Handle With Care – Leeds Playhouse

Most theatre productions start with the lights going down as some actors walk onto the stage….not this one.

Instead, the audience are faced with an empty stage where a white box sits because tonight Belgian theatre mischief makers Ontrogrend Goed are challenging a bunch of strangers to make their own show.

In the box are a series of prompts and instruction cards that help guide us, but the genius of this immersive experience is that this show will be unique because every audience is different. All it takes is one hardy soul to get up and open the box, so full marks to the woman who took up the challenge, and we were off making our own show.

Each step encourages audience members to join in, so one participant is asking all of us what our favourite drinks are as others in this ad hoc cast are stringing up a clothes line where they will hang more prompts and clues.

There is absolutely no pressure to get involved, but we are a hardy bunch, so everyone is keen to join in. Luckily some of this makeshift cast seem to be drama students which helps, but even amateurs like me are up for it.  I’m given a card with a suggested task, and despite my lack of any acting ability I find myself on the stage having an imaginary phone chart trying to explain this concept to a loved one.

People are really enjoying peeling back the layers of this show, and we were all invited  to join in what Ontrogrend Goed dub ‘six minutes of madness’. A box is opened with a series of cards asking us to take on different tasks, and what is fascinating is not one person remains in their seat as everyone is now totally bought in.

One woman is roaming the stage counting people and having to start again and again as people move around. Another group is sitting on the floor trying to finish a puzzle. Others are playing Bingo! ticking off tasks that others are carrying out. It’s an infectious and safe space, so I find myself shouting ‘I do not like interactive theatre’ before someone puts a sticker on me, and I feel inspired to start shouting ‘I love interactive theatre.’ It may all be a bit mad, but it’s also totally liberating….and great fun.

The only thing the company asks us to do is pose for a group picture that is taken on an old fashioned pin camera that will be sent back to the company as the sole record of our show.  Everyone stands still for the two-minute exposure with a warm sense of sharing something special.

I’ve done a lot of immersive theatre over the years, but this is by some distance the most joyous and profound hour I’ve ever spent working with strangers to create a show. It taps in something core to humans which is our need for connection and community which we all need in these troubled times.

Reviewer: Paul Clarke

Reviewed: 2nd April 2026

North West End UK Rating: