Stage: Art, absinthe and anarchy

Chat Noir!
writer-director Will Kunhardt
with Joe Morrow, Issy Wroe Wright, Alexander Luttley, Coco Belle, Neil Kelso
musicians Alex Ullman, Guy Button, Kieran Carter, Aine McLoughlin, Will Fry
composer Steffan Rees • movement Catriona Giles
sets Thomas Kirk Shannon • costumes Susan Kulkarni
lighting Mike Gunning • sound Luke Swaffield
chef Ashley Clarke
The Lost Estate, West Kensington • 24.Mar-31.Jul.26 ★★★★

For events created by the Lost Estate, the audience arrives in costume ready to be transported back in time for a luxuriant evening of food and entertainment. This time, we venture through a velvet-curtained Parisian rift in time to arrive at Le Chat Noir, a disreputable cabaret club in 1896 Montmartre, dripping in faded Art Nouveau glory. There, proprietor Rodolphe Salis (Joe Morrow) leads us through a decadent experience that tickles literally all of the senses.

The tasty meal is expertly served in Belle Époque style, with a pâté starter and coq au vin main (although it should be noted that the veggie chartreuse option felt oddly unsubstantial), concluding with a tangy tarte au citron. This is accompanied by lashings of drinks options, including champagne, wine, a dazzling array of cocktails and mocktails, plus an absinthe infusion. In between the courses, the show unfolds in three acts that explore how art and insanity so happily mingle together.

Issy Wroe Wright

Opening with Art, Rodolphe introduces each of the seriously talented Chat Noir artists: singer Yvette Guilbert (Issy Wroe Wright), mime Paul LeGrand (Alexander Muttley), burlesque dancer Cléo de Mérode (Coco Belle) and illusionist Joseph Bautier (Neil Kelso). They show off their skills as a group and in evocative solos, accompanied by a superb live five-piece band that dives right into the middle of the action. All of this comes with a witty blast of attitude, as Rodolphe celebrates the delightful pointlessness of art, which of course is what makes it essential.

After the main course, Absinthe takes a big shift away from bawdiness into the swirlingly hallucinatory, as the performers gyrate in eerie lighting, using smoke and seductive choreography. This is dreamy and ethereal, with an intriguingly emotive kick. But we're relieved when Anarchy restores the riotous atmosphere. Rodolphe asks us to think less and laugh more, announcing that the company will make up the rest of the show on the spot. So while it is obviously well-rehearsed (thankfully!), there is a thrilling sense of chaos as the ensemble performs various lively solos that coalesce into a raucous run-through of Bizet's Carmen.

Neil Kelso

Quoting Baudelaire, Rodolphe urges the audience to stay drunk on wine, poetry or virtue. Through all of this, the audience joins in on the absurd hilarity, interacting with the performers individually or adding a chorus of meowing cats. The way the Lost Estate builds this experience is exceptional, from technical expertise in the lighting and sound to excellent food and, most of all, first-rate performances. This may be a pricey night out, but it's a great excuse to dress up for an immersive experience that keeps us entertained for three and a half hours before sending us floating out into the night.

Joe Morrow as Rodolphe Salis

Alexander Muttley & Guy Button

Coco Belle

For information, CHAT NOIR >
See also the Lost Estate's THE GREAT CHRISTMAS FEAST >

photos by Nick Ray, H Leatherby • 2.May.26

Stage: A Victorian night out

Lost Estate presents
The Great Christmas Feast
director Simon Pittman • writer Adam Clifford
with Tama Phethean
musicians Guy Button, Charlotte Kaslin, Beth Higham-Edwards
sets Darling & Edge
menu Ash Clarke • chef Rob Hallinan
Lost Estate, West Kensington • 14.Nov.25-4.Jan.26 ★★★★

Back for its eighth year, Lost Estate's astonishingly big-scale immersive experience sends its audience back to 1843 for a period-style three-course meal that is interwoven with a full-on performance of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The attention to detail is seriously impressive, both the meal and the performance, which is expertly staged to bring this oft-told tale to life in ways that are surprisingly thrilling and emotional. This is a wonderful way to spend three and a half hours, celebrating the holidays with some first-rate  food, drink and entertainment.

Entering the West Kensington venue, we walk through a museum that explores the state of London in the mid-19th century, most notably the situation for poor families like the Dickenses, who spent time in prison and workhouses trying to get out of debt. Then Charles' success as a novelist changed things, and after seeing copies of his early works we arrive at a snowy doorway that leads into the extravagant dining room with its flickering gas-lit effect lanterns and elaborate set designs. The food is seriously tasty too, as is a progression of cocktails from the Smoking Bishop (yes, it's hot and smoking) to the Cafe Noir, a luxuriant variation on the expresso martini.

In between courses, actor Tama Phethean performs an outrageously demanding one-man show, welcoming us and narrating the story as Dickens while also playing most of the characters himself, charging around the enormous space with wonderful bursts of energy. He brings real passion to the show, diving fully in to make the most of the inventive sound, lights and live music played by a trio of musicians. And a few high-profile audience members get to take part in guest roles, while various extras and even the food service team get in on the act.

A Christmas Carol is such a familiar story that we could recite it ourselves, but this all-encompassing experience adds a wonderful new slant to things. It helps that the cast and crew lean into the ghostly narrative, providing some terrific horror-style moments with an inventive use of sound, music, lighting and mist, plus some superbly flashy surprises. Phethean has such kinetic physicality that we can't take our eyes off him, and he performs with a charming theatrical flair that playfully keeps us enthralled. Then he allows us to catch our breath with another course of food and drink before the next act. And of course the tale itself continues to get deep under the skin with its timeless themes about connecting to the world around us.

For details, THE LOST ESTATE >

photos by Hanson Leatherby, from the 2024 production with David Alwyn

2.Dec.25