Christiana Rose on an immersive student showcase

A living room set forming part of an immersive theatre production — Part of the set The Bird Apocalypse

As The North London Degree Show Festival 2025: e ·· motions at Middlesex University London enters its final week, it is worth highlighting a standout experience from the BA Theatre students who have a showcase titled: The Bird Apocalypse: a free immersive theatre installation located on the Ground floor of The Grove Building in Hendon.

Created by the talented student duo Daria Gorbonosova, BA Theatre Design and Daisy Lennon BA Theatre, The Bird Apocalypse drops you into a chilling, atmospheric world, where nature’s order has fractured, and birds have become the silent, stalking force of dread.

Taking clear inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 psychological thriller The Birds, the piece brilliantly channels that same creeping paranoia and escalating sense of isolation. Instead of relying on jump scares, the production lingers in the quiet, uncanny moments, echoing Hitchcock’s mastery of suspense and the unknown.

But what truly sets this piece apart is its Punchdrunk-influenced immersive style. Audiences are not passive viewers but active explorers, moving through a fragmented, eerie environment, where narrative is pieced together through sound, texture, and whispered encounters.

The experience is small scale, with a total of three spaces – but you’ll find yourself in bird-damaged living rooms, eavesdropping on audio diaries of survivors, and following trails of feathers through a shadowy corridor. Each space is intricately designed, allowing you to uncover your own path through the story with cryptic clues unravelling.

The level of detail shows a thoughtful choice of a somewhat distressed set dressing, enhanced by a subtly unsettling sound design. Gorbonosova and Lennon have created a boundary-blurring theatrical experience that is both technically impressive and emotionally resonant, playing with themes of control, fear, and the fragility of human security.

Immersive, disorienting, and deeply engaging, The Bird Apocalypse is a must-see at this year’s exhibition festival. Thoughtful, haunting, and artfully executed, it’s an outstanding example of what student theatre can achieve when bold ideas meet rigorous craft.

4 stars

The Degree Show runs until June 17th. Find out more here: https://www.mdx.ac.uk/study/the-degree-show/

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