Gatti's Music Hall 2nd November 2024

An evening of Victorian entertainment

What's On

The museum building was built for Carlo Gatti (1817-1878), a Swiss entrepreneur who prospered in the ice import trade and catering in London. One branch of the family's business was music hall entertainment and we celebrate that part of a remarkable business family with an evening of performances, Victorian style, in the museum on 2nd November 2024. Although the building was never a theatre in Gatti's day, we are sure he would have approved!

About Gatti's Music Hall

For many, life in Victorian Britain was bleak. Carlo Gatti’s Music Hall Theatre gave Londoners an evening of laughter and recreation to dispel the gloom of everyday life. In its heyday "Gattis in the Arches" was one of London's popular music halls. Carlo himself was long gone but members of his family ran music hall venues such as "Gatti's Palace of Varieties" (Also known as "Gatti's over the Water") from around the 1860s onwards. We know that in 1867 the great man himself petitioned the magistrates for what we would today call an entertainent licence and gave his address as "Wharf Road, Islington" which was most probably in fact what is now New Wharf Road, and the London Canal Museum. The Gatti family had complicated business interests that were interwoven but music hall was most definitely part of the Gatti story. Celebrating that aspect of history we welcome The New Players' Theatre Company to perform a show that Victorian audiences might have recognised.

About The New Players' Theatre Company

The New Players' Theatre Company are delighted that they will be returning to the London Canal Museum following the sold-out performance for Gatti's 200th birthday celebration in 2019 and again in 2023. They have presented music hall at The Charing Cross Theatre for many years, under the arches at Villiers Street, and they take great pleasure in bringing music hall to theatres and venues in London and around the country. So let's step back to the good old days and enjoy an evening of fun and frolics.

Four costumed performers sing, against brickwork background

The company performaning at the museum in 2019

About the show

This performance at London Canal Museum will start at 1930. There will be a bar selling wine and beer from 1830 onwards, during the interval and after the show. The show will finish at around 2130.

Female artist dressed as Victorian girl on stage

About the museum as a venue

Apart from its historic connections the museum is well-suited to theatrical events. On two floors, the ground floor will be where you arrive and coat storage will be available. The museum shop will be open and the exhibits of the ground floor including those relating to Carlo Gatti may be viewed before the performance.The bar is likely to be on the ground floor too. The layout upstairs ensures that you are never far from the stage with any type of ticket. Unlike a big theatre, the audience will be close to the stars of the show.

Gift vouchers for this and other online bookings Performers pose in a group against a dark background

Room Layout

Layout diagram shows stage at front, five tables next, then theatre-style  seating

Book your ticket below

The audience seating will be of two types:

Tables are numbered 1 to 5 from left to right, facing the stage, so table 1 is to the left, seen from the audience area, and table 5 is to the right, seen from the audience area