CHECK INTO YOUR IMAGINATION

The latest dreamthinkspeak Production to hit London.

Staff take your coats, bags and strangely, check you in. So subtle are these hints of performance that you suddenly realise the piece has already started and you, are paying hotel guests. Soon you notice other things too, there's a concierge, bar and plans on the wall for the re-development of the hotel. All clever nods to the narrative ahead.

Set against the back drop of Shoreditch Town Hall, 'Absent' is the latest dreamthinkspeak production to hit London.

Based on the true story of the eccentric Duchess of Argyll, the performance plays out her eviction from the Grosvenor Hotel in the 1990's when she racked up thousands in unpaid depts.

We enter the Town Hall cellar in small groups and get taken into a series of small, almost eerie Travelodge like hotel rooms. Something doesn't feel right and you have a constant sense of unease.

The piece only has one acted scene, and what soon becomes apparent is that the star of the show is the hugely ambitious set design that covers the full basement and first floor of the Town Hall.

Turning into a long corridor we weave in and out of rooms, each one telling you more of the story. One minute you're watching the Duchess on video in an old, dark, sparse room, and at the next turn you too find yourself in that room. Next you become aware there is no way out until you open the wardrobe door and in a Narnia moment you are transported again. The next space contains a full wall with tiny replica rooms (there must have been 500) each with their own TV screen playing the same video.

Then comes a large ballroom, almost Shining-esque. Large tables turned upside down with broken glass, strips of material hanging from chandeliers and a loop of music consumes the room. Something has happened here but you're unsure what and it makes you feel nervy. This is something dreamthinkspeak does, it takes your imagination places. You don't need obvious prompts, you do it yourself.

In a landscape fast becoming saturated with immersive productions, formed in Brighton, dreamthinkspeak was one of the originals to pave the way. Now however it finds itself having to compete with many others and drive punters through the door and into the next big thing. If you like your nights unexpected, check @dreamthinkspeak