4 Ways to Play Make-Believe in London

I firmly believe that you can never be bored in London...as long as you're not spending all your hard earned wages on outrageous rental rates, of course. Living in London on a budget meant that I was always quite discerning about what I spent my money on, and I'd usually choose a unique experience over just another trip to the local pub on a Friday. My favourite experiences always involved dressing up or playing pretend in some way - from speakeasies to Secret Cinemas, here are my five favourite ways to play make-believe in London!

1. Secret Cinema

There was a time when the movie you'd be seeing at a Secret Cinema event was, in fact, a secret. You'd be given a dress code and a meeting point and left to wonder what you'd be seeing. These days, they often announce the movie so you can mentally and physically prepare yourself accordingly - we attended events for both The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moulin Rouge this way.

It isn't cheap, but then you're getting so much more than a viewing of a movie. The events are fully immersive - you'll be denied entry if you don't adhere to the dress code, and your mobile phone has to be sealed away in a plastic pouch until the end of the night. This is all for the good - imagine paying £60-plus for an immersive experience set in the 1930s and ending up standing next to some guy in jeans scrolling through Instagram.

Our first Secret Cinema, The Grand Budapest Hotel, was located in a warehouse redecorated to look like the hotel itself. Dressed in the finest 1930's fashion, you could wander through its labyrinth of rooms and watch actors echoing scenes from the film - we checked in at reception, accidentally stumbled into a funeral, and peeked into hotel rooms. After a couple of hours, once we'd explored the entire place and engaged in a spontaneous dance number, we were ushered into the cinema to watch the film. The night ended with more music and dancing.

In front of Secret CInema's Grand Budapest Hotel

For our second, Moulin Rouge, we splurged on VIP tickets that offered us superior balcony seats during the movie, played in an old theatre, as well as free meals and drinks and a special tour reserved only for VIPs - we got to be voyeurs, witnessing (and sometimes participating in) all sorts of nefarious scenes. For this event, we had to follow different dress codes depending on the tier of ticket we had purchased - so while Patrick and I were dressed as aristocrats, we passed other guests dressed as prostitutes and penniless artists and other creatures of the underworld. The fact that everyone had their own role to play just added to the immersiveness - during Satine's performances in the movie, for example, us aristocrats were encouraged to lean over the balcony and toss fake paper money towards the stage.

Aristocrats ready for Secret Cinema's Moulin Rouge!

2. See an interactive performance

These are popping up all over London at the moment - the idea is that you get to watch a play not just by sitting in a seat but by moving through a series of rooms, witnessing different parts of the performance in each. Some of them even ask you to follow a dress code - but not all. My favourite was entitled The Generation of Z, which involved us becoming survivors during a zombie apocalypse and witnessing the descent into chaos, ending in a terrifying scene where we had to fend for ourselves in a room full of zombies. While it's still difficult to forget that you're simply watching actors, it's far more immersive than regular theatre because the actors often interact with members of the audience and, frankly, as I was running through a warehouse packed with zombies, I honestly started to believe I was running for my life.

My brother seems traumatised after The Generation of Z immersive theatre experience

3. Speakeasies

Again, the time when these were obscure has long gone, but London's speakeasies remain a great way of forgetting about the 21st century for a while and immersing yourself in the more glamorous past. One of my favourites is the Evans and Peel Detective Agency, where to get in you have to explain your 'case' to a detective, who then lets you into the underground bar through a door hidden behind a bookcase. The other is Cahoots, designed to look like a 1940s Underground station - they encourage you to wear period dress and when we were there, most people had obliged.

1940s details at Cahoots

4. Themed club events

By which I mean 1940s nights, Great Gatsby parties and the like. Similar to Secret Cinema, they give you the chance to try all those dance styles that you wish you could travel back in time for. We attended a Party Like Gatsby event that included a masterclass on how to dance the Charleston, as well as flapper acts and a band playing jazz versions of modern-day songs. Plus, is there any era that's more fun to dress for than the 1920s?

Can you see us standing to the left of the flapper? Photo credit: Party Like Gatsby

So if you fancy giving your mobile phone a night off, and giving your imagination a workout, look out for these four experiences in London and play make believe!