Richard Crawford is a British theatre director and actor known for the Secret Theatre Project. His productions are typically site specific and immersive. He is credited for introducing immersive theatrical productions to Hong Kong and Singapore.
Career
Recent career highlights include his 2021 live online cinematic experience Redemption Room, which won Best Virtual experience at the SCAR Awards.
Lifestyle Asia previewed the show "The story goes: Six disgraced celebrities — in true Black Mirror-style — faces the live, virtual-studio audience as they seek redemption for their so-called ‘crimes’ — from sexual harassment and the consumption of illicit drugs to lying, cheating and other behaviours that warrant cancellation. To be ‘redeemed’, the celebrity must confront — in accordance to the audience's votes — their greatest fear — be it spiders, ghosts or Ouija boards. An evil entity disrupts the evening. Chaos ensues.
Crawford wrote and directed the show which was well received across the world, with chief culture critic from The Guardian Arifa Akbar stating the show "delivers a satisfying adrenaline high" Nick Curtis at London's Evening Standard was especially impressed stating "Less than a week ago I wrote off online games that pretend to be “immersive theatre experiences” as a waste of time. Now here comes this thrillingly macabre mashup of horror film, gameshow and Zoom meeting, to prove me wrong. If you want something different and genuinely hair-raising, I can wholeheartedly recommend Redemption Room. Even if it does mean facing a critic's worst fear: eating my words."
The show was also a success in Australia and America with Sydney based culture critic Kate Herbert stating "You can’t escape the Dark Entity in Redemption Room, a wild, hilarious and, by the end, scary live and interactive theatre experience." New York critic Ryan Davis agreed stating "Redemption Room combines the clever premise of horror movies like Anonymous Killers and Circle, and effectively rivals other online scare fests like Host with sheer theatricality and impressive stagecraft.
He is the Artistic Director of the Brooklyn Studio Lab, a collective of film and theatre artists based in Willamsburg, New York, and he is also a founding member of The New York Rebel Film Club.
Productions
In 2022 Crawford wrote and directed a new immersive theatrical experience, Nights at Studio 54 which ran for a record breaking 3 months in Hong Kong. The production was set on the last night of the infamous club and included many celebrities of the era. Crawford had expressed "“It’s a dream of mine to travel back to Studio 54—I have been obsessed with that particular time in New York for a while and have always wanted to create a show set in that era,”
In 2022 Crawford adapted, directed and acted in The Great Gatsby in the Spanish capital Madrid, his first production in Spanish. The production was one of the first signature immersive productions to take place in the city and was a critical success with La Razon stating "“What Secret Theatre has achieved is not just a representation of the work of F.Scott Fitzgerald. It is in fact, a pioneering way of doing theatre in Spain, and one that places the city at the forefront of culture.”
In 2021 Crawford adapted, directed and starred in Secret Theatre's immersive, site specific The Great Gatsby in Hong Kong. The production opened to much hype in the city, featured as Vogue Magazine's show to see, and Tatler Magazine's event of the quarter. The production went on to sell out in record time for the city and became the most successful International production in 2021.
He directed the Brooklyn Studio Lab's world premiere of Edward Scissorhands in New York in 2010.
In 2015 Crawford produced and directed the world stage premier of SE7EN (Deadly Sins) in London and Hong Kong. The production featured on the front cover of Time Out
2015 also saw the Crawford-produced Secret Studio Lab Romeo and Juliet on a secret Island in London. Evanesce, was written and directed by Crawford and performed in a disused police station in London in 2015.
In 2018 he signed up to open a new production in Singapore.
The production in Singapore went on to become the Singapore Tatler Magazine Number 1 show getting rave reviews from publications such as Honeycombers, "Here's the takeaway: the Secret Theatre Project is one wild ride you won't want to miss."