This month Culturebean visited A Twisted Christmas, a Sneaky Cinema Experience in Leeds. The company do lots of pop up immersive events for all ages in unique environments, and this was no different.
I am always looking for quirky and interesting shows. However much I love sitting in a dark, cosy Theatre where the fourth wall is rarely broken, I do also need to break free from tradition and try something new. So this play was the perfect fit.
This show was for grown ups only. So that was exciting! I actually run adult only events as part of my job, and there is something so nice about being exclusive.
After a quick ride on the Ferris Wheel and a wander through the Christmas Markets, we entered the Town Hall with a very festive feeling. From the promotional blurb, I understood our task was to help put the lost decorations back on the Christmas Tree, but how that was exactly going to done I had no idea.
We firstly met the Christmas Cracker in the corridor, a cheery young cracker in training. She imagines she has a hopeful future ahead of her and is bursting with excitement at following in her families footsteps. But what that is exactly she's unsure... In true cracker form this is where the terrible jokes began, from both the cracker and the crowd. We also had the chance to decorate ourselves in cheesy props.
Next we met my favourite character of the night, the Nutcracker. A tough, strict and quite British decoration with clear instruction on what the tree should and should NOT be. After shouting at us, and forcing me to complete a happy dance, she skillfully marched us toward the next room. We found a bratty fairy with anger issues and attitude problems. Well she had be tangled in a box of lights for ten months so I think I'll let her off.
The walk into the next location was magical, a true winter wonderland with shredded snow and towering trees. And as a big kid, I immediately commenced a fake snowball fight with my friend. Until the children's homemade decoration caught our attention, a sad and lonely star who just wanted to be one of the cool decorations.
Then stormed in my second favourite decoration of the night, a bauble who knows he is the most important decoration to ever grace a tree. He's been in in Harrods you know, darling and rolls off Shakespeare with amateur ease. This out of shape bauble commanded the room and appropriately (Christmas) hammed his performance up. Finally the non traditional decoration that was quite out of a place, a Unicorn. She had an air of 'Dory' about her, as dim as my five year old fairy lights but also lovable and likeable in her energetic nature.
The show ended with a selfie with all of the decorations, which I hope to see on some form of social media soon!
It was thrilling to feel part of the promenade show, and have a purpose as an audience, other than to mindlessly applaud. I can safely say I tidy my decorations away neatly each January, so they are well looked after. I really enjoyed my sneaky experience and look forward to attending more of their unusual events.
Keep up to date with their antics here https://sneakyexperience.co.uk/
Image Credit: Sneaky Experience, ITV
