09 May 2019 (released)
13 May 2019
If you’re looking for an unusual evening of fun with a hint of mystery and darkness, this is the event for you. The Swell Mob is a theatre immersion experience, where the audience wanders around a former factory which has stepped back into the Victorian ages, its chambers populated with characters, wreathed and draped in period garments.
Events move in a fluid fashion and each has a setting and a person with a background story that is either revealed in action or interaction, if you choose to engage. This kind of immersive experience provides the fun of participating in an unusual (and potentially frightening) environment with varied and eccentric personalities through the vehicle of a safe performance space where the degree of your interaction and engagement brings you closer to the elements and environment which surrounds you.
The two levels of small chambers and antechambers provide the space to recreate scenes which are as varied and unpredictable as the elements of life. The gin served in a metal goblet and offered as part of the entry adds to the party flavour and experience of things. Flabbergast Theatre, who have produced this, have already had success at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe and now come to London for the next three months at the Colab Factory.
This is an intense and enchanting spectacle and you may come away from it feeling like a fun evening held something deeper and darker too, depending on the degree of your engagement with the actors and the setting. It’s an experience that is worth repeating, once you've worked out how to get the most from immersive, interactive theatre.
