Immersive theatre came to Oxford last week in the shape of To and Fro. The piece, based on the T. S. Eliot poem The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock, was staged in grade II listed (and Ruskin College owned) building The Rookery in Headington The audience took the role of party guests. At 8pm, we were let loose along a wide path, lit by flaming beacons, into the house. In the main entrance hall, we were introduced to a clown – of sorts – playing with teaspoons. A master of ceremonies split us into two groups, and each group was shown into a different room.

And thus began the latest instalment of the ‘Playhouse Plays Out’ project. This one was devised and staged by a local company of youngsters aged from 16 to 22, and proved the most ambitious yet. During the ‘party’ we were split up some more, invited to play games, have a cup of tea and cake, sung at and led into all manner of rooms, nooks and crannies.

Recurring images of spoons, sort-of narrative threads involving messy love affairs and quotations from Prufrock all featured in this dizzying experience. As with the poem, it was difficult to discern a narrative. But it certainly picked up Eliot’s discussion of the relationship between audience and author. And, as in the poem, there was a definite feeling of a journey. To where, and why, was almost beside the point.

In among all this ambition and these ideas, was a piece that didn’t quite hang together. There were longueurs, in which little happened. And the narrative threads were a little too underplayed to really satisfy. However, there were enough moments of inspiration to make the evening more than worthwhile. The conclusion of the piece, in which the audience were led back along the garden path to the haunting singing of the entire cast, sent shivers down the spine.