A new immersive experience brings revellers to the heart of 1890s bohemian Paris complete with art, absinthe and anarchy. Moulin Rouge, eat your heart out…
Step off the tube at West Kensington and be transported into 1890s Paris, said the invite. Who knew it could be that easy? As I wandered down a small side street just a stone’s throw from the tube station and entered an inconspicuous side door, wonder awaited inside that had to be seen to be believed.
The Lost Estate’s Chat Noir is a throwback to a bygone era of Parisian decadence that would make Marie Antoinette proud (pardon the blurring of centuries!).
Stepping into Chat Noir, designed to look like a lost nightclub from the late 19th century, I was immediately transported to what I envisioned the real-life bohemian bar in 1986 Montmartre might have looked like.
Intimate low lighting, light piano music, velvet-cushioned booths and my fellow fashionable revellers (sparkles for the women and black tie for the men) greeted me everywhere I looked.
You can almost imagine the scene as it might have played out more than a hundred years ago: in one corner, the philosophers of the day knocking back absinthe and speaking of liberté, égalité and fraternité in hushed tones, while in another, a socialite du jour might hold court with her many suitors.
Upon entry, I was ushered to my plush, raised booth by Chat Noir’s attentive staff, many of whom donned feline masks in keeping with the theme, and told that for the next three hours, I should give way to abandon. Tonight, I was to be an artiste or an aristocrat, whichever took my fancy.
Something of a starving artist in 2026 London as it is, it took no less than a glass of champagne placed in my hand promptly on arrival and a pre-dinner cocktail containing the night’s first dash of absinthe to get me in the spirit.
Instantly, I straightened my slouched posture and threw myself into the role of a true trust fund flaneur (at least for one night!). But whatever role we spectators chose to play, highborn or commoner, we were all treated equally generously by the venue’s staff, who did not fail to deliver service with a smile each and every time they stopped by my booth.
The promise of a three-course meal meant I arrived with a hearty appetite. On my table upon arrival were, of course, perfectly crusty French bread and creamy butter and sumptuous pâté to get us started.
The night’s menu — which also included coq au vin and tarte au citron — evoked the elegant suppers of the pre-war era and each course was perfectly balanced, hearty and perhaps most chiefly, just enough to satiate without tipping into feeling bloated.
As my fellow guests and I clattered our knives and forks against our porcelain plates, it was time for the evening’s entertainment to begin. With a poof of smoke appeared our emcee for the evening, Chat Noir’s enigmatic founder and provocateur Rudolphe Salis, played tonight by West End cabaret veteran Joe Morrow.
Morrow’s Salis proved a dependable compere with devilish wit, guiding us adeptly through the night’s four distinct cabaret acts: singer Yvette Guilbert (played by Issy Wroe Wright), illusionist Joseph Bautier (Pat Magus), dancer Cléo de Mérode (Ruby Hewitt) and mime Paul Legrand, played tonight with thoughtful humour and great emotional depth by Duane Nasis.
Split into three parts — art, absinthe and anarchy — all the performers had their individual time in the spotlight across the show’s three-hour runtime and each rose to the occasion to impress this gathering of amateur hedonists with their individual skills, managing to sate our attentions amid the culinary delights, champagne and absinthe in front of us.
It is certainly a feat to capture and maintain the focus of an audience hopped up on high-proof spirit, but this ensemble deserves particular kudos for harmoniously combining their talents for the night’s last performance as they melded dance, song, mime and magic into a foot-stomping climax that sent us all home on a high (and merry, from the aforementioned absinthe).
Perhaps the highlight of the night was mime performer Nasis. To watch him was to watch a Pixar animated short come to life — that is to say, without words, Nasis’ Legrand had me and my fellow audience members mesmerised
in equal measures of childlike wonder and sentimentality, as he gracefully glided around the stage and in between our tables and booths. A solid incentive to travel back to 1896, indeed.
The Lost Estate’s CHAT NOIR! runs at 9 Beaumont Avenue, near West Kensington station, booking until September. For more information and to book, visit www.chatnoirlondon.com
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