It was dress to impress and dance ’til you drop time at the Half Moon Theatre last Saturday night for the opening of ‘Prohibition’ – the new 1920s themed club night.

I was intrigued by the theme when I heard about it. I haven’t been to any ’20s themed events before and I was looking forward to a bit of time-travel. To gain entry, we had to knock at the stage door three times and give a secret password. My friends and I were dressed up in our best 1920s style and so was everyone else. It was pretty surreal and I felt like an extra on a movie set.

Keira and Ronan at the 1920s themed night

People looked fantastic – so many feathers, suspenders and pearls. The club was split into two rooms, one had live music and some surprise burlesque while the other, bigger room had two blackjack tables and a DJ playing jazz and swing. A large screen behind the DJ showed old black-and-white movies, which fitted in nicely with the theme. I loved the atmosphere, it was time travel at its best. I knew some people who’d come as a group and had invented characters for themselves, acting then with accents – pretending to be FBI agents and sleazy club owners and gangsters’ molls.

The atmosphere of the club was far more relaxed than you usually find on a Saturday night in Cork – people weren’t falling about and it seemed like most people were really acting the part.

Halfway through the night though, a new DJ arrived – Nick Hollywood – having flown in from London especially for the event but this turned out to be a disappointment. He changed the music from the classic jazz and swing we’d been dancing to and instead played Amy Winehouse with the video for the song projected on the screen.

While I love Amy Winehouse, I didn’t get it, it made no sense to me that he would play this. I wasn’t the only one looking confused. He took the ’20s theme and flushed it away and many of the people moved to the smaller room for the rest of the night. Having said all that, I think nights like this would be a serious hit in Cork. I’d love to see it happen once a month with a different decade every month – I think people would get exhausted with the ’20s costumes and changing it up would be a great way to keep it fresh.

‘Prohibition’ was fun and exciting and I felt like I could have been anywhere but Cork. Next time it’s on, be sure to get your tickets quickly, it sold out this time and I guarantee it will sell out again.

The gang at Prohibition