Go to Hawkins, Indiana in ‘Secret Cinema Presents Stranger Things’ (Review)
Travel back in time to the world of Netflix’s hit show
My fiance and I are on our way to see the latest hip immersive production in London. We get dressed and I find myself taking much more time than usual getting ready than I normally would, making sure I match that night’s theme. We then hop on the tube and make our way towards our stop. But, as we ride to our secret London location, I notice more than one person raises a questioning eyebrow at us and our outfits.
A strange thing begins to happen as we get closer to our final destination. I realize we seem to have traveled back in time! More and more people start to join our carriage who look just like us. I roll up the sleeves on my jacket and place my retro sunglasses coolly back on my head. And as we get off the train, I can’t help but smile, as a wave of us dressed in 1980s garb exit the train doors. Suddenly, we are not in London anymore.
No, we are in Hawkins, Indiana, and it’s July 4, 1985.
And: things are about to get strange.
As with past Secret Cinema experiences, audience members are invited to take part in a brief questionnaire before attending. This questionnaire splits the audience into one of several categories, giving each participant the basis of a character to inhabit, and corresponds with a specific way to dress for the event. I am attending the Hawkins High School reunion as Simon “Quaver” Arnold, class of 1977, a Media Hotshot. My Secret Cinema Presents Stranger Things journey into the world starts with an online portal, with all the relevant information that I need to know for the show, as well as some helpful hints and tips. My intrigue is piqued well before the day of the show arrives.
The outfit that Secret Cinema requests you wear to the experience is not just for a generic 80’s themed dress-up party, but a specific “look” from the era. Maybe it is just the British love of dressing up for fancy dress parties (costume parties for American readers), but people really went for it, from what I observed, which included participants sporting some gravity-defying hair and showing off sick dance moves. To look around and see every kind of relevant fashion represented was wonderful. And it was also encouraging to see that tonight’s attendees want to really inhabit the world we are make-believing together.
The costuming and questionnaire also split up the audience, creating a team mentality right from the onset. Combining this with the way that certain performers interact with you, dependent on whether or not they identify with your clique, and it’s a perfect way to shape the audience experience and to give them potential clues and tracks to follow.
The size and scale of the “Hawkins Reunion” is overwhelming. Once we’ve made our way through the check-in, we find ourselves in the middle of the brand new Starcourt Mall. To the left is the Hawkins News Network media station, where live broadcasts are being made. Disinterested and snarky employees await new customers in Coach. A videobar, like something I had only ever seen before in Back to the Future II, is serving a wide range of drinks. A MAC makeup stylist is greeting customers, and offering the latest in 80’s style makeup trials, while Fashion Forward has all the latest trends for people to try. The Video Game palace has half a dozen arcade games while a lady in neon aerobics gear is encouraging people to get fit in her live dance exercise class. Meanwhile, folks like me scoot past all this to get to Scoops Ahoy, the nautically themed ice cream parlor from the show.
More of Hawkins is waiting for you just outside the mall. The Hideaway Bar is a full size, operating bar in one corner, while the archives of the Hawkins Post have been set up on the opposite side, next to Mayor Kline’s election party tent. And these are just the locations that can be seen on the initial pass. This is our open sandbox to play in. I find myself completely lost, amazed at the size of Hawkins.
Then I spot a group of actors.
The resemblance of the performers to the “real” Stranger Things cast is uncanny. Their costumes, accents, and mannerisms are all exactly the same as the stars that I have gotten to know over the past three seasons of binging. Over the course of the evening, I spy character after character, each an amazing doppelganger for their filmed counterpart. My immersive audience member training kicks in, and, naturally, I give “chase.”
For the next three hours, I find myself totally invested in Hawkins. As an employee of the Hawkins News Network, I set upon finding the most interesting scoop. I speak with as many people as I can, trying to find an interesting lead or rumor to follow up on. Hawkins seems to be the hub of a whole host of strange goings-on as of late, and I see it as my job to try and work out what is going on. I am given free reign in this beautiful world to play, and I enjoy making the most of every minute of it.
