Now that we've gotten to know each other, it's important that we're honest from the start; we're not looking for love and we're sure not looking for money, we all pall on, just looking for something to do. Able to do it with someone you love and win money? Sure, that's a bit better. In London it's not hard to find ways of spending time or finding things, it's merely about trawling and finding the RIGHT things to do; Les Enfant Terribles are up to just that: giving you the right things to do.
The Venue and Set
If the devil were in the details at The Game's Afoot, i'm a sucker on the side of satan. While the backdrop of Tussaud's is an impressive feat, The Game's Afoot by no means rely on this architectural and cultural icon. Dotted at the East of the building, this immersive event is another world entirely. Making Victorian London feel like home, the production value is absolutely out of this world and something that clearly echoed on from the applause they received for their Alice's Adventured Underground show.
From a rumbling train carriage complete with moving imagery, booths and a mortuary decked in vintage wares, shrill white tiling, body parts and antiquated operating tools, to an office owned by Sherlock himself, each nook and cranny decked in vintage furniture and antiquarian charm; the set of Baker Street and its supporting spaces give something of a shiver down the spine thanks to their eerie insistence, artistry and attention to detail.
The production value at The Game's Afoot is a testament to the entire show.
The Experience
Being a sucker for audience involvement, I feel like I was the perfect test subject for The Game's Afoot. While their Alice production had more a story to follow rather than chase, it was down to us to support the narrative we could find for ourselves. You may be detectives in all the glory of H&M, but you're detectives regardless; thrown in at the deep end, given clues to find and a murder to solve. Ours? The Case Of The Bloodthirsty Beast. Even from the off, it was easy to see why immersive theatre is so popular when you go to an event like The Game's Afoot, but it's so important to understand how your own involvement affects the outcome.
Refusing to not get involved as loitering by the livery would make you look like a lemon otherwise, we started our investigation. From listening to the echoes of conversations between actors flitting about between spaces and conducting our own interrogations to hounding actors for as much improv as they could muster, it was amazing to have such free reign with the actors during the show. While I got friendly with a rich Victorian who dabbled in the dark arts (one does what a lady must in the search for truth), my boyfriend was giving the murder victim's brother a dose of good cop, and a little more good cop. I can't give away the details, they're fun and intricate and they're clever, but i'll say that The Game's Afoot is unforgivably exciting and promised a level of audience and actor collaboration like no other.
Uncover the story yourself, as you become the lead in a murder tale you know nothing about.
Summary
Les Enfant Terribles seemingly have no trouble making their events feel like motion picture at play. Not only did their latest set once again enthrall and engage, the readiness of characters, the awareness of design and the hardiness to be different is hard not to indulge in at The Game's Afoot.
