Do you enjoy luxury and decadence? Are you Rich, old, insecure, vain, superficial, needy and liberally perfumed? Well The Grand Budapest Hotel is the place for you, and this Friday you get to escape lockdown and head there with many 1000s of other new clientele.
This might be one of the most exciting things I have seen for a while!
Secret Cinema, have been helping fans since 2008 to immerse themselves in their favourite imaginary worlds for real. Stranger Things, Dirty Dancing, Back to the Future, Blade Runner and many more have been tackled by them so far and now they are creating a weekly Secret Sofa for us to enjoy from our homes.
It is time to escape this madness and join 1000s of other households (potentially from all over the world) and immerse ourselves in the Secret Sofa world.
Now how does this work, you might ask?
Well, each week, Secret Sofa will announce their next event. This is not done in any simple way. You don’t just get an email saying “we will be watching this film”.
No no no! As always, you can expect more from them! You receive an email with an invitation themed in the style of that week’s film.
Of course, just like Secret Cinema, it isn’t just watching the film. You can get involved. There will be bespoke content and interactive elements inspired by the evening’s film. A dress code is provided and you are encouraged to dress up and share photos to the facebook page. This week is The Grand Budapest Hotel so I received an invitation and so there is a menu of pastries which you could expect to find at the hotel so to apply for a summer job at the hotel they provide a recipe which you can give it a go and share your photos. A drinks suggestion is offered, there is a pre event dance session (for which they have offered a video to teach you to waltz) and the whole thing is sponsored by Häagen-Dazs so with enough notice, you can order it from Amazon Prime.
No, you don’t get the incredible sets, the escape from your phone for a few hours (although you could ban yourself), the personalised narrative that each ticket holder gets, or the chance to explore with some of the cast BUT I recon this is the next best thing!
Immersive theatre is one of my favourite things to see and do. I went to the Stranger Things Secret Cinema in January and it was possibly the best evening I have ever had and certainly the best immersive theatre experience I have had!! I love that they continue to do what they do best and provide us with the opportunity to virtually join up with our friends and fellow immersive theatre nerds and do something a bit different.
Just as my last post mentioned, I hope that this kind of thing continues after the lockdown finishes. Secret Cinema is an incredible experience and so I love that more people will get to have a taste of it this way. Thankfully, Secret Cinema chief executive Max Alexander has intimated that they will try to continue doing this in the future. FINGERS CROSSED!
The first one is at 7:30 this Friday 17th April with a pre show dance event at 7:15 (GMT)
To find out more, sign up to secret sofa mailing list
You can also visit them on their Facebook page (where I have uploaded my outfit for my visit to the Grand Budapest Hotel)
Playhouse Pickings 