A Gala like no other that has gone before

On Thursday night The Royal Court Theatre hosted what Time Out is calling one of the best parties of 2011 at Shoreditch Town Hall. And behind the sixty plus actors, the celebrity guests, and (of course) the bunting were MASK. The Development Team of the Sloane Square theatre, famed for nurturing new writing talent, brought in the Maskettes as Event Design and Management Consultants last December in order to help in the collaboration of their in-house production team. MASK in turn entrusted the catering to Create with whom they worked on a bespoke and imaginative menu to reflect the work of the theatre and to bring the guests something outside of the ordinary gala offering.

Guests arrived to find the grand red carpeted entrance closed and to be re-directed to the side entrance, where they picked their way through to a replica of the theatre's Stage Door. In the reception space guests discovered tableau performances behind the various office windows in the Town Hall's beautifully tiled entrance corridor, where students from LAMDA performed scenes from well-loved Royal Court plays (guests could even listen in through headsets hung on stands by each window!). More theatre was to be found in the vast Council Chamber where an immense glass box towered over the central bar, in which were performed iconic scenes. Further detail was to be found in the Ladies Powder Room which MASK had transformed into dressing rooms complete with costume rails, light bulb embellished mirrors and still life installations inspired by the dressing rooms back stage at the theatre itself.

Canapés disguised as pens in pots, scripts and typewriter keys delighted the guests before the familiar Front of House Call was given to ask guests up to the Assembly Hall where they found a new play being performed at each table through a beautifully retro MP3 player. Each table was further adorned with a bespoke designed table centre influenced by the writing process and studded with flowers to add a traditional touch: Typewriters spewing scripts represented 'Creating Ideas', Light Bulb Gardens under glass globes portrayed 'Cultivating Ideas' and Waste Paper Baskets full of scrunched up scripts illustrated ' Rejected Ideas'.

After a perfect main course of beef, the guests were treated to a second play, this time as a film on the huge screen which masked the now secret stage from the guests' view. The play, written by Tom Basden, was a comical portrayal of a celebrity Gala Committee planning their event and certainly raised several smiles before the guests were wowed again by Create's 'The Big Idea'. Ingeniously formed as a sugar light bulb, the pudding was made up of gingerbread, lemon mousse and lemon & lime ice cream and preceded Henry Wyndham's live auction of perfectly designed experiences such as tea with Alan Rickman on the set of his new Coen Brothers film. The current total raised is a tremendous £200,000 which will help towards the theatre's ongoing work.

And no sooner was coffee served than the guests were shocked with another performance, as Royal Court celebrity alumni surprised guests right next to them by jumping up onto their tables and performing A Brief History of The Royal Court Theatre, written by Richard Bean. Matthew MacFayden, Lesley Sharpe, Benedict Cumberbatch, Doug Hodge, Toby Jones and others all swapped stage for dinner tables before these were whipped away in a scene change and transformed into a custom built Belvedere Vodka Bar and dance floor. The scene change culminated in the revealing of a further bar on stage, at which were set sixty VIP guests in a perfect picture as the gilt framed screen was lifted to emulate the theatre's safety curtain.

Act Two of the Gala began in earnest with the Joe Stilgoe band on stage whilst downstairs the after party took off with DJ sets from Matt Smith, Jack Peñate, George Barker and Hugo Heathcote. Late arrivals indulged in a deli style picnic in the transformed Mayor's Parlour, decked with bunting, turf and vintage garden furniture. And as guests were finally coaxed from the dance floor at home time, their parting gift took the form of a writing kit to inspire guests to follow in the footsteps of the writers they were there to celebrate and support.

You can read what Time Out have to say about the party here…..