Cin Cin Wine Bar was the setting for a night of intrigue as locals gathered to solve The Kiama Blowhole Mystery on a wet Thursday evening last week.

Produced, written and hosted by Mark Whalan, and supported by Mel and Michael Bowden and their hardworking team, the evening wove together history, theatre and plenty of laughter.

Guests were invited to step back to 1889, when a body was seen blasted out of the Kiama Blowhole in front of horrified onlookers.

Was it Blondel, the tightrope walker who had recently disappeared, or something more sinister? The mystery of the Blowhole Body provided a lively backdrop for an evening of detective work, gossip and accusation, fuelled by the obligatory drink or two!

This was no passive theatre. Everyone had to become a character in the drama - drawn from groups created by Whalan: the Salty Harbour Crew, the Larrikin Quarry Workers, the Ladies Reading Circle, the Investigators and the Orange Free Lodge.

Each participant received a character sheet with secrets and objectives, ensuring no one could simply sit back and relax.

Costumes set the scene and before long the bar was filled with detectives fumbling their way through clues, quarry workers stirring up trouble and politicos with far too much to hide.

Over three hours, the story unfolded through whispered alliances, unexpected revelations and plenty of spirited finger-pointing.

The mystery lay in the fact that no one had any idea where the plot would turn, with each player’s actions shaping an outcome (or not).

By the end, the mystery had been unravelled - though not without a few shocks and surprises.

All the while, the Bowdens kept glasses filled and plates laden. Cin Cin’s food and wine service ensured the detectives were well fuelled for their investigations, adding to the sense that this was not just theatre, but a full night out.

Guests enjoyed the ribaldry and getting to know others in a unique setting, with Whalan enthusiastically guiding attendees through the chaos.

“Australian Freeform Roleplays is a format of interactive storytelling, developed at Aussie games conventions over the last 30 years,” he said.

“They’re unscripted, like a costume party with a storyline, with the plot cut up into tiny pieces and spread throughout the group. Each time the story runs, the outcome is completely different.”

He said the Kiama Blowhole Mystery, an original story run for the first time at Cin Cin, “mixed historical facts reported in the Kiama Independent, such as the body ejected out of the Blowhole and even Kiama’s notorious trigamist, with fantastical and horror elements”.

“It was great fun on the night to see the story run outside of my head,” Whalan added.

“People began hesitantly, then grew confident enough to make clever and fun contributions. A hilarious twist from the Kiama Harbour Salts worked exactly like a post-credits scene in a film.”

Whalan praised the Bowdens’ willingness to innovate.

“The icebreaker nature of story games fits so well with Michael Bowden’s vision for Cin Cin’s night economy - offering something no one else is doing. I’m grateful he took the risk in backing this.”

Following the success of opening night, The Kiama Blowhole Mystery returns to Cin Cin on 18 September, with a third performance likely to follow.

Whalan is already working on new games, including “a Tarantino tribute prequel to Pulp Fiction” and “a séance mystery featuring the spirit of Orry-Kelly”.

With a nod to Kiama’s history and a chance to dress up, socialise and sleuth, the Blowhole Mystery proved a hit. Cin Cin looks set to cement itself as the place for those who like their evenings out with a twist.