“The honour would be entirely mine if you would attend my little party.”
I love the vintage nights London offers. I love the return of vintage, and I’ve been a big fan of the ’20’s particularly since DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan charmed as Gatsby and Daisy in Baz Luhrman’s exquisitely dreamy production.
The chance to play dress up, and the opportunity for immersive theatre on any level, but especially Gatsby or 20’s related, is one I don’t like to miss! Therefore the opportunity to experience and review the below really was my cup of tea 🙂 There’s nothing like play acting me thinks, whilst having a great time, to as in this case, a really awesome script.
- Party like Gatsby
The first party to tell you about has sadly left London for now, but appears to be doing the rounds in numerous capital cities (mainly heading in the USA direction) but fingers crossed it might be back before long? https://partylikegatsby.eu
It’s purpose, according to its website is to give you the same party extravaganza feeling that Gatsby himself put on in 1922. We had such a great time! We arrived dressed up as required, bags checked, long que to the cloakroom but it moved speedy and before we knew it we had several drinks in hand and were checking out the size of the magnificent Troxy theatre in East London. Good space to sit as well as dance and really recommend the venue, should something come up again there in the future. There were also some photo type booths where groups of friends could pose and pass their phones/cameras to another to pap them, and they were such fun! People made such an effort, it was glorious people watching.
There was a great band on stage, and great acts on stage- but we all felt we would have liked some authentic 20’s music as there was NONE. That was such a shame. Everyone was dressed to the 20’s nines so to speak at a 20’s party! So to have some 20’s sounds at times would have really heightened the sense of immersion into that era and topped the whole event off. I also personally felt, having seen the website, that there could have been more going on, on the floor itself, as that is what was indicated from the website and therefore what I expected. I knew it wasn’t going to be immersive, but I felt it would have had more “wow” factor if the whole event had not centred around people staring at the stage, as that is what makes it a gig and not a party. Fussy?! Perhaps. I have become a vintage night veteran! 🙂
Despite some of my negative points, I’d still recommend this for a fun night! But for even better nights of a similar kind I’d still refer you to my all time fave London vintage event company, Bourne and Hollingworth, to see what they offer. Their Prohibition and Blitz parties are top, top level, and you can read some of my experiences of their company on here.
2. Immersive Gatsby
This is an immersive theatre event, so for those of you that haven’t experienced that before, you arrive and literally voila, you’re in the play, it’s 1922 on Long Island and where IS Gatsby?!?
Honestly straight from the get-go, this was a super authentic experience. The actors were all really well cast (the actress who played Myrtle did SUCH an amazing job and I loved her accent sooo much), the set and costumes were authentically period. It’s heart stoppingly emotional at times, and pulls you in just like the film does, as well as lifting you and being laugh out loud joyful.
I love that tickets are available for this night are now available from as little as £15.50. This is such a bargain! https://www.fromtheboxoffice.com/city/2957-london/MH8C-the-great-gatsby/
It’s also literally a quick jaunt from Borough tube station, so quite a handy central location. We went to a nearby pub just before for cheap happy hour cocktails which I really recommend: http://theoldschoolyard.com/index.php
Although we paid double the price for our drinks at The Gatsby Drugstore, I have to say there were NO measures used and most of my friends whiskey and soda was whiskey, as I realised when it my turn to get the drinks!! Be careful if you go on a Thursday night like us!
During the night we had some impromptu Charleston dancing, I had a walk with Gatsby when he wanted to position me in front of a man not dressed up (all in good fun!), we made good friends, drank too much, and eagerly awaited for the actors to appear at the end of the show…but they didn’t! Which I also love, as it keeps the mystery for you, when you go!
No photos were allowed during the performance, so here’s a few of us relaxing and on a high afterwards. Read more about the show here:https://immersivegatsby.com/event/the-great-gatsby
