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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Arifa Akbar

Bah, hungry! Our theatre critic tucks into immersive banquets inspired by Charles Dickens and The Nutcracker

David Alwyn in The Great Christmas Feast by Lost Estate
Founder of the feast … David Alwyn in The Great Christmas Feast by Lost Estate. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

In west London, a line of smartly dressed theatregoers on a street corner enter a building and walk back in time. We pass through tight lamp-lit corridors and arrive in a cavernous hall, with tables laid and lanterns dangling overhead. This is Charles Dickens’ parlour, where he has just finished writing A Christmas Carol, and it’s dinner time.

The Great Christmas Feast is an immersive production in which a three-course meal is served while a quicksilver Dickens (David Alwyn) narrates his ghost story about the perils of penny-pinching in the season of goodwill. Immersive theatre has evidently concocted a tasty festive offshoot that might suit those tired of watching yet another straight-up adaptation of the classic tale.

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