If you’ve recently found yourself on the Piccadilly Line during evening rush hour, you may have noticed fellow passengers sporting feather boas, bowler hats and other attempts at Belle Époque attire. They’re on the way to the latest immersive dining experience from The Lost Estate, creators of popular festive show The Great Christmas Feast.
The immersive specialists’ new production is set in 1890s Paris, specifically Le Chat Noir, the legendary Montmartre nightclub that birthed cabaret as we understand it. Stepping into a nondescript warehouse round the corner from West Kensington tube station, guests find themselves transported to a sumptuous, low-lit cabaret bar.
A lot of care has been taken over the design, which is replete with Art Nouveau touches, from Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen’s iconic feline prints adorning the walls and swirly Paris Métro-esque patterns decorating the banquette seating. The attention to detail extends all the way to the authentic 1890s adverts in the programme.
There’s a lot more to like about Chat Noir! The show is based around the nightclub’s grand reopening following refurbishments that made it one of the first venues in Paris to boast electric lighting. The plot is well-researched, deftly bringing together a diverse range of Belle Époque references and characters. There’s music from the club’s sometime resident pianist, the composer Erik Satie and regular visitor Claude Debussy. Performers include celebrated illusionist Joseph Bautier, 1890s It Girl Cléo de Mérode and mime artist Paul Legrand. Joe Morose is especially charismatic as the club’s proprietor Rodolphe Salis, Issy Wroe Wright brings an impressively operatic voice to the role of singer and Toulouse-Lautrec muse Yvette Guilbert.
Designed by former Gordon Ramsey Group chef Ash Clarke, the eminently decent three-course French feast feels authentic without being too challenging: escargots and herb-crusted frogs’ legs feature on the menu of suppléments, should you be feeling adventurous. (It’s worth mentioning that you’ll want to get your drinks orders in as soon as you’re seated to avoid a long wait once the action begins).
The on-stage action could do with similar treatment, however. At three-and-a-half hours, including two intervals for service, this is a long show that would be significantly improved by shaving down each of its three acts. The middle act, a sort of absinthe-fuelled fever dream centred around a literal Green Fairy, is lacking in narrative structure. Despite the heroic efforts of the cast, the final act drags after two and a half hours quaffing sazerac and scoffing pâté.
And the main complaint remains the hefty top prices The Lost Estate charges. On press night we were sat in a private booth for two, which, while lovely, is priced at a fairly eye-watering £239.85 per person. For that, you get a glass of champagne, three pre-dinner canapés and an after-dinner digestif on top of the standard three-course tickets, which start at £129.85.
‘Get drunk! Stay drunk!’ expounds our Mr Salis at regular intervals, but you can expect to part with beaucoup d’argent following his advice. I’d hazard you’ll want at least one carafe of vin de table (£28.50) to sip on during the lengthy show, while you’d surely feel a bit left out if you didn’t take your waiter’s advice and go in on a traditional absinthe fountain (starting at £17 for two) to enjoy during the second act. They’re not extortionate prices, but if you’re really going to get into the spirit(s), it does start to add up.
For comparison’s sake, you could have a delicious three-course prix fixe and the third cheapest bottle of wine at Soho institution Brasserie Zédel (£90 with tip), watch the seven-time Olivier Award-winning Cabaret from excellent stalls seats (£200), share an entire bottle of Moët during the show (£90), and then enjoy a round of very fancy nightcaps and nibbles at the Savoy’s 1890s-era American Bar (£100 with tip), and you’d probably still have enough left over for an Uber home. You might not have experienced total immersion in 1890s Paris, but you wouldn’t have had to go to Baron’s Court for the privilege.
And if the immersive element is what you’re really after, you could book some budget flights to the real Paris and splash out on dinner and a show at the Moulin Rouge for not that much more.
Obviously, value-for-money is subjective, and if you’ve got the cash, enjoy a novelty night out, and love any excuse to go all out on fancy dress, you’ll no doubt have a great time at Chat Noir! Just be prepared to wake up with a raging absinthe hangover and a mild fear of checking your bank balance the next morning.
