SECRET THEATRE's Project Mayhem- More May-hum than Mayhem

A free-roam immersive version of Fight Club? Count me in! When Secret Theatre posted early bird tickets for their new show they were very secretive about what the inspiration was. But, as a massive Fight Club fan, reading their cryptic blurb, I knew what I was in for before they released the above trailer. I was more than stoked at the prospect. So I bought the ticket to take the ride. The trailer got me even more fired up as it seemed as if we would be able to follow Tyler, Darla and others around a-la Sleep No More, but that's unfortunately not at all what I got. SPOILER ALERT: I'm about to break the first rule of Fight Club...

I arrived at the secret location to find their version of Bob intimidating me to provide the secret code word for access to the club. After doing so I was led down the lair into the headquarters of Project Mayhem. Initially, while there I was able to train, spread propaganda, and build napalm bombs. But, honestly, while I was immersed in the actions Project Mayhem was asking of me, my mind drifted to the questionable nature of what we were doing in the current state of affairs. One audience member even suggested an acid attack to lure in a police officer. While this is an other worldly space not the real world, the threat of terror right now has everyone on high alert. So, I'm not sure if this is the best time to focus on the terrorist aspects of Fight Club.

For me, I would have much rather explored the relationships between the narrator, Tyler, and Darla and their decent into madness or any of the other outlying characters brushed past in STP's production. Instead, most of the time is spent roaming in and out of three information hubs with not much direction and two scenes thrown in between. If you know the movie you'll know that they cut A TON out of the original content making it all about Project Mayhem. Which is fine, but two 20 min scenes that give a scratch story line at best for those who don't know the movie in two hours is a bit underwhelming.

However, the casting was excellent and the fight choreography was on point and it wasn't just the guys having all the fun. They had some proper female fighters tearing it up in the ring. I found myself wincing and oohing as if they'd really landed the blows, the characters were three feet in front of me and it still looked super realistic (fake blood spewing everywhere and all), so kudos for that.

Lastly, the way in which the audience was herded out of the building was quite odd as no one really knew if the show was over or not. I know immersive theater is known for that, but the ticket said it was until 10:00 and it ended at 21:00 so quite a few left confused...I know I still wonder if I missed something...

Overall, the concept is great. Fight Club is a cult classic, but the handling of the material into the immersive format wasn't quite there for me. I would have loved more opportunities for deviation from the main narrative. Maybe a group that joined forces with the police to take out Project Mayhem, or like I said before a more free-roam with multiple characters to follow. I wanted to be the architect of my own destruction. However, the show left me wishing they had really committed to the full content of Fight Club...I am Jack's utter disappointment.

🍺🍺 2 Pints