The Map and the Echo

The Map and the Echo is part-performance, part-game…
commissioned by the British Library in conjunction with its new major exhibition Secret Maps.

• Tues 28 Oct 2025, 8pm

• Tues 11 Nov 2025, 7pm and 8pm

• Tues 2 Dec 2025, 7pm and 8pm

More information and tickets can be found here.

Tickets to The Map and the Echo include entry to the Secret Maps exhibition.
Exhibition access for ticket holders begins two hours before showtime.

An interactive journey through the British Library, The Map and the Echo explores how people make maps and how maps make places.

After viewing the Secret Maps exhibition, an audio tour will guide you through the Library, imagining the unseen areas of the landmark building and its ever-growing collections. The audio tour leads to a performance, where a man stands on a bare stage and describes another place: a version of the British Library that may or may not exist.

Inspired by choose-your-own-adventure stories and early text-adventure computer games, each performance is unique, shaped by your choices. Using simple instructions like ‘Go North’ or ‘Pick up the lamp’, the audience works together to navigate this other place, overcoming obstacles and exploring the Library… without leaving your seat.

The Map and the Echo is a new edition in Kriebel’s acclaimed series of Exploration Games,created specially for the British Library and Secret Maps.