Yesterday, Secret Cinema cancelled the opening night of its immersive Back to the Future event at the last minute, citing unavoidable circumstances.
Hundreds of punters, who had each paid £53.50 for a ticket, reacted like this.
1. Organisers alerted ticket holders by text message 90 minutes before the event was due to start. Unfortunately, they had told ticket holders not to bring their mobile phones, so...
2. Secret Cinema's Facebook page was immediately inundated with furious messages from disappointed film fans.
3. Some of whom had travelled a long way to be there, and now found themselves stranded in east London, wearing 1950s fancy dress.
Secret cinema cancelled - they'll be some stern faced people in 50s clothes looking lost in hackney. But aren't there always?
4. Some had come a really long way.
5. People were pretty pissed off.
6. Disappointed.
7. Enraged.
8. Crestfallen.
9. Aggrieved.
10. Ticked off at the lack of communication.
11. And just generally quite peeved.
Which butthead do I need to give a knuckle sandwich to get this sorted #BackToTheFuture #secretcinema
12. It all got a bit #middleclassproblems.
13. Others just wanted to vent at the company's apparent disorganisation.
14. Some speculated that the event had been cancelled by authorities because it had just been "too darn loud".
Others put forward more dramatic explanations.
The real reason for the #SecretCInema #SecretHillValley cancellation...
15. People pointed out that the set didn't seem to have been fully built yet.
The clock tower doesn't even have a clock yet! How did they think it would be finished for tonight? #secretcinema
16. There were plenty of gags about organisers having run out of time.
17. Some thought the company should face the consequences.
18. But, in amongst the rage, there were people willing to see the funny side.
Is anyone else seeing this happening to tickets? Erased...from Existence! @secretcinema #secretcinema #bttf
19. And this guy summed up the whole sorry affair in one sentence.
Oh well.
Organisers have offered ticket holders a refund. They said in a statement on Facebook:
"As most of you know we have proven time and again that we put our hearts into every production. This has been a hugely ambitious endeavour and we are deeply sorry for those of you that planned your weeks around this particular night. We know the effort that goes into attending our events and we understand the utter disappointment you are all feeling. We are truly feeling it too."
Secret Cinema has been cancelled for a second night.