The Great Christmas Feast

London’s iconic Christmas experience returns after eight sold-out years.

Travel back in time to Charles Dickens’ house and witness the moment ‘A Christmas Carol’ was born. A night of Victorian feasting, live music, and spellbinding theatre awaits…

Walking through the entrance feels like stepping straight into the pages of a Dickens novel. The experience opens with an intriguing, cleverly staged glimpse into the surprisingly hard upbringing of a young Charles Dickens, surrounded by manuscripts, first editions, battered boots, a small exhibition of Dickens’ early struggles. (At age 10 he worked in a blacking factory – who knew!). A workhouse upbringing that would ultimately shape Dickens, leaving its imprint on nearly everything he later wrote. Before long, you find yourself transported back to 1843, greeted and ushered through the front door and into the home of Dickens at age 31.

After a warming cup of mulled cider with brandy and a selection of Victorian-themed starters, our anticipation was rewarded by the lively entrance of “Charles Dickens” himself. Accompanied by musicians, he launched into an animated introduction of his “new” book, A Christmas Carol. What followed was an impressive solo performance, with the occasional, often brilliant, contribution from audience members, echoing the historical Dickens, who famously shared early readings of his works with close friends.

What an experience! This is immersive theatre at its finest. The Lost Estate may sound like a romantic name, but the show more than lives up to it, capturing all the wonder and excitement that must have accompanied Dickens’ very first reading of A Christmas Carol to his friends. It’s moving, magical and utterly memorable.