Feature: Henry Lewis's THE MYSTERY AGENCY Launches On Kickstarter

Henry Lewis, the artistic director of Mischief Theatre, is going from making mischief to making mysteries with his latest project, The Mystery Agency.

The Mystery Agency is a brand-new collection of immersive, escape room-style mystery puzzle experiences delivered straight to your door. Ideal for solo players or groups of wannabe detectives, the agency is launching on Kickstarter today, and is ready for backers!

Open for backers over the next month, fans of both mischief and mystery can pledge £40 for each mystery, or £99 for all three, with early bird discounts also available. Suitable for ages 14+ and each taking between 60-90 minutes to solve, the three detective stories you can back (individually or as a group) are:

The Balthazar Stone

Join Elsa Winslow on her journey to Sharkstooth Island. To solve the mystery, you must unlock an ancient treasure chest, find Balthazar's Stone, and break its ancient curse.

The Vanishing Gambler

Locate the whereabouts of casino cheat Roy Marshall. Discover hidden messages, hack into Roy's bank account, and even go undercover yourself.

The Ghost in the Attic

Terrible things happened to those who play this haunted board game when it was released in the 1950s. But the only way to solve the mystery is to play the game yourself.

Each game contains up to 20 interconnected escape room-style puzzles, tasks and clues to solve, with original and atmospheric stories told through authentic objects and documents. Each mystery includes beautifully crafted artefacts and objects with hidden secrets that you must decipher and solve either against the clock or in your own time.

Talking to BroadwayWorld about how he came up with his latest project, Lewis said: "During lockdown, me and a group of friends were getting together on a Thursday night over Zoom to pass the time.

"We started off doing quizzes and then decided to do other things - so a friend of mine did a wine tasting evening and posted samples of wine to people, we had a virtual cookery class, and a watercolour class too. When it was my turn, I did an escape room by post, and it was really good fun. I thought if it had an overarching premise to tie them together, it could be a fun business idea."

Each story has a different theme, ranging from pirates to prisons - so where does Lewis get his inspiration from?

He told us: "Sometimes I read little bits and pieces - mystery stories in the news and things - which I find quite interesting. Plus, with the puzzles, it's quite fun to take a genre, so for example The Vanishing Gambler is a prison break but it's also casino themed, so I looked at casino objects like playing cards, dice and poker chips, and think about what kind of puzzles I could put together, what kind of story can I tell and build a world with it."

And what about the future of The Mystery Agency? Lewis tells us that he'd love to see the games expand into venue experiences: "I think it would be quite cool if you could actually visit the agency and open the storeroom which is also an escape room but with a story to it."

So, why should you support this Kickstarter? Lewis says: "I think it's a really unique way to have fun - it's lockdown-proof. It's a great thing to do with family or friends, and really fun to collaborate on. It's also a really good gift idea, and we're hoping to ship them out in early December, if you're looking for a Christmas present for someone."

You can pledge to The Mystery Agency Kickstarter here

For more information, head to The Mystery Agency website, or follow @MysteryAgency on Twitter and @MysteryAgencyGame on Instagram and Facebook to be the first to learn its secrets.

You can also catch Henry Lewis and the rest of the Mischief Theatre cast during their run of Mischief Movie Nights. They're performing at the New Normal Festival - Le Gothique, London (29-30 August), Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (31 August), Minack Theatre (2-6 September) and Brighton Open Air Theatre (9-10 September).

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