Review Rundown: A Playful Duo

London and LA represent on a light week with some family fun, spooky & otherwise (Two Reviews)

Review Rundown: A Playful Duo
The Darkness awaits in ‘Fallen Saints: Arcanum.’ (Photo: Noah J. Nelson/No Proscenium)

The week before Labor Day/Burning Man week in the States is that little pause before Spooky Season breaks wide and the Crew are running all over creation soaking in as much immersive as humanity can seem to make in a month.

So this week there’s just two reviews, one from London of something we’ve been looking to do ever since we interviewed the creative team back in August of 2021, and another that sees the return of the NoHo immersive haunt series Fallen Saints after a long pandemic induced pause.

Let’s get into it.


Looking for more? We’ve got more reviews out of London & LA in last week’s Rundown right here.


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A moment from ‘Fallen Saints: Arcanum’ (Photo: Noah J. Nelson/No Proscenium)

Fallen Saints: Arcanum — Force of Nature Productions
$20; North Hollywood; Sep 1 -16

I suspect we will be seeing riffs on the SCP Foundation mythos — a crowdsourced public domain collection of cursed locations, objects of power, and monsters — for generations to come.

LA’s immersive scene has already had more than one SCP themed show, with Fallen Saints: Arcanum being the latest to use the “scientists trying to contain that which cannot be controlled” theme as the framework for a PG-13 haunt that takes its structural cues from its NoHo neighbor Zombie Joe’s and the more narratively ambitious Delusion series run by Thirteenth Floor.

Arcanum lands closer to Zombie Joe’s Urban Death in terms of scope, but is decidedly more of a family affair. A few of the company members kids are in the show in fun parts. This is a classic haunt being made by theatre people who favor story flourishes over scares and work in some amusing beats in the five short scenes that make up the show.

Could the onboarding about an amulet letting the consciousness of Dr. Bright, the missing SCP scientist, share the bodies of everyone in our traveling group be dialed in a bit more? Sure. Could the interactive sections be a little less hand-holdy? Definitely. Are the vibes here? Totes.

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This is twenty minute, twenty dollar show that will get you and yours warmed up for the heavier haunts of the season, and is a safe bet for those with teens (and maybe even tweens, depending on the tween) who want to get their haunt on if the gaggle of theatre kids I went through with are any indication. If you’re within shouting distance of NoHo and can’t wait to get your Spooky Season on this would be a nice treat to wrap a day of Halloween deco & prep.

— Noah Nelson, Founder & Publisher


Promo Image for Monopoly Lifesized (Image by: Gamepath Entertainment)

Monopoly Lifesized — Gamepath Entertainment
From £49; London UK; ongoing

Having been born and raised within a dice-throw’s distance of Atlantic City New Jersey (the inspiration for the properties on the original Monopoly board), I’ve grown up with the game present in every home, school, and vacation cabin I’ve ever been in. I know all the winning strategies — both fair ones as well as dirtbag “get the rulebook out because that can’t be legal” tactics. It’s reasonable to boast that I am black-heartedly sharp at playing Monopoly.

Thank goodness Monopoly Lifesized is a ripping good time and essentially ignores every standard rule in the book.

The expectations are well met: four teams of between 3–6 players compete on a life-sized (if slightly scaled-down) board for about 90 minutes of dice-rolling, architecture-building, money-grabbing land barony. Each property purchase demands that a physical challenge be met, each house or hotel must be physically assembled from a 3D puzzle set (and the hotels are hard). All the while we are urged onward by two board handlers: one who ushers teams around the board, and one who MC’s the evening by cheering on instructions and controlling the digital scoreboard and bombastic lighting/sound with flying fingers.

It’s an hour and a half of pure mania. We love it.

My only regret is that our team was so strategy-focused that we opted to use our Get Out Of Jail Free card to avoid losing three turns, rather than attempting to solve the Jail escape room: the set & prop design across the space is so well executed that I’m genuinely disappointed that we didn’t take the time to root around the cell for a way out.

Best suited for multigenerational family outings or corporate away days, Monopoly Lifesized’s format is perfectly structured for high-energy physical gameplay. With high agency but no roleplay required, every attendee can get involved at the level they wish, and its central London location means that it’s easy to visit while in town for other activities (like work or a West End show). And luckily, their on-site restaurant & bar serves plenty of lovely bites and inventive cocktails for folks to enjoy afterwards while they argue over endgame results.

Just like back home.

Shelley Snyder, London Curator


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