companion and me as past Latin students. A wall where guests are invited to add their own classical graffiti received our smirking additions of “Romanes eunt domus” and “Ecce Romani” on our way out.
FKPS & MAD have established a proven formula for their exhibits: virtual reality + hall projection + metaverse walkthrough = sustainable customer base. The content changes along with some of the garnishing touch points but the core experience offers educational engagement for visitors of all ages for 90 minutes or more — just the right length for a diversion, and an excellent jumping-off point for students looking for content beyond sterile museum pottery.
— Shelley Snyder, London & UK Curator
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