“A midsummer to remember”

9 July 2015

As I write this at the halfway point of the year, I can undoubtedly confirm that 2015 has been one of the most ambitious for Private Drama to date. The team have produced amazing projects over the past 6 months, but the last fortnight especially has been of epic proportion, both in the scale and creativity of the events we have imagined and realised. As I take a moment to thank both our clients and our second-to-none team, here’s a roundup of our latest projects you’ve been seeing across the press, social media and our insights blog:

The Selgascano Pavilion

Once again, we have been given the delightful task of designing bespoke entertainment for a series of events at one of the top-ten most visited architectural and design exhibitions in the world: The Serpentine Pavilion. Over the past fortnight, Private Drama created several enchanting theatrical landscapes for hundreds of VIP guests at the exquisite installation that celebrates London’s ubiquitous gardens on a pure canvas of transparent Perspex. We drew inspiration from the Spanish architectural duo’s poetic view that the Serpentine that runs “Betwixt and Between” our garden-rich city. Iconic Peter Pan characters were elegantly brought to life in homage to J.M Barrie’s belief that “All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust”. Storybook characters emerged from the woods and childhood memories relived as if Tinkerbell herself had made it so.  Circus performers abounded, performing mind boggling tricks and acrobatic wonders. At centre stage, a clear Perspex piano mirrored the beauty of the installation’s transparency and was surrounded by a group of jazz musicians who played laid back rhythms throughout the evening. As dusk fell, a chillout DJ entertained as guest mingled, soaked in the midsummer night’s evening and shared memories of Peter Pan.

Family Fun Day at Dorney Court

What better place to host a corporate family fun day than one of England’s finest Tudor manor houses, where 500 years worth of one family’s generations has lived? We had the weather on our side for one of the biggest outdoor events we’ve ever designed, hosting 700 guests. The team brought a quintessentially British festival to the manor’s landscaped gardens and ancient yew hedges with grazing flocks of sheep in the background. Sunbrellas and Little Lake Flower Company’s beautifully styled arrangements on vintage table runners complemented a large marquee where a delicious, quintessentially English menu was served. Meanwhile on a festival stage some of our favourite bands Flood the Floor and up-and-coming singer Hannah Jane Lewis entertained while guests were treated to dance lessons. Around the beautifully mown grounds we sited a helter skelter carousel, fair ground attractions, laser quest and Karavanoke (karaoke in a caravan, of course!). Refreshments were enjoyed in inflatables and stripy deck chairs. Children and parents were treated to interactive magic shows, face painting, craft activities, theatre shows, juggling all set within a landscape defined by rustic hay bales. If that wasn’t enough, the more adventurous of the guests enjoyed archery, clay pigeon shooting, quad biking and 4×4 blind driving! Unforgettable moments were had by all and even documented in our vintage VW photo booth.

Joseph Cornell Preview at the Royal Academy of Arts

We invited guests to step into Joseph Cornell’s beguiling world, an artist the New York Times called “a poet of light; an architect of memory-fractured rooms and a connoisseur of stars, celestial and otherwise.” We produced a VIP vernissage of his signature glass-fronted ‘shadow boxes’ by translating his quirky creativity through immersive theatre. This was a hugely creative production in which we brought his spellbinding characters to life as though they crept out from the boxes and became real.

The Mace Spirit of Adventure client reception

We’re still buzzing at our record-setting achievement of conceiving and producing an unforgettable 25th anniversary event for Mace, the international consultancy and construction company that has reshaped city skylines around the globe, and notably built The Shard, delivered the London Olympics and is currently building the world’s tallest building in Saudi Arabia. The event highlight was the thrilling moment when a troupe of our most accomplished and trusted aerial performers set a Guinness World Record for the most people performing aerial silks before an amazed audience of nearly 1,000 people, with more than 25 (30 to be exact) dancers completing a beautifully choreographed routine that lasted for over 5 minutes. Those of you that know me well can understand how proud I am to have delivered not just an exceptional event that people are still talking about and will be for some time, but I’m especially elated at how the whole production set an incredible standard for brand storytelling within the events, branding and communications industries. Mace had the vision and the confidence in our achieving the world record attempt that we were able to also advise on and deploy strategic content marketing in the 2 months leading up to the event. We secured TV and press coverage and rolled out a viral social media campaign that is still creating buzz across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. This event is the perfect example of how Private Drama has transformed into a brand storytelling consultancy, which our clients can count on us to achieve huge ROI for a seamlessly produced event by stretching their story across media channels.

This has certainly been an unforgettable year so far. Please do stay tuned for the second half!