Exclusive: we take a first look at Secret Cinema’s new ‘Stranger Things’ experience

Happy ‘Stranger Things’ Day! To mark the occasion – November 6 is the date of Will Byers’s disappearance in 1983, dontcha know – we’ve taken an exclusive sneak peek at Secret Cinema’s brand-new show themed around the Netflix sensation.

The show opens next week at a still undisclosed London location transformed into a corner of 1980s Indiana, and attendees will be greeted with this view of Hawkins’s Starcourt Mall. A shoppelgänger, if you will. 

Photograph: Graham Turner, courtesy of Secret Cinema, Netflix

Secret Cinema presents ‘Stranger Things’ is billed as ‘the inaugural TV experience’ from Secret Cinema. The pioneers of experiential cinema have pulled off many a smash-hit event, most recently with ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Romeo + Juliet’ and ‘Casino Royale’, but ‘Stranger Things’ is a bit of a departure – not least for not having a movie as centrepiece for the night.

‘It’s utterly new in form and [will] deliver the most fitting voyage through fan expectations,’ promises Matthew Bennett, the show’s creative director. ‘The fact that everyone keeps asking how on earth we are going to deal with the lack of a film is great. We hope everyone finds our solution as magical as we intend.’ 

The Netflix show is, Bennett points out, ‘a collage of the best films, characters, fashion, music and supernatural tropes’ of the ‘80s. Secret Cinema presents “Stranger Things” is, therefore, a collage of a collage. This has allowed us to tear the metaphorical pieces of TV into an even smaller, more detailed and ever more surprising picture.’

Speaking of tearing things to pieces, will unwary Secret Cinemagoers need to keep their eyes peeled for the Demogorgon? ‘Let’s just say we have our own version of Barb in the Secret Cinema staff,’ hints Bennett, ‘and she just so happened to “catch her thumb” on a beer can the other night at a party.’

Secret Cinema presents ‘Stranger Things’ runs from Wednesday November 13 to February 23 2020. Tickets start at £49. Each Saturday, there will be a matinee performance for audiences aged 15 and up at 1.30pm. Tickets for the matinee experience start at £35.

Check out the ten new movies to know about in November.