This Christmas the City Adventurers headed into Hertfordshire for a Christmas adventure with a difference. Part escape room, part immersive theatre, Pier Pressure have brought a Christmas classic to life at Hatfield Watermill.
Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’
We arrived at Hatfield Watermill and parked in the small car park then made our way to the waiting room for a free cup of tea or coffee and a briefing. We were asked if we had played any escape rooms before. As we had, there was no need to go over the escape room puzzle side of the experience.
As for the immersive theatre part, we were assigned roles to play based on the characters from Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’. Ian was nominated the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, as we decided he would look good in a night cap! Apparently most teams have to nominate this character as no-one chooses it. Tiny Tim volunteered, then Mr Fezziwig, Clara and The Portly Gentleman (charity collector) were assigned.
We were led through to the start of the experience which was introduced by Jacob Marley. He told us we would meet the famous ghosts of Christmas past, present and future on our quest to find the true meaning of Christmas.
No sooner had he left than the first ghost arrived. The ghost of Christmas past led us into the 18th century working watermill. While reviewing the life of Ebenezer Scrooge, we were set puzzle challenges. Completing the puzzles drove the story on, with us encountering the remaining ghosts and other notable characters from the story.
It took us a while to get used to solving the puzzles, as we were not used to having a GM in the room with us. But then this is no ordinary escape room. The actors do a very good job of keeping the narrative going, encouraging the players and moving the story along so you don’t over-run your timed encounter with the next character.
We managed to complete all the tasks without feeling rushed and without being handed any answers. The actors were gracious enough to let us make mistakes on our way to the correct solution without trying to steer us back. Presumably they have the experience to know when a team are just trying out ideas (us) and when a team are genuinely struggling with no clue what to do.
At the end of the experience we discovered the true meaning of Christmas.
“and so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, Every one!”
A Christmas Carol is on until 3rd January 2024 at Hatfield Watermill. Book at https://welwyn.pierpressure.co.uk/escape-room/a-christmas-carol/
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