Hip Hop Horror Night at Theatre Deli Review

In 2014, I attended an immersive horror night at Theatre Deli in Sheffield called Horror Souk. Among the shows that evening, a piece called The Unit was a standout. It featured a tour of a creepy abandoned retail space, making perfect use of the location.

All these years later, Deli has relocated from an old Woolworths building to an old Mothercare building – the ideal space to reimagine the show for 2021. Hip Hop Horror Night, partially named for its unique integration of modern dance routines, was a chilling mix of traditional scare tactics and immersive performance art. The show’s layout and use of the different spaces helped to blur the line between fantasy and reality, aided by unsettling lighting, sound, and practical effects. A set of astonishing performances delivered a combination of humorous storytelling, visceral drama, audience intimidation, and slick synchronization of physical movement. Moments of shock and horror were tied together by an overarching narrative, which got progressively darker as the show went on. And best of all – forget chainsaws – I can honestly say I’ve never been chased out of an experience with actual fire. Pure unconventionality, and a great way to see out the scare season.