Review: The Great Christmas Feast, The Lost Estate

I will admit, I was a bit worried by the prospect of an immersive theatrical dining experience set to music. Too many and too varied a set of adjectives for my liking. But The Great Christmas Feast really took me by surprise. It is, quite simply, a festive delight.

Behind the doors of a nondescript building in West London lies a slice of Dickensian London. Audience members snake through burgundy corridors covered with documents and objects about Charles Dickens’ impoverished childhood, and his struggle to make money from writing. You pass through a Victorian front door into a hall piled with books and decked out with festive greenery. Then you take your seats in Dickens’ parlour at tables laid for dinner in a large, round room, low lit and smoky as if illuminated by gas lamps. Discretely scattered through the auditorium are stage areas, such as a four-poster bed or a desk piled high with books and manuscripts, where parts of the story unfold.

The idea of one man acting out all the roles in the classic Dickens story, A Christmas Carol, had me worrying that the three course Victorian-influenced meal served with it might stick in my throat. On the contrary, both the food and the performance went down very well. David Alwyn’s charismatic Charles Dickens welcomed us to the reading of his latest book. Then, guided by his versatile physical performance, we slipped into the pages of the novel. As Scrooge, he becomes hunched over and thin lipped, as his nephew he grows tall and chipper, and so on, spinning masterfully through a plethora of parts. We go with Scrooge on an exploration of his Christmases past, present and future, and watch his cold heart thaw by the spirits of Christmas. Scene and character transitions are helped along by excellent lighting and atmospheric live music. The use of props is minimal but effective; a child’s coat to represent Tiny Tim, rattling chains for Marley. Alwyn holds the audience in the palm of his hand, moving from the light hearted to the emotional, as he leads us through the well-known story which became a blueprint for Christmas as we know it.

This show is not cheap. Tickets start at around £140 but you do get a substantial three course meal, and a whole evening of entertaining theatre, with plenty of time between acts to eat, drink cocktails and chat. I’ve been to West End Musicals where stalls tickets have a similar price tag and had a much less enjoyable evening.  

Is the show immersive? Probably not in the strictest sense of the word. But it is very atmospheric. You could say you’re more like a welcome voyeur than an active participant, although a few audience members were asked to take on a role. Does any of this detract from the experience? It does not. The attention to detail that you expect from an immersive piece is present throughout: stylish period decor, menus written in Victorian script, carefully thought-out food. This was an entrancing evening. I defy anyone not to head out into the night afterwards feeling full of cheer and ready for Christmas. After all, in the words of the author himself, “there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour”.

Directed by Simon Pittman
Violin: Guy Button
Cello: Charlotte Kaslin
Percussion: Stan Talman
Written and adapted by Adam Clifford
Set Design by Darling and Edge
Executive Chef: Ash Clarke

The Great Feast plays at The Lost Estate until Sunday 4 January.