How many of us loved the classic “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, where we were able to choose what happened next in the story? JULIE: Her Life In Your Hands is a live on stage choose your own adventure, with the audience voting on what will happen next in the story. Everyone is given a laser pointer on entry, and at significant crossroads in the story we are asked to use this to point to either a Left or Right road sign to select the next choice. These moments made up the main part of the play, and were effective in making the audience really become invested in Julie’s story of love and life choices. It did feel, however, that the opening scene went for some time before the first audience choice opportunity arose. It is such a crucial element of the play that incorporating it earlier, even into small mundane choices initially to introduce the concept, would have engaged the audience sooner.

There are also moments where audience members are asked to come on stage and become a supporting character, aided by a short script to read. These were fun, and are an easy way to add more characters to a one-woman play.

Mehak Mirza Prabhu is a skilled actress, creating a relatable character and keeping the story moving through the various twists and turns. She keeps the audience engaged and hits the emotional beats just right in the more poignant moments of the show.

From an audience perspective, the only confusing moment happened when the audience chose one path for Julie, only for the next scene to clearly be the other choice. I assume Prabhu misheard which answer the audience selected in this instance, but it was a shame we didn’t get to see the audience’s choice in this instance. The remainder of the show flowed so well that I would assume this glitch won’t occur in future performances.

For a premiere of a creative and interactive work, this show was an engaging and interesting experience. With a few tweaks it has the potential to be a really fantastic piece of theatre. Go and support this new work while you can.