Date Show: After Dark is a production like no other. A multi journey, site-specific, promenade performance that uses Silent Event headphones to immerse you in the experience. Watch the intimate encounters in the restaurant, bars, lifts, bedrooms and maybe even the en-suite. We promise to hit your sweet spot and be the one night stand you won’t want to forget. This is a whirlwind affair that requires sensible shoes and an open mind, we are taking you behind closed doors.
Walking into the courtyard at Belfast’s gorgeous Bullitt Hotel we are met by Anna Lecky, Date Show: After Dark’s artistic director and producer who directs us towards a romantic nook and asks us to wait for our date before adding a swift, “You look amazing tonight, by the way.” There’s a lot of eye contact, some softly spoken words, and even more flirting – and the show hasn’t even started yet – so it’s certainly no coincidence that the trepidation felt before attending Three’s Theatre Company’s Date Show: After Dark was something akin to the nerves felt before a first date.
The group is handed out wireless Silent Event headphones in three different colours and our journey begins. This is ‘Choice Theatre’ and each journey is personal depending on what colour your headsets are, so not everyone will be seeing the same things tonight, a nice touch but one that makes me a little envious that I could have seen more!
A voice in our ears instructs us to check out a couple sitting by the window and then a guy standing behind us, and through the headphones we hear their thoughts and feelings. It feels invasive, yet intriguing, and despite wanting to look away, you can’t help but find yourself enthralled. It’s like overhearing someone on the phone gossiping to their mate; you know you shouldn’t be listening, but you still lean in closer to try and hear more.
Whether it’s a feisty fighting couple, or a pair of lovers who are celebrating their anniversary, you never know who you’ll meet, or what their story is but thanks to Date Show: After Dark, you’re a little bit wiser to what goes on in the bars, bathrooms (yes, really) and bedrooms of this hotel. You can tell that the show has been tailored to Bullitt, and there are so many spaces throughout the hotel which serve as the backdrop for these rendezvous; from the beer garden and the staff stairways to the lifts and the bedrooms, this is a great way to see more of Bullitt while you have the chance.
The beauty of this piece is that it’s a living, breathing production and the actors mix with real guests so well that you find yourself second guessing what is real and what is not. The night we saw the show (‘show’ seems like the wrong word to describe this experience, but I’ll stick with it) a ‘The Greatest Showman’ night at the hotel added to the surreality as we mingled with bearded ladies and top hatted men. That’s the thing about Date Show, you’re not really sure what’s going to happen next, or where you’ll go. You’re a fly on the wall and it feels exciting and risqué just being there.
The actors in the show are superb, and it’s clear just how much work and thought has gone into the logistics of the production, so whether you’re eavesdropping on older two women on a first date (Mary Jordan and Lynne Webber), or trying to literally duck out of the way as a young couple are overcome by lust in their hotel room (Aisling Groves-McKeown and Michael Bingham) you are so immersed in the happenings that you don’t realise you’re watching a piece of theatre. My personal highlight was Elisha Gormley’s performance in the shower where we heard her hilarious thoughts as she prepared for a first date, although only my group had the pleasure of being crammed into one of Bullitt’s en-suites with four other people.
If I had to pick one word to describe Date Show: After Dark it would be ‘intimate’, something which is hard to achieve when you’re in a public space surrounded by dozens of people, but honestly Three’s Theatre Company really pulled it off. There’s something really special about Date Show: After Dark, and there’s a nice mix of music and dance throughout the night that shows that this is a truly creative production.
Date Show: After Dark is at Bullitt until 19th October, and I would urge you to make sure you check it out while you have the chance; this is definitely a first date that you’ll never forget. Tickets are available here.
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