ENLIGHTENMENT
CAFÉ

“We have three melancholics here,” says a Victorian gentleman to his alchemist colleague as I sit, freshly diagnosed, in a ‘gin distillery’ buried within the Old Vic Tunnels beneath London’s Waterloo. Feeling much better, I wander through the rabbit warren of tunnels, passing a makeshift theatre and a series of dimly lit rooms, each with its own scientist in residence, revealing the answers to questions you never knew you had. In one, I’m treated to details of some incredibly gruesome poisons and learn never to drink cider from a pewter tankard (the combination produces toxic lead acetate). In another I discover I’m not too bad at the Victorian pastime of mathematical puzzles. But these drop-in sessions are just one part of the Café. Soon I’m ushered into psychiatrist Tim McInerny’s office. Here, myself and five other “medical students” are guided through the examination of a patient from the Bethlem Hospital (played convincingly by one of the Café’s actors). Between them they give a stark insight into the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness in the 1800s…The beauty of the event is the atmosphere – you truly believe you’ve stepped into another time; a world full of things you’re unlikely to see again…an unmissable night of entertainment, intrigue, and debate – with a touch of education snuck in when you aren’t looking.