The Time Travel Café | Spacefold Technology

Have you ever played a game of make believe so elaborate, you slipped through a vortex in time and space? It was an ordinary Saturday night when I made my way to the place they call the Time Travel Café, but I haven’t been quite the same since. It was an amazing party in a sprawling speakeasy, with a lot of new faces. Littered amongst them though, were five enigmatic individuals that were eerily familiar to me. Characters from history, literature, and legend, if I told you who they were you probably wouldn’t believe me. It was a cosmic meeting of artistic souls, but now it all feels like just a splendid dream.

Spacefold Technology have perfected their formula with this bespoke immersive and interactive theatre experience. As an audience member you simply show up at the address, grab yourself a fancy drink and a vantage point, and watch the entertainment unfold before your eyes. You choose your adventure, or it will choose you. There’s plenty of room to play, with two levels, an outdoor area, two bars, and to my delight, seats throughout the venue. It doesn’t matter where you are, for the next 60 minutes it is all a moving stage, and the performers will adapt around you. How involved you get (if at all) is entirely up to you. If you get anxious at parties rest assured, these guys have got the conversation and the activities covered.

As soon as I walked through the door, I encountered a woman with dark brown hair and the most striking eye makeup. “You!” she said with conviction. She was pointing as she walked right up to me, staring straight into my eyes. “What’s the best party you’ve ever been to”? And with that, my adventure started. The playground was equipped with exciting characters, intriguing storylines, games and even party tricks. So much happened over the hour I was in there, and yet I would have paid more than the ticket price for the ‘impromptu’ musical acts alone. I’m not going to go into any more detail about what I witnessed personally, as this is a show you must experience for yourself.

I am amazed at how hyper real it felt, as if everything about these moments was new, when in fact it’s loosely scripted and there are three runs each night. Of course, certain elements are always unique, but in a show like this the performers often work hardest to bring the feeling of authenticity to moments that are constantly being repeated. This is where improvisational superstars like Spacefold excel. Each of the five players were extremely talented in their own right, and they worked brilliantly as a team. When their timelines crossed it felt like the magical realism of an epic Doctor Who episode, when all your favourite companions come back to save the day.

I’ve been waiting for about a year to experience the Time Travel Café, and I was a little concerned that my expectations might exceed what was even possible, but it turns out it was quite the opposite. In fact, when you think about it the possibilities with a production like this are infinite, and you are a big part of that. I dare you to go alone or split up and compare tales later. I could easily go another five times just to follow each character for their whole hour, and I would catch all the shows in one night, just to see how the performers carve their way through the material three times in quick succession.

This piece is made so you can go back and do it all again, and I love that about it. They even offer a generous discount on return tickets. I had a punter who had obviously been there previously urge me to follow a particular character to see how beautiful the story arc was, and I’m so glad I did. It’s just like watching your favourite movie over and over again, except with this modus operandi no two performances will ever be quite the same.

I believe I caught one of the very last shows of the Time Travel Café this time around. I only went once and still I couldn’t help but leave microscopic fragments of my heart with the characters and creators in that tiny sliver of time and space. And now I remember the question that was posed to me in the beginning, “What’s the best party you’ve ever been to”? And I realise my answer has to be, “this one”.

Cover image: Marta Andrzejewska