In past productions, the tradition has been to play in the world for the first part of the evening, before moving into an area where you would then watch the movie that you had been living in. Sometimes in the early Secret Cinema days, audiences wouldn’t know which worlds they’d be playing in (and what film they were to see) until arrival; it would only be through context clues of the set that you might be able to make a guess. (Over the past few years, this model has changed into announcing the IP before tickets go on sale, which in itself can help to drum up greater public excitement for the show.) As the movie plays, performers that you had been interacting with all evening long, would suddenly appear alongside the movie screen, Rocky Horror Picture Show-style. At key moments in the film, the screening would be supplemented by these live actors, mouthing along to and syncing up with the screen perfectly.
The Secret Cinema Presents Stranger Things finale is slightly different — but I can’t say too much without spoiling it. But I will say that it is truly an incredible experience, which is almost impossible to describe in words alone.
The size and scale of the production is unlike anything currently being produced Stateside. The audience is huge, up to 1,200 people per night I am told. With an audience this size, there are some moments of bottlenecking and craning of necks in order to see quite what is going on. However, for the most part, the experience works despite its vast size. Audience members are guided and prompted as much as they need, but for the most part, we are left to our own intuition to explore the story ourselves.
By focusing on the audience, Secret Cinema has done a wonderful job of tailoring the experience to different levels of engagement. For those who do not want to “play,” there are plenty of options for people to drink, eat, hang out, dance, or to enjoy their own world within Secret Cinema’s creation. For those who just want to watch, the experience still works well, with enough spectacle and excitement all around, without the need for direct interaction or play. The experience can just be a very enjoyable night out for those who want to go out with their friends.
However, participants who do want to “play” and play at a deeper level may find the most difficulty in the experience. Every audience member is invited to explore at their own pace, which, if you are like me, is a breakneck speed. There are many actors to interact with, from the stars of the TV show to the minor characters who also add to the world. I found it is actually these secondary characters who usually add the most narrative engagement. Speaking with them are the best ways to find a doorway into the story itself — this is how I found myself going on side quests, exploring certain areas, and even getting access to hidden areas. Hawkins holds many secrets, and it is up to you to find them, and each one takes you further down the rabbit hole. Discovering that there is a secret cult in the town, might lead you to discovering a certain code phrase that the members use… well, I won’t spoil anything more.
In contrast, while I loved following the main characters, and I always had the sensation that I was being signposted rather than engaged. These actors clearly have a precise schedule to work with, and they have to get from point A to point B in as exact a time as possible. They may have the biggest and most exciting moments in the narrative for people to see but the great intimate experiences are to be found elsewhere. I understand why, but I can’t help but wish I could have really hung out more with the characters that I have been watching for years.
One of the criticisms of Stranger Things Season 3 is the multiple disconnected storylines running simultaneously until a sudden convergence occurs at the end of the season. This is felt too in Secret Cinema Presents Stranger Things. There are characters who I saw in the finale who I did not see at all during the show, which I found frustrating. And if you are unfamiliar with the events of season three, or Stranger Things in general, I’m not sure how much you would be able to gather from the snippets that appear around you. Certainly, the more love for the show that you have going in, the more you will get out of what Secret Cinema has built.
If immersive theatre is meant to get you to engage with well-crafted storyworlds, I don’t think there are many who can do it better than Secret Cinema. The source material is rich with possibilities, and so much of it has been used well here. There is an incredible amount of care taken to ensure that everywhere you look, you feel as if you are truly are in Hawkins, Indiana and in the 80’s. The evening even ends with a well-earned dance party, playing all of the greatest hits of the day.
Unfortunately, I find must eventually leave the experience and begrudgingly make my way back to London in the year 2020, but I do so with a huge grin on my face thanks to Secret Cinema Presents Stranger Things.
Secret Cinema Presents Stranger Things continues through March 1, 2020. Tickets are £35 and up.
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