A Christmas Carol was first published 180 years ago and we are still singing the same tunes as we deck the halls with boughs of holly, decorate fir trees, and look forward to a huge turkey feast. Every yuletide you can enjoy Dickens' novella in multiple forms; as a stage show like the annual production at The Old Vic, or read aloud in the drawing room at Bloomsbury's Dickens Museum. One performer takes on multiple characters to act out the festive ghost story.
(Image: Ali Wright) But for sheer immersive, joy it's hard to beat The Lost Estate's The Great Christmas Feast . Taking over a former school in West Kensington, it's like stepping back in time as you enter a world of Victoriana. There's something so festive about sharing a meal with lots of people.
Here, diners are encouraged to dress up and there's a jolly atmosphere as you take your seats in a large room made intimate by low hanging lamps, velvet drapes and bookcases. Audience members share a three course feast in a room dressed as a Victorian parlour. (Image: Ali Wright) Unbelievably Dickens' ghost story of redemption is told by just one hard-working actor (Alex Phelps) aided by audience participation as he dashes between four 'stage' areas.
He's playing Dickens, performing his own story, as the author liked to do, and we are guests at his home in Devonshire Terrace, Marylebone in December 1843 as he shares his latest book. Immersive performance company The Lost Estate is founded by musicians and a trio of players cr.