Warp factor fun

Fancy-dress parties always catch me on the hop. Suddenly it's 7pm on a Saturday and I'll be standing in front of the mirror draping a tea towel over my head, desperately hoping it'll pass for a keffiyeh at an Arabian Nights theme party.

But Warped: A Journey Through The Ages Of Variety is a great fancy-dress party solution because the theme is so broad. I'd heard about the night from a friend and after reserving a place I received an email which read: "We have borrowed a magic ball from a guy from the future but he wants it back.

So while we've got the chance we're taking you on a magical, musical journey to party in the past.

"You'll travel through time, play games from years gone by, watch incredible acts and dance till you drop while the DJs work the decades - so bring your dancin' shoes. Dress code: come from an era - Twenties, Fifties, Eighties.... or the future."

It was to be held in Clerkenwell, in a building rather like a church hall (it's very popular so booking in advance is essential) complete with stage and red velvet curtains - I couldn't wait.

Everybody has something in their wardrobe relating to some decade or another, even me and my pal Katie. So we turned up last Saturday night feeling like extras from Grease in Fifties style - all full skirts and neckties. The other girls all looked amazing in Twenties flapper dresses and Eighties-style belted T-shirt dresses.

The boys seemed happy to look more ridiculous than cool and we were delighted to see a smattering of futuristic lamé catsuits stretched across less-than-toned torsos; headbands teamed with suits and skinny ties and even a man in a gas mask.

I bought two glasses of wine for the bargain price of £6, and we settled in to watch the show. The first act was a raunchy cowgirl dressed in chaps and a corset who showed us how a lasso was used. The tables of revellers were whooping and cheering as she proceeded to use the lasso as a whip and managed to slash in half the piece of newspaper her hunky male assistant was holding, until it was the size of a postage stamp.

Then we went forward in time to the Twenties, when she and her partner came back dressed as hoodlums and did some very daring acrobatic moves on chairs.

Between the acts, host Trevor Lock offered us the chance to win alcohol by competing in party games, which proved as entertaining as the performers. Four girls tried to catch a ping pong ball with their mouths while it was blown upwards by a "gravity defying machine" - apparently the latest Fifties invention.

However, the funniest was watching a plain-clothed guy named Stavros doing battle with a Holly Golightly lookalike by stuffing as many Jacob's Cream Crackers in his mouth as possible. Holly Golightly won.

Each mini competition was accompanied by tunes from the DJ and dancing from the crowd. The drinks prizes were having the desired effect and we were speedily making new friends.