We are Disney people first and foremost, but every so often something comes along that is too much fun to leave alone. Secret Cinema's Grease at Evolution London in Battersea Park is one of those things. Having grown up watching this film more times than we can count, knowing the songs word for word and having seen it on stage at least six times, this was one we had to go and experience for ourselves.
As soon as we bought our tickets the planning commenced, as of course it would be wrong not to go dressed for the part. Here is what the night actually looks like from the inside.
Arrive early, because the show starts before the show
Doors opened at six and the film did not begin until half past seven, and that gap is not dead time. It is the whole first act. We went in just after doors and still felt like we were moving at a pace.
The outdoor area is a proper fairground, not a couple of stalls for decoration. There is a big wheel that any Grease fan will clock straight away, a fun house, and enough going on that you could happily spend the full ninety minutes out there. There are a couple of photo opportunities as well, plus places to grab a drink and a bite to eat before the show starts.The rides are not covered by the ticket. You buy tokens on the night and hand them over at each ride. The venue is cashless, so it is card only for tokens and everything else, and it is worth sorting them out early rather than queueing while your friends are already halfway up the wheel.
What the Drive In seats are actually like
This is the bit nobody seems to explain properly, so here it is. The Drive In is a seating area where each booth has a front made to look like a car. Four to a booth, a table in front of you, and you are facing the action rather than perched to one side of it. We went as a four with friends, which filled a booth exactly and worked out perfectly.What surprised us was how far the show comes to you. The performers do not stay on the stages. There is singing and dancing right in the aisles between the booths, close enough that you are part of it rather than watching it happen somewhere across the room. Sitting down all evening sounds like the passive option. It is not.Worth knowing that the seated tickets are sold as Roam and Return, and that is exactly what it means. You can get up, go down and take part in whatever is happening, and your seat is still yours when you come back. You are not choosing between having a base and being in the middle of it. You get both.
The other option is the Frosty Diner
The Drive In is not the only seated area. There is a second one themed as the Frosty Diner, so if you are booking and you get a choice, that is the decision in front of you. We cannot compare the two directly because we only sat in the Drive In, but both put you in a piece of the set rather than in generic seating, which is rather the point.
It is all live
Worth being clear about this because the words "immersive movie musical" could mean almost anything. The film plays out around you, but the songs are sung live by the cast and there is a live band. It is not a screening with a bit of dressing round the edges. You are watching a company perform the whole thing while the film runs alongside them.
There is a good amount of audience participation too, and the nice thing is that it stays an invitation rather than an ambush. If you want to be in the middle of it you absolutely can be. If you would rather stay in your booth with your banana split and watch, nobody drags you up.
Where to look
There is a raised stage in the centre of the venue and a lot of the immersive action happens there, with scenes from the film recreated live while the film itself plays on screens all around you. It sounds like it should be confusing to watch two versions of the same moment at once. It is not. Your eye goes where the energy is, and the screens fill in around it. That central stage is another reason the Drive In seats worked for us. You are looking at the middle of the room rather than at the back of it.
Ordering food from your car
There are two QR codes on the table in each booth. One gets you onto the venue wifi, the other opens the food and drink menu, and you order without leaving your seat. Service was genuinely quick, which we were not expecting from a room that size. Prices were far more reasonable than we had braced ourselves for. And we will say this without hesitation, order the banana split. It is the right call.
Dressing up is most of the fun
Almost everyone makes an effort, and the range is brilliant. Pink Ladies everywhere, T Birds everywhere, and a fair number of people who clearly started planning months ago.Caz went full fifties rockabilly, a proper swing dress with the Pink Ladies jacket over the top and a handbag shaped like a car. Wayne went classic T Bird, black jeans, black t shirt, black pleather jacket with the T Birds logo across the back, and the hair slicked back. Nobody is going to look at you sideways for going all in, and honestly you feel slightly underdressed if you do not.
The show moves, so keep up
The single most useful thing we can tell you. It starts outside, it moves inside, and then it goes back outside again for the finale. This is not a case of sitting in one spot while it all happens in front of you, and if you drift off at the wrong moment thinking you are between scenes, you will miss something.Stay with it from the first note to the last. The whole thing is designed to keep moving and the payoff at the end is worth being in position for.Our night had Ricky Wilson from the Kaiser Chiefs in the cast as Teen Angel, singing Beauty School Dropout, and he was really good. Genuinely good, not novelty casting good. He performs on selected dates only, so if yours is one of his it is a proper bonus.
Would we do it again
Yes, without hesitation. It is a grown ups' night out more than a family day, the sort of evening where the crowd is as much a part of it as the cast, and it reminded us why we like a bit of immersive theatre alongside our theme parks.
Still time to get the bug yourself
If reading this has given you the itch, there is still time. The Evolution London run finishes on 13 September and tickets are on sale now through the official Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical site.Seated tickets are sold as Roam and Return, and that is where you choose between the Drive In and the Frosty Diner as your base for the evening. General admission is standing, which puts you in the thick of it but with nowhere to put your banana split down.
