From the minute you set foot in Le Chat Noir, the show begins. They take your coat and don’t give you a cloakroom ticket, but a handwritten note in an envelope, because it’s 1896, darling. You descend into the depths of the club, pass artwork and images, and start to feel like you are slipping back in time. You walk through a hidden doorway and find yourself being welcomed into Le Chat Noir.

Le Chat Noir is the latest show by The Lost Estate, a company that have become a fixture in the London immersive scene with shows such as The Great Christmas Feast and 58th Street.

As we were welcomed in, I was handed a newspaper, which doubled as a menu, by a very debonair-looking gentleman (well, a lady with a moustache drawn on, but fully committed). My wife and I were then led through into a lavish, warmly lit space, with a raised stage at its centre and tables everywhere you looked. Some pressed right up against the action, others stretching back through the middle, with more wrapping around the edges. The walls were dressed with drapery, paintings, and hand-painted signage, every surface layered with detail, and the whole room felt like you had genuinely stepped right back in time into La Belle Époque.

We were shown to our table, set with elegant glassware, a bread basket, and a board of cheeses and meats (of course other options are available), and it all added to the sense that you weren’t just arriving at a show, but stepping into a fully realised world.

Before arriving, we had been told by email that we were not just attending a show, but travelling to Paris in 1896, and although it might sound like English, we would in fact be speaking French, as would everyone else in the club. If we didn’t want to stand out like a Star Trek away team at a renaissance fair, we were encouraged to dress the part – not essential, but definitely worth it if you want the full Midnight in Paris style experience.

Having arrived early, we had time to enjoy a glass of champagne (included with the VIP ticket) and a wander around the marvellous venue before sitting down for our starter, as showtime approached.

Before the show started, a member of the wait staff, Chérie, approached us and asked if we wanted to play a little game – three questions to determine what kind of absinthe we would each have as our after-dinner aperitif (also part of the VIP package). It was a fun touch, even if, to me, absinthe largely tastes like… absinthe.

The band took to the centre stage – a cellist, violinist, pianist, accordionist, and a percussionist. The lights dimmed, an announcer came over the microphone – the same moustachioed figure who had welcomed us in, played by a very familiar face of the London immersive theatre scene, Rachel Waring – and in very dramatic style they announced the arrival of our host, M. Rodolphe Salis. And the show had begun.

Salis, portrayed with passion and gusto by Joe Morrow, bursts into the space, every inch the bohemian club owner, announcing that ‘We regret to inform you that the Chat Noir is now reopened!’ He welcomes us as ‘Parisiens, bohemians, friends’ and tells us we will ‘dine on fine wine and infectious ideas’, before introducing the evening’s performers: the Muse, Yvette Guilbert (Issy Wroe Wright), the Dancer, Cléo de Mérode (Coco Belle), the Mime, Paul LeGrand (Alexander Luttley), and the Illusionist, Joseph Buatier (Neil Kelso).

Over the next few hours, they entertained us brilliantly. Morrow is a magnetic host, getting up close and personal with the audience at times (I had this honour and was delighted), very much the king presiding over his court. At one point, he even retreats to a throne set high above the action, surveying his micro kingdom.

Luttley as the Mime was first, and his act was brilliant and genuinely original. There was none of the usual invisible walls or trapped-in-a-box clichés. Instead, it was funny, touching, and surprising – a fantastic start to what followed.

Issy Wroe Wright’s Muse was up next, singing gorgeous French operatic music. Her voice is absolutely stunning, and the room fell completely still as she serenaded us.

Neil Kelso’s Illusionist dazzled the entire room, and despite the scale of the space, the performers constantly move through it, ensuring everyone gets the chance to experience the acts up close.

Finally, we had the Dancer, Coco Belle – a name that would not feel out of place in any era of France – who gave an impassioned, emotional, and slightly saucy performance that had the whole room entranced.

And all of this was only the first of three acts, woven between courses of a genuinely delicious meal. There was a playful mini performance of Carmen at one point, including some very funny bullfighting, and several more moments involving all of the performers, and of course Salis himself, throughout the evening.

Even between performances, the experience never drops. We were constantly being looked after by wait staff and performers alike, and every interaction added to the world. The food was magnifique across all three courses, and the absinthe, served with a traditional drip, was a theatrical moment in itself – even if my wife couldn’t stand it and I was forced, heroically, to drink hers.

The attention to detail is genuinely breathtaking, and put me in mind of Secret Cinema at their very best – although this is, of course, a very different kind of experience. Everything is designed to sustain that 1890s French world… aside from the toilets, which are thankfully modern.

This was my first experience of The Lost Estate’s work, and I am already eager to see more. Le Chat Noir is one of the most original and joyfully hedonistic nights out you will find in London, and I fully intend to tell everyone I can to get themselves over to West Kensington to check it out – starting with you! It will have you saying ‘oh là là! Sacré bleu, what an eencredible show’… and it will not be the absinthe talking!

So gather your troupe of bohemians, lovers, and artists, and make your way over to Le Chat Noir before Salis loses his mind completely and shutters the club again for another century, at the end of June.

Le Chat Noir is running at The Lost Estate, West Kensington with bookings currently through to the end of June.

Book your tickets at chatnoirlondon.com

Words by Nick Barr

Photography by The Lost Estate