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An immersive guided tour of the decadent chocolate houses of Mayfair and St James's with free servings of delicious Baroque hot chocolate.
Join actors, musicians, and London historian Dr Matthew Green for a brand new tour revealing the dark and depraved history of chocolate and its sensational impact upon Hogarth's London.
This is a collaboration with luxury chocolate company Cocoa Hernando to coincide with the London Chocolate Festival at the South Bank Centre, where the tour will finish. The tours will run at 11.30am and 2.30pm on Saturday 14th December and cost £15 per person.
Set amidst the luxury shops, mighty townhouses and royal palaces of Mayfair and St James’s, this musical, semi-theatrical tour will reveal how “a divine, celestial drink called chocolate†conquered Baroque Europe and corrupted the most fashionable quarter of London, spawning establishments like White’s Chocolate House, which swirled with sedition and and hosted some of the most absurd bets in the history of the world. It is immortalised in Hogarth's "Rake's Progress".
The 90-minute tour is led by charismatic young London historian Dr Matthew Green, who also presents Unreal City Audio's critically acclaimed Coffeehouse Tour, and there’ll be a supporting cast of Aztec slaves, Spanish conquistadors, nihilistic dukes and rakish gamblers hidden along the route.
Their performances will be set to beautiful violin music from the era.
Whilst researching the tour, Dr Green stumbled across some mouthwatering recipes for 17th and 18th-century hot chocolate, the most extravagant of which — Monsieur St Disdier’s Baroque Chocolate (1692) — will be served on the tour, courtesy of Cocoa Hernando. Shot through with a concoction of exotic spices including cinnamon, vanilla and musk perfume, it is sure to be a mind-blowing cup of hot choc.
With dramatic performances, transportive violin music, and a cornucopia of historical anecdotes — not to mention the best chocolate in town — this is an unmissable Christmas treat.
Speaker(s): |
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Date and Time: |
14 December 2013 at 11:30 am |
Duration: | 1 hour 30 minutes |
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Venue: |
St James's Church |
Organised by: |
Unreal City Audio |
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Tickets: |
£15.00 |
Available from: |
http://unrealcityaudio.co.uk/tours/chocolate-and-coffeehouse-tour/ |
Additional Information: |
see our full range of immersive live historic tours: |
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