Chat Noir! is the latest creation from The Lost Estate, the company behind The Great Christmas Feast and 58th Street celebrated for transforming live performance into fully realised worlds. Here, audiences will be transported to bohemian Montmartre of the 1890s, inside the legendary Le Chat Noir–the original Parisian cabaret club that launched a cultural revolution and gave birth to the modern nightlife we still chase today… one final, audacious revue, a night of love, madness, and French art from across the ages.
Review by Stephen Gilchrist
I loved Lost Estate’s ‘The Great Christmas Feast’ in which the narrative of A Christmas Carol was powerfully enacted amid all the Dickensian Christmas trimmings and music from the excellent band. The nosh and the booze were par excellence. And so, it was with much anticipation my companion and I ventured to West 14 for this enterprising organisation’s latest immersive, themed evening. The night’s conceit was the recreation and imaginary re-opening of Le Chat Noir, a 19th century entertainment establishment in the bohemian Montmartre district of Paris. It was opened in 1881 and closed in 1897 not long after the founder’s death. It is considered to be the first modern cabaret:
And so, amid, French accented hosts, smart servers dressed in character and a cleverly authentic smoky design of the room by Thomas Kirk Shannon, a company led by the character of the actual impresario, Rodolphe Salis, played by Joe Morrow, introduces-a string of acts, all real, and recreated by members of the company, between courses, and in three ‘Acts’ – ‘The Essence of Art, The Absinthe Dream of Mr Rodolph Sallis and Anarchy- There was an excellent Pierrot mime (Paul Legrand) played by Alexander Luttley , a Magician (Joseph Buatier) performed by prestidigitator Neil Kelso, Cléo de Mérode, the dancer, played by Coco Belle, and The Muse (Yvette Guilbert) by Issy Wroe Wright. There was a first class six-piece band led by the superb violinist Enyuan Khong and with Alex Ullman portraying Eric Satie, on the keys.
The show as a whole tries to be a class product and clearly a lot of dosh has been thrown at this presentation. I make no complaint about the performers nor of the lighting (designer, Mike Gunning) and costuming (by Susan Kulkarni) but I do take issue with the pretentious writing of the narrative authored by Joe Morrow and the founder of The Lost Estate, Will Kunhardt, the latter of whom also directs rather self-indulgently. Sallis goes on at some length about truth and art (rather like Moulin Rouge’s Harold Zidler) and then invites us to drift into a foggy world of drink and absinth, I found some of the text frankly incomprehensible
Issy Wroe Wright has a fine voice but Coco Belle floats around fairly aimlessly to Catriona Giles somewhat unchallenging movement direction. There are too many longueurs. when too little happened. Sequences involving The Mime were, in my view, by far the best and a final manic mash- up of Bizet’s Carmen was diverting.
As an evening’s immersive entertainment, the patrons seemed to love the event, rather more than I did. I thought it overlong, in parts, too slow and often a little dreary. We did get treated to an excellent meal of Pate Maison, Coq au Vin and Tartre Citron, and the drink- champagne, wine and absinth- kept coming. It is difficult to assess value for money for paying patrons and I will not attempt to do so. Ticket prices appear to range from circa £120 to £199 a pop.
In summary, production values were top-notch but at its core the cabaret was vapid and overlong. I wanted to love it, but, in sadness, I could not.
CHAT NOIR!
9 Beaumont Avenue, London
Starts24/04/2026 Ends31/07/2026
Running time3hrs 30mins
Author Joe Morrow, Will Kunhardt
Composer Steffan Rees
Director Will Kunhardt
Musical director Steffan Rees, Guy Button
Movement director Catriona Giles
Set designer Thomas Kirk Shannon
Costume designer Susan Kulkarni
Lighting designer Mike Gunning
Sound designer Luke Swaffield
Costume supervisor Sophia Blackburn
Cast includes Alexander Luttley, Issy Wroe Wright, Joe Morrow, Neil Kelso, Aine McLoughlin, Coco Belle, Peteris Sokolovskis, Alex Ullman, Will Fry
Production manager Joseph Thorpe
Company manager Kelly Long
Head of lighting Benjamin Vetluzhskikh
Assistant stage manager Ella Caney-Willis
Head of sound Antonio Beatriz
Producer The Lost Estate
What: Chat Noir!
Where: West Kensington, London
When: Opening 24th March 2026
Tickets: www.chatnoirlondon.com
Nearest Station: West Kensington
Evening Performances: 7 pm (doors from 6 pm) – Tuesday to Sunday
Matinee Performances: 1 pm (doors from 12 noon) – Saturday and Sunday
Website: chatnoirlondon.com