Secret Theatre in London

This past weekend we went to experience, the newly arrived in London, ‘Secret Theatre’.

As the name would suggest, much of what was in store for us was kept under-wraps until the last minute. When purchasing our tickets we were unaware of the venue or even the production we were paying to see. In fact, all we had to go on was the description provided on their website.

That vague description included such gems as “Breathing some fresh air into live theatrical performances” but much more importantly it claimed to “offer and immersive experience for the audience where you feel part of the production” Doesn’t sound to shabby huh?

A few days before the event we received an email with all the necessary details including the venue and start time. However, much more interestingly the email encouraged us to dress as police (or undercover police for those who couldn’t be bothered) and to remember our aliases (Mr or Mrs plus our eye colour, say hello to Mr Bluey-Green!).  Secret Theatre was getting exciting!

We arrived at the venue to find a small warehouse with room for not many more than 100 people to sit down and on producing our tickets we were told to “grab a drink, you’ll need it”. Due to the size of the room it would be impossible to hide from the action and we were excited as to what was to come. A selection of strong alcohol on the single table in the performing area immediately caught my eye and I imagined myself sitting down as part of the production sipping away, trying not to embarrass myself in front of a room full of strangers.

The show was revealed as Resovoir Dogs by Quinton Tarrintino but an adapted version set in London.

Creative Commons Flickr Credit: Tim. Simpson

The performance began with our host pacing back and forth explaining that we had been selected as London’s latest elite crew of undercover police, our job was not going to be pretty or glamorous but it would get results.  As the lights flicked off an on again the main actors took the stage and we were straight into the performance.

For the first half an hour or so everyone was on edge, the immersive side of the show seemed imminent and we speculated on what might happen next, would we be led through that door behind the set? would a group of us be selected by our aliases? The story seemed set up to get us involved at any moment.

Unfortunately as time went on it was clear that nothing was going to happen and the seats we took at the beginning of the show would be where we’d remain for the entire evening. The show that was taking place in front of us was in your face, gritty, enjoyable and grabbed your attention from the start but everyone who had attended was waiting for something else.

When the interval came we were given some brief hope as our host brought up the subject of our aliases, as it turns out that’s just how they wanted us to talk to each other during the break, hello Mrs Blue etc. After grabbing another drink from the bar (Still a bit gutted I wasn’t getting any of the strong stuff I spotted earlier) we settled back down the second half which just as the first did little more than break the forth wall.

I didn’t want this review to sound too negative (I’m aware it does) because for what it was, it was actually very good. The problem is, Secret Theatre isn’t what it claims to be. In your face, raw theatre is what it is, but immersive it  certainly isn’t. For the few people who had bothered to dress up it must have been quite frustrating, had I made that effort just to sit in a crowd I would have been pretty annoyed.

We actually spoke to one of the actors outside afterwards who agreed with everything we’ve said above and admitted to feeling terrible when seeing the audience arriving dressed up knowing it was for nothing.

If secret theatre were called anything other than that then it would probably be a great success. Unfortunately London already has a ‘Secret Cinema’ and that does everything that secret theatre promises to deliver but doesn’t.

Would we have booked tickets to a play in warehouse? probably not and for that reason I’m glad secret theatre gave me a chance to see something a little different.  The worrying thing is with many reviews expressing the same views as us Secret Theatre’s first production in the UK might be it’s last unless it changes it’s approach.