★★★½

“a multifaceted and engaging experience”

In a Deptford warehouse that was once the paper store for London’s newspaper industry, Storehouse (created by Liana Patarkatsishvili) is an immersive theatre production that questions the role of the internet and the twenty-four-hour news cycle in shaping our reality and the changing relationship between facts, news, and opinion.

The journey begins outside with a glass of sparkling wine and a paper guide that explains the premise: in 1983, at the birth of the internet, a group of visionaries opened the Storehouse, intending to convert all human data into binary code and which could then be catalogued, with the intention of collating it all on the First of January 2025. This moment, termed the Great Aggregation, would lead to the discovery of a universal, liberatory truth. We enter after the failure of this project.

Sorted into rooms to begin the experience, we are tasked with helping the employees of Storehouse – who have not left since 1983 – resolve the issue and proceed with the Great Aggregation. Passing through the doors into the cavernous warehouse we enter a low, cool space punctuated with columns, and from there into a waiting room. From this point onwards the performance incorporates everything from oaths and discussions to fortune cookies and votes, creating a multifaceted and engaging experience.

The actors we encounter along the way are all excellent. Fully embracing the retro 1980s environment, they walk us through the Storehouse’s collection, assessment and shelving processes while sharing their backstories and professional grievances – and dancing to Karma Chameleon whenever it plays over the Tannoy. Special mention goes to the Zachary Pang who guided our group through the maze of the Storehouse with aplomb. They are supported by a stellar cast of voice actors, that appear in video or audio: Toby Jones, Meera Syal, Kathryn Hunter and Billy Howle.

The sprawling staging (production designer Alice Helps), littered with 80s technology, and overgrown with a mossy, fungal-like substance, transports the audience to a strange – but strangely familiar – world, even down to the level of smells which permeate the rooms, bringing us further into the experience. The clothes (Julie Belinda Landau) are also fantastic, all silk shirts, braces and big shoulder pads, conjuring a moment of time frozen from the recent past.

Without wanting to give too much away, as I think going in cold enhances the experience, the structure of the show reflects its content, with participants invited to interact with one another, before, during and after the performance. There are multiple moments for a complementary drink, and I can say that the non-alcoholic cocktails are amazing. Conversation between strangers is encouraged: ‘a friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face’, as we try together to understand our contemporary reality.

While I felt that the message was not groundbreaking, Storehouse was a very enjoyable and different experience and would be a gripping and provocative way to spend an evening with friends, or indeed to meet new people, re-focusing us on the importance of real-life, interpersonal connections, however fleeting. Ending on the deck of a free bar, looking across the Thames to Canary Wharf, I couldn’t help but think of the relationships between the centres of global economic power and the information ecosystems that help uphold them, Storehouse’s setting offering a final opportunity to consider its message.

JULIE: THE MUSICAL at The Other Palace

★★½

“Given the central message of the piece is a celebration of the chaotic and unpolished, Julie: The Musical gets away with a lot”

You have no idea how much I wanted to like this swashbuckling tale of a legendary bisexual opera star from seventeenth century France who knew her way around an epée, and broke hearts from Paris to Marseille.

For the most part, I really did. I loved the cast, and their multi talented musicianship. However, the show picks up the theme of chaos that percolates through Julie D’Aubigny’s life and really runs with it. The language is blue, the narrative is non-linear and regularly interrupted with ‘let me explain’ interludes, there’s a wig reveal, and bit-part characters straight out of telenovelas via RuPaul’s drag race. Look, a lot of this is entertaining, but altogether the effect can send your head spinning.

This is a show that has been iterated over the last four years into a two hour marathon that ducks and weaves through the life of a fascinating historical figure. The real Julie D’Aubigny would be considered a wild child, had she existed in the modern day. The fact she lived over 300 years ago and still was so seemingly unapologetic and adventurous is even more astounding. Naturally, there are many of her experiences the Le Gasp! production team led by writer and performer Abey Bradbury are breathlessly keen to reproduce on stage, but perhaps choosing a few less and keeping the show tighter would have been more effective.

The music suffers slightly from a similar overenthusiasm. The foursome in the cast regularly rotate around electric guitars, percussion, a squeeze box, a bass, ukulele and for Melinda Orengo, a cello. This is certainly impressive, if not anxiety producing as the actors regularly appear to stumble when swapping positions over the drums and guitars, all of which remain on stage throughout. The style of the tracks is largely upbeat and rocky, reminiscent of Six The Musical, occasionally Noah and the Whale, and at one point, Blur, with big vocals in particular from Sam Kearney-Edwardes as Julie. These worked well with harmonies from Bradbury, Zachary Pang and Orengo. I would have liked to see more light and shade within the music, and maybe more of an effort to integrate operatics, which were central to Julie’s life. It felt like a missed opportunity that this was always played as a joke. Only right at the end of the second act is some variety with the pared back and sensitive Breathe Again and Unnormal Lives.

Conor Dye’s direction also doubled down on the theme of chaos; there’s breaking the fourth wall and then there’s pantomime and this felt like it occasionally strayed into the latter with Julie’s overconfident asides. I regularly felt like I was jolted out of the suspense of disbelief, and I certainly wasn’t expecting a cameo from JoJo Siwa. This fed into the interests of the audience (mine included), but felt haphazard. A brief moment of puppetry to represent young Julie was also very effective, and I would have loved more experimentation like this. Unfortunately, there were also a couple of mistakes that were acknowledged on stage. Given the largely informal nature of the show, the first was largely forgivable, especially with some great comic timing and improvisation from the actors. The second, less so.

The stage design (Becky Cox) does well to reflect the unsteady nature of Julie’s life, with multiple broken proscenium arches and half dyed curtains framing different levels. Costumes are similar, featuring fraying and dissymmetry, mixing modern styles and nods to historical corsetry. However, the tech felt a bit haphazard, requiring nods to the booth to get the lighting cues. Sometimes this worked, reminiscent of a rock concert. Sometimes not. Attention was also often drawn to multiple places on stage, and the instrument and vocals were sometimes unbalanced, so I struggled to hear some lines. A key character pops up throughout the timeline, but the transitions were not distinct enough: it wasn’t clear if the actor had changed character, or if there was a moment that the audience needed to note.

Given the central message of the piece is a celebration of the chaotic and unpolished, Julie: The Musical gets away with a lot. It can be enjoyable, especially if you submit to losing control. As a fringe piece, it works well, but given the upgrade to larger theatres, a little more restraint might be needed. Just don’t tell Julie I said that.

STOREHOUSE

Deptford Storehouse

★★★½

“a multifaceted and engaging experience”

STOREHOUSE

Deptford Storehouse

Reviewed on 11th June 2025

by Rob Tomlinson

Photography by Helen Murray

Recently reviewed by Rob:

STOREHOUSE

STOREHOUSE

STOREHOUSE

JULIE: THE MUSICAL at The Other Palace

★★½

“Given the central message of the piece is a celebration of the chaotic and unpolished, Julie: The Musical gets away with a lot”

JULIE: THE MUSICAL at The Other Palace

Reviewed on 13th June 2024

by Rosie Thomas

Photography by Ben Wilkin

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Julie

Julie

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