Jermyn Street Theatre Hosts HIDDEN ST JAMES'S Immersive Audio Experience This Summer

This Summer, Jermyn Street Theatre steps outside into the nearby St James’s Churchyard for an immersive audio experience.  Every day throughout the month of August, audiences are invited to take a magical journey outside their everyday lives to steal a glimpse into Westminster’s rich architectural and cultural history. The dramatised audio excursion begins with the birth of this iconic landmak, as imagined by architect Christopher Wren, on to its depiction by celebrated 17th century painter Mary Beale, through the more recent past, up to the present and  beyond, into the buidling’s future.

Hidden St James’s is free to listen to via mobile phone by scanning the QR codes found in St James’s Church garden. Audiences are asked to bring their own headphones or earpods.

Writer Gabriele Uboldi says -

“I'm interested in storytelling as a way of connecting to place. Writing this piece was an opportunity to take a deep dive into the history of Piccadilly and the people who made it what it is today. I hope that listeners, especially people who may walk past St James's every day and not think about its past, can learn more about the history of this place and create a deeper connection with Piccadilly's history.”

Director Anna |UnwinRyder says –

“Gabriele’s writing is wonderfully evocative of St James’s and the fascinating history present in every nook of it. We made this audio piece together to examine what it means for a place to be so steeped in history and still be so active and alive. We didn’t want to create a literal history of the church, but wanted to explore what it feels like for all this history to still exist in the present moment and what it means to know that you will one day be part of that history through your participation in the church’s spaces now.  It celebrates the grand and everyday side-by-side, and offers a small tranquil moment of imagination in the hectic day-to-day of Central London.”

Jermyn Street Theatre is the West End’s smallest producing theatre. The Stage’s Fringe Theatre of the Year 2021, it is led by Artistic Director Stella Powell-Jones, co-Founder and Executive Director Penny Horner, and Executive Producer David Doyle. The theatre won a 2022 Critics’ Circle Award for its lockdown theatre. The programme includes outstanding new plays, rare revivals, new versions of European classics, and high-quality musicals, alongside one-off musical and literary events. It collaborates with theatres across the world, and its productions have transferred across the UK, Broadway, and beyond.

The recently announced autumn season includes Caroline Quentin in the world premiere of April De Angelis’s Infamous, a revival of Caryl Churchill’s first play Owners and Odyssey – A Heroic Panto with Charles Court Opera.