In this immersive queer horror show in Bengaluru, the audience decides the end

This story isn’t like any other you’ve read. To do it justice, you have to abandon your biases and embrace fantasy. Are you ready? Let’s go. 

It’s a blood-red night in Bengaluru when an audience stumbles into a hidden school of witchcraft. There, you see a young woman named Sugandha suspended between life and death. As you struggle to piece reality together, a mythical Seer emerges to reveal you’re all magicians. From that moment onward, it is in your fairy-dusted hands to heal the damsel in distress. 

And there’s a catch: you must lift the curse before the moon rises. With every moral puzzle and tactile ritual, you reconstruct Sugandha’s soul to slowly discover that the curse isn’t supernatural. It is a deeply human tale of forbidden queer love, of parental suffocation masquerading as care, and of a society that misunderstands difference. Will you be able to revive Sugandha’s story? 

This is just a fleeting glimpse into Blood Moon Over, a theatrical experience running at Bengaluru’s Sabha from January 16 to 18. The immersive play kicks off BLR Hubba, the city’s two-week-long art and culture festival. In case you’re rolling your eyes at the use of the word ‘immersive’, it’s completely understandable—atm, it is thrown out rather carelessly. But trust us when we say this won’t disappoint. 

Just meet the makers for proof. The show has been produced by Goa-based trans media company Immerse, which exclusively blends sensorial experience with social impact. We last caught them while watching ‘What Does Loss Taste Like?’, a futuristic food story that took the Serendipity Arts Festival by storm, putting up 80 successful shows. Before that, the team crafted an experiment titled ‘She Moves Tech’, a hypothetical world where AI’s biases are rooted in feminism, not against it. 

Now, Sonia Parekh, lead producer at the start-up, brings the same care to Blood Moon Over. “When you enter, a lot of visceral and visual elements lead the way. For starters, the seating is set in concentric circles to mimic how the community gathers in magical realism. There is also a large waning blood moon that becomes the timekeeper,” she says. “Without giving away too much, we have brought in local folklore and Gods from Karnataka to keep it true to the land.” The venue strengthens this sentiment of fantasy. Sabha, a restored 160-year-old school right off the buzzy Commercial Street, represents the melding of contemporary storytelling with old-world mystery. This setting holds the tender love story with care.

Fittingly, the tale has been written by game designer Abhishek Lamba and screenwriter Tarana Reddy, both of whom identify as queer. They explain that Carmilla, a Gothic novella by J Sheridan Le Fanu loosely inspired the story, while the gameplay found its legs from the fantasy video game series The Witcher. Having co-created the Indian political board game Shasn, Lamba says, “Blood Moon Over feels timely because the world around us is increasingly polarised and full of binaries. Everything is either right or wrong. But I’m non-binary myself and I find that we’re failing to cultivate a society rooted in empathy and community.” 

By handing an audience, primarily strangers, the task of reviving someone’s lived experience, the show uses cinematic immersion to create shared rituals. The makers also reveal that the way Sugandha’s story ends is entirely in the hands of the players. The crew has rehearsed for three distinct endings; the one for each show will be determined by an audience vote, making your agency essential to how it pans out. 

We have to add, Blood Moon Over isn’t the only standout in the BLR Hubba lineup. On January 17, author Shehnab Sahin will do a reading of her historical Assamese fiction Colour My Grave Purple alongside a guided tea tasting. On the 19th, musicians Gurupriya Atreya and Vedanth Bharadwaj present Aaraaro, a sleep concert where they perform lullabies from different cultures and languages (yes, read that right!). The following weekend, on January 24, drummer Tarun Balani and artist Parizad D will immerse you in a sonic experience on climate change. 

Throughout the festival, Bangalore International Centre will host compelling artwork from the likes of Shraddha Kochhar and Jasmeen Patheja, while Freedom Park will become home for Project Otenga’s food paradise. Imagine stalls that serve up raagi mudde with tangy chutneys, murukku as chaat, and postmodern paan for those with an appetite for experiments. The first month of the year has an abundance of art and culture written in the cards. Buckle in. 

BLR Hubba runs from January 16 to 25 at multiple venues across the city. You can book tickets online