"The Void is incredible, striking sci-fi isolation. It made me question the narrative being pushed, and if I should really believe what was being presented to me. Claustrophobic, unreliable and unnerving." - Danny, 18, Middlesbrough

The Void is the story about the loss of identity & humanity in a world controlled by AI. Urgently relevant to young people and unlike anything else on the mid-scale touring circuit.

"A bold plunge into sci-fi horror that electrifies the stage with cinematic flair and unsettling atmosphere" - Glos ★★★★★

“Intriguing, mystifying, mind-bending” - Young audience member

"It's rare to find a production that can combine the intensity of a horror film with the depth of live theatre" - Hull Is This ★★★★★

“It’s really edgy, and real cool, it gets your attention” - Young audience member

Watch the trailer →

Last year's tour of The Void gave us invaluable insight into what works, what young people respond to, and where we need to go further. Here is what we learned:

-4,792 total audience members across 12 venues
-1,471 young people (aged 12-18) brought into theatres
-892 first-time theatregoers
-31 wraparound workshops delivered
-19 new schools & colleges visited
-509 new participants engaged
-2 Priority Place visits, bringing 114 (aged 12-18) new young audiences into their theatres
-28% of our creative team from under-represented backgrounds
-22% of participants from the top 20% most deprived areas in England
-78% of survey respondents said the show increased their interest in theatre
-84% of survey respondents said the workshop improved their creative skills
-92% of teachers said they would book again

In its first year, The Void brought in an average of 307 young people per venue, compared to Shock Horror's average of 200 young people per venue across its full run. The Void is already showing a clear trajectory of growth in young audience engagement.

Demi Hutchison is a 17-year-old theatre student from Kirklees (an ACE priority place and one of the UK's most educationally deprived areas) who joined our filming cast for The Void in 2025.

For Demi, it was a chance to step into a professional creative environment, take risks and discover new skills in acting for camera, green screen and digital performance.

"I felt I was in a safe space to make mistakes, learn new things and really explore my creativity. I now see myself as more of a versatile actor feeling confident in different mediums of acting and it’s a huge thanks to the Thunder Road team.”

This year, Demi joins our Advisory Group - ensuring young people's expertise shapes not just what we make, but how we reflect on it and grow.

Read Demi's full story here →

In January 2026, ACE made Digital Arts its tenth supported artform, defining it as work where digital technology fundamentally shapes how work is conceived, made and experienced.

This year, The Void puts that vision into practice.

Motion capture records real human movement and transforms it into hyper-realistic digital footage - placing characters directly inside the story's sci-fi world in a way that feels genuinely real, exciting and inspiring to young audiences. For the first time, young people in Mansfield & Kirklees will get their hands on this technology, gaining key skills that feed directly into England's creative industries.

"Thunder Road are exciting, innovative, boundary-pushing and this journey into motion capture can only take them further." Kat Gibson, Producer, Watford Palace Theatre

"The students took valuable information and techniques away from the workshop that they have now successfully put into their devising drama GCSE section. This has massively improved their performance." - Kath, Drama Teacher, Madeley High School

Our wraparound workshops are at the heart of everything we do - giving young people hands-on creative experiences that stay with them long after each project ends.

“I found those three crucial elements of horror discussed in the workshop very illuminating in starting to recognise what is important in my own second year projects” - Luke, Edge Hill Uni

This year, our new multimedia workshop will take young people beyond traditional drama games and devising techniques, exploring digital storytelling & motion capture footage, creating scenes for screen as well as stage, and discovering how technology can transform the way they tell stories.

What students build in Kirklees will be experienced by thousands of young people across the UK on tour, and will form the foundation of a workshop we deliver for years to come. From grassroots creativity to national reach.

Watch our workshops in action →

ACE funded from 2022-2024, Shock Horror was a landmark moment for Thunder Road - it was a bold experiment in blending live performance with cinematic projection and helped to forge deep connections with young people & venues across the UK - a hugely successful, sustainable mid-scale touring model for us, laying the foundations for everything The Void is building on today.

-41,451 total audience members across 46 venues
-9197 young people aged 12-18 brought into theatres
-13,409 first-time theatregoers
-59 wraparound workshops delivered
-31 schools & colleges visited directly
-1534 participants engaged
-24% of our creative team from under-represented backgrounds

"Brilliantly combining live performance, illusion and film" - Theatre News ★★★★★

“I love horror plays, movies and stories, this performance is the best I've ever seen!” - Audience member

"The terror and mystery it creates is inescapable" - Exeposé Magazine

Explore Shock Horror →