ROOM 13
Battersea Arts Centre
★★
“offers a fair share of frights”
Eleven years ago, a fire tore through Battersea Arts Centre’s Grand Hall, destroying much of its roof. But what the headlines missed was the discovery of a mysterious sealed room. The time has come to unlock ‘Room 13’.
A low-lit exhibition recounts the fire, but first there’s a waiver to sign – staff can’t guarantee your safety. Enter Room 13 if you dare.
Conceived by multi-award winning immersive theatre director Tom Maller, with a script by Bells Pendergast, ‘Room 13’ has the makings of a haunting Halloween experience but needs further development. The setup is intriguing: a newly discovered room, dark forces and ominous warnings. Yet the world’s logic remains frustratingly unclear: we’re given one rule – not to make a sound – which is immediately undermined by a group activity and rapidly dissolves any tension. The story never quite establishes who we are, why we’re there or what’s driving the characters, making it harder to fully immerse. Once it gets going, the production does deliver plenty of jump scares, but they lack a strong narrative thread and after a while begin to blur together. At its core is a compelling concept, but the horror needs sharper rules and greater suspense to truly land.
Maller’s direction needs to start building tension before audiences ever reach Room 13 – given the short runtime, it’s crucial immersion starts the second we enter the building. Instead, the exhibition feels more functional than foreboding, not helped by its position off a busy corridor. The antechamber promises silence and dread which is immediately undercut by a room buzzing with conversation. The group activity has some inventive touches, particularly the ferrofluid puzzle, but it would be far more effective if it encouraged quiet. As a result, the world never quite settles around you and the illusions don’t always land, sometimes provoking giggles rather than gasps. The scares themselves could go further at times: perhaps the curtains could draw themselves, actors could replace statues, and the sacrificial animal could look a touch more convincing. The ingredients are there, but the experience needs a much stronger atmosphere to truly get under the skin.
Designer Christian Ellinas’ blends fact and fiction, transporting us from the post-fire restoration into an ethereal world of gossamer curtains, ornate lamps and curious artefacts. Matt Farthing’s superb spatial sound design does much of the heavy lifting, filling the space with sinister whispers, pulsing rhythms and well-timed shocks. Max Sharp’s lighting is equally effective, using subtle fades, flickers and flashes to keep audiences on edge. Anna Dixon’s costumes are harder to appreciate in the low light, though our guide’s formal feel and long scarf lends an appealingly Doctor Who-esque air. Meanwhile, games designers Joe Mills and Tristan Rogers bring a real wow factor with their ferrofluid puzzle, even if the activities are a little quick to crack.
Megan Louise Wilson gets proceedings off to an unsettling start, using hushed tones and quiet urgency to plant the seeds of fear, though her role is ultimately too brief. Jeffrey Mundell is particularly effective, shifting from guide to ghoul with striking physicality and a genuinely otherworldly presence. Though again we see little of Mundell once the lights go out.
While it offers a fair share of frights, ‘Room 13’ needs a much stronger grip on its own mythology to become truly horrifying.
ROOM 13
Battersea Arts Centre
Reviewed on 21st October 2026
by Hannah Bothelton
Photography by Harry Elletson
