Hi readers!
My last 24 hour stop over was in London, which I hasten to add, is not one of our favourite runs due to the fact that the Brits have, how can I say? A penchant for the odd alcoholic tipple or 20 or basically however many you can fit into a 7 hour flight with a mini snooze to recharge the liver. Usually though it all goes smoothly just a bit less shoe leather after the constant top ups and helps with the ‘turbulence’. Luckily most of us are into sport so it certainly helps with the catching skills.
The great thing once landed about London however is its innovation, not just in the world of business but in leisure too. These high discerning metro dwellers are constantly the seeking cool and the original but it has to be spot on cos these guys don’t do tacky in any shape or form and they’re happy to pay as long as does what it says on the tin in a refined and classy way.
So on to secret cinema then and as you’ve probably guessed by now it’s not sneaking out to some dingy cinema to see a 70’s style moustachioed plumber in ‘Bored Housewives Need Servicing’ without telling anybody. That couldn’t be further than the truth.
This is a truly immersive experience and absolutely a whole lot of fun and so well worth the entrance fee of 70 quid.
You’re assigned a role base on the profile you completed online and told the scene you’re going to join and the ‘secret’ location, only on the actual day, which adds to the intrigue specially as it’s in the middle of nowhere. In my case it was the 1996 movie Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio.
We join the film dressed in the house colours (I was Capulet) at a beach kind of area which looks exactly like the film set during a truce in the family feud. We then pass through other sets replete with actors following scenes from the film ,some driving authentic 90’s cars through a fairground again exactly the same as the film ( the words ‘exact and ‘same’ are going to crop up a lot here!). To get both your invite and the necessary mask for the dance you need to solve clues, break codes and complete tasks. Then to the Montague garage, again pitch perfect to the film, where actors play out roles ( urging you not to believe the truce and remember your hate for the other family ) and ramp up the atmosphere at the rave style dance all culminating in a police arrest again exactly as the film.
Then onto watch the movie itself in an outdoor cinema, with gospel singers and loads of other stuff going on around the massive field and while you’re watching the film and marvelling at the authenticity of all the sets you’ve just been in, real live actors are portraying scenes below the screen with cars driving in and out, helicopters over head, lightening sound effects etc.
Photography was strictly forbidden, but I managed to get some sneaky shots for the blog. So if you’re ever in a city with a secret cinema secretly being advertised (!), sign up it’s a truly immersive, challenging, unforgettable and above all great fun experience.
Thanks for the read guys!
