We’re hurtling towards the final show of this year’s Croydonites festival – an immersive extravaganza, called Trainwreck by experimental theatre company TomYumSim, which runs from Tuesday 28 October – Saturday 1 November, at South Norwood’s CYTO. Billed as ‘a delirious, ever-mutating satire where you and your co-passengers attempt to steer towards a dream destination, your choices fueling the engine, while AI fiddles with the map, the throttle, and possibly reality itself,’ we really had to find out more. We caught up with co-artistic director of TomYumSim, Simone French, to hear what might be in store for us, when we immerse ourselves in the last performance of their run. 

Croydonist: Firstly tell us a bit about yourselves and your style of performance.

Simone: TomYumSim are an outrageous theatre company based across the UK and Australia who love to blur the lines between theatre, technology, and real life. We make interactive, interdisciplinary work that’s playful, provocative, and proudly queer – embracing our neurodivergent brains, DIY spirit, and a healthy dose of chaos along the way.

Our performances mix live interaction, improvisation, video, digital tools, and live streaming to create experiences that are never quite the same twice. We thrive on connecting directly with audiences, responding to their energy, curiosity, and unpredictability in the moment.

Over the past decade, we’ve created and presented 12 works across the UK and Australia. Recent credits include A Suffocating Choking Feeling (Green Room Award Winner, Camden People’s Theatre / Pleasance Theatre) – which explored influencer culture and the ethics of faking an illness online; Hotline (Word of Warning / MIF) – a subversive one-to-one live phone performance that turned the mundane into magic; The Salon (Cambridge Junction / Bridgewater Hall) – an immersive self-care hair experience; Be My Embrace Now (Manchester Pride); Rebels of Extinction (Manchester International Festival); String Lines (Royal Exchange Theatre); Rage Face (The Yard Theatre); and Nothing Special (Camden People’s Theatre).

Croydonist: How did you come to be part of this year’s Croydonites Festival?

Simone: We’ve long been admirers and regular attenders of the Croydonites Festival, which is known for championing bold, boundary-pushing performance and celebrating local artists and spaces in Croydon.

When we pitched Trainwreck to the Croydonites team (Anna, Katie, and Sophie), we knew they had a tradition of programming immersive theatre and access to some incredible spaces we could transform. They immediately connected with our approach – the way our work involves the audience, our playful sense of humour, and the ambition behind our ideas. From the start, they’ve backed us wholeheartedly, offering generous support and genuine enthusiasm as the show has developed. They really got the cheeky spirit of the piece, the vision of our train on office wheely chairs, its satire of “bad” immersive theatre and the deeper questions we’re exploring around AI and its role in art.

Croydonist: We have tickets to your final performance of Trainwreck – can you give us a hint about what we should expect from the evening?

Simone: You can expect to move through different spaces, to be wheeled around on office chairs that become our Train, blindfolded, and wearing silent disco headphones. There’ll be singing, dancing, laughter, and a wonderfully wacky sense of humour, all powered by the communal spirit of the audience coming together to help us pull off this big, ambitious vision: an immersive theatre show gone wrong, with AI stepping in to try and fix it.

Croydonist: For our readers who are more used to a linear theatre performance, how should they prepare themselves if they are coming along?

Simone: There is a narrative to the show – it’s just one that keeps moving and shifting along the way. Audiences can hold onto the idea that they’re on an adventure aboard a train, making stops at many unexpected destinations. Together, you’ll take part in the activities that unfold along this surreal journey.

We’ve taken inspiration from films like Bullet Train and Murder on the Orient Express – stories where the train itself becomes a vessel for chaos and connection. So expect to be immersed in something dynamic, and full of surprise.

The show travels through different eras and styles of performance, from karaoke to comedy to experimental theatre, creating a playful sense that anything could happen next. It’s about stepping on board and becoming part of the ride.

Croydonist: We hear Trainwreck is inspired by Glasgow’s infamous ‘immersive’ Willy Wonka knockoff which I’m sure lots of us have seen the videos of. Did you visit the ‘experience’ in person? 

Simone: We didn’t get the chance to see it, as it closed just a day after opening, a complete disaster!! We’ve also done a huge deep dive into the Willy’s Chocolate Experience, watching interviews and tracking how it transformed from a total disaster into one of the most viral immersive shows ever. What’s fascinating is how someone with no background in events or immersive theatre managed to sell out a show before it even opened, using AI to handle almost all the creative work, from scriptwriting to marketing.

We actually have firsthand experience with a similar situation. We were cast in an immersive theatre flop in Australia called Escape of the Werewolf, which opened and closed within four hours. It, too, had sold out before opening, and we were the ones scrambling to save it and make it a worthwhile experience for the audience.

Croydonist: We’ve actually never visited CYTO. Tell us a bit about Trainwreck’s location. 

Simone: Trainwreck takes place in the Croydon Youth Theatre Organisation (CYTO), such an exciting building, one with over 60 years of history as a youth theatre organisation, and before that, a school. The theatre itself is beautiful, with red velvet curtains, plush seats, a courtyard, car park, and green room and we’re using all of these spaces for Trainwreck.

There’s a wonderful sense of nostalgia and community at its core, and the building’s scale and character make it the perfect setting for something big and ambitious. We’re even repurposing old props from their past productions for our show. Andrew, David & the team at CYTO have been incredibly supportive and generous, allowing us to use every part of the space and borrow costumes and set pieces to help bring our vision to life. You really have to see the space and how we’re transforming it to appreciate how creatively it’s being used!!

Croydonist: What has been (or potentially will be) the biggest challenge of creating/running Trainwreck?

Simone: Creating something bespoke for each audience group that comes in (we’re shaping the show each night specifically for our audience), and ensuring that the AI tools respond and function live in the moment.

Croydonist: What are you most looking forward to about the run?

Simone: We’re really looking forward to having an audience come and test it out and getting their feedback! After spending time developing and fleshing out ideas from earlier versions of the show, we’re excited to invite fresh eyes, especially people who’ve never experienced immersive theatre before or aren’t sure it’s for them. We can’t wait to see the building completely transformed and to share the scale of the show in action.

Croydonist: AI – friend or foe?

Simone: You know what, AI is such an interesting beast, it’s controversial in many ways, from what it can do to where its data comes from, how it’s being used (ethically or not), and who controls it. There’s a growing feeling among artists that AI is replacing our creative skills, and this project is about reclaiming that power, asking how we can use AI tools to enhance our work rather than undermine it.

Through this process, we’ve been exploring not only what’s out there in terms of AI technology, but also the bigger questions about how our images or information could be used or replicated without our consent. At the heart of it, Trainwreck is asking: is AI our friend, or our foe? That question has been central to our creative journey… you’ll have to come and see the show to decide for yourself.

Croydonist: And lastly does Trainwreck contain cats?! 

Simone: Meow! Only the AI knows for sure! The cats appeared in an AI-generated image we made during development, when we typed in ‘create an image of people running and screaming after a show is burning down.’  We loved what it came up with – a perfect example of how the work keeps shifting shape and how AI continues to surprise us. Toot toot! All aboard the Trainwreck Express – don’t miss out!

We can’t wait… Thank you to Simone for chatting with us. Trainwreck runs from Tuesday 28 October – Saturday 1 November, at South Norwood’s CYTO. Get your tickets here.

Find out more about TomYumSim on their website, Instagram and Facebook.

Images courtesy of TomYumSim.

Posted by Julia