Rob Crouch and Alan Sharpington. Photograph: Emiliano Mellino

In the rough basement of an abandoned former English-language school in Waterloo, two actors are performing an extract of a script on the spiralling lives of a soldier and a prostitute. Alan Sharpington and Rob Crouch are carefully scrutinising the actors’ expressions. Both Sharpington and Crouch of the Donkey Work theatre company are taking auditions for their new play ‘The Case’ at The Oubliette, a unique squat in London.

Located just behind Waterloo station, the squat is a rising art house, with 35 rooms planned as artists’ studios and a basement to house plays, gigs and cabaret. “We liked the atmosphere of the basement; it’s a bit dirty, dingy and smelly,” said co-director Alan Sharpington.

‘The Case’, based on a true story from the First World War, consists of what Sharpington calls “building blocks” – scenes that can be dropped if they’re not suited to the location of the performance without destroying the play’s meaning. Versatility and improvisation as well as being non-site specific are what define Donkey Work’s dedication to telling strange stories in unusual places.

Known for presenting performances in non-theatrical spaces, Donkey Work is unique within the theatre scene. Its focus is to produce what other theatre companies usually cannot manage to do - creating a play that can absorb its audience into a physical and sensory environment while maintaining a gripping narrative.

“In venues like Oubliette the audience become the walls that surround the characters. It’s not really interactive but it’s much more exciting, the audience feels more involved and can see more of the body language than sitting far away on a standard theatre seat,” said Sharpington.

True to Donkey Work’s improvisational style, Sharpington and Crouch discovered Oubliette only two weeks ago and are already launching the play on 22 June. However, this performance will depend on whether the staff at the Oubliette, headed by graphic illustrator Dan Simon, will be evicted from the property by its owner Dover House Property Investments Limited.

“We can’t worry about it otherwise we wouldn’t do anything. I love Dan’s attitude, to carry on until they stop us. That’s exactly what we are doing too,” Sharpington said.

Though he’s found a space with Oubliette, Sharpington cannot hide his discontent about the problems he encountered while looking for a place ‘The Case’ could be housed. “I wish there were more people like here at the Oubliette, so open minded. Sometimes it can be incredibly frustrating to deal with landlords who at times are scared of people doing something ‘arty’.”