Photography Innit Creative
The Barden Party and Jetpack Theatre present Butterfly Smokescreen
Aboard the Sea Breeze III in Auckland’s Viaduct Til August 6
The world’s only immersive theatre production aboard a superyacht has made its world premiere in Auckland’s viaduct, taking audiences inside one night of scandal during Hollywood’s golden age.
Step aboard one of Auckland’s most famed superyachts, the 100ft Sea Breeze III, grab a glass of champagne and be plunged into an evening of Hollywood high society, love triangles, drama and possibly… murder.
‘Butterfly Smokescreen’ is the latest production from award-winning immersive theatre company The Barden Party, in collaboration with Sydney-based Jetpack Theatre.
The show promises a night of champagne, thrills, seduction, extravagance and temptation that will transport you to the roaring 20s, leaving you breathless.
Barden Party Director Laura Irish says the show began as an idea several years ago from her longtime friend and collaborator and Jetpack founder Jim Fishwick.
The year is 1924 and famed Hollywood producer Thomas Ince has been invited aboard the prized yacht of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. It is Ince’s 42nd birthday. His guests? Film royalty Charlie Chaplin, Marion Davies and… you.
In only a few hours, Ince will be dead and the tabloid world will be set ablaze with tales of scandal and intrigue. Guests are invited to put on their best glad rags and join the mystery as they follow characters around the five levels of the 100ft Sea Breeze III, in Auckland’s viaduct.
It was a story worthy of putting an audience in amongst it. The only issue was that it needed a yacht worthy of the tale.
“And then we got a rare opportunity to produce it and access to an incredible super yacht. It was an opportunity we couldn’t resist.”
Already audiences are saying it like “stepping into a movie, or a dream” and that it is “one of the best things I’ve ever seen” and “I can’t stop talking about it”.
Fishwick says Butterfly Smokescreen is the piece of immersive theatre they have always dreamed of making for close to a decade.
What happened to Ince? Did he see something he shouldn’t have? Did he find his lover Marion Davies alone with Charlie Chaplin? What forces were at play that night which left Hollywood tabloids with screaming headlines. Only you can find out when you step into the world of Butterfly Smokescreen.
Sea Breeze III was formerly owned by billionaire Graeme Hart and now is the pride and joy of Charlotte Devereux who painstakingly refurbished the 1976 superyacht with her partner Simon Greenwood. She jumped at the opportunity to host such an experience aboard the yacht.
“Sea Breeze III is the perfect setting for this experience. It is an exclusive, intimate show that will keep audiences talking. We can’t wait to kick off the Butterfly Smokescreen season.”
For more tickets visit eventfinda.co.nz/2023/butterfly-smokescreen/auckland and background
https://thebardenparty.com/butterflysmokescreen
Contact: Laura Irish, 0220172361, [email protected] AND [email protected]
Instagram @butterfly_smokescreen
