Madame Tussauds

First let’s address the waxwork elephant in the room, Madame Tussauds is a big corporate entity that has jumped on the interactive theatre bandwagon. But what might normally be dismissed as a show just for tourists has gained some credibility by taking on the people behind last year’s fantastical production of Alice Underground at The Vaults under Waterloo station in London. In comparison, this feels more rushed, both in terms of the timing (participants have just one hour to sleuth their way through the rooms, interrogating suspects and examining clues) and, I suspect, in the amount of time that Les Enfants Terribles had to piece the whole thing together. It’s smaller-scale, with fewer rooms to explore than Alice, but rather than timed scenes in each room, the audience are able to roam freely. The production has the depth and credibility we’ve come to expect from Les Enfants, with plenty of red herrings laid among the 100 or so clues and sinister characters to keep you guessing.

It might be a surprise to many people that Madame Tussauds has a long history in London, although the attraction’s origins were in France it has entertained people in London for over 200 years. Madame Tussauds was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud who was taught in the 1770s the art of wax modelling by Dr Philippe Curtius in Switzerland. Tussaud created her first wax sculpture, of Voltaire, in 1777. During the French Revolution she modelled many of the victims, allegedly searching for severed heads to make death masks. In 1802, she came to London and then travelled throughout Great Britain and Ireland exhibiting her collection. From 1831 she leased a part of a building in Baker Street which became Tussaud’s first permanent home in 1836.

One of London’s busiest tourist attractions, this is nothing less, and nothing more than the world’s most famous exhibition of lifelike waxwork models of celebrities. Madame T. learned her craft while making death masks of French Revolution victims, and in 1835 she set up her first show of the famous ones near this spot. Top billing still goes to the murderers in the Chamber of Horrors, who stare glassy-eyed at visitors one from an electric chair, one sitting next to the tin bath where he dissolved several wives in quicklime. Beat the crowds by booking timed-entry tickets in advance. You can also buy nondated, ‘priority access’ tickets via the website at a premium.

I’m at the world-famous Madame Tussauds, where visitors in their millions come to rub shoulders and strike selfie poses with pop stars and presidents, movie stars and monarchs – or at least with their uncanny likenesses. The attraction’s latest film-themed exhibit, Alien – Escape, has just opened its air-lock doors to the public and is included in the general admission price. The anticipation alone is enough to get the pulse racing. Like the Alien-Covenant movie that inspires it, Alien-Escape is recommended for those aged 15 and over. Before entering, there are signs warning off those who have heart conditions, are nervous, squeamish or are pregnant. ‘There will be blood,’ it promises. So, it was with genuine trepidation that I embarked on this mission into the unknown.