Circle & Star · Hampstead
A Circle & Star Hampstead evening · NW3
Parlour Games
Early Doors
Hampstead · NW3

The hosts change. The cats don't.

A weekly parlour game in fifty-five seats. A guest host, a specialist subject, a roomful of strangers behaving like old friends — and two cats who've seen the lot.

See the next room How it works
The mascots

Noël & Gertie
preside.

Two cats came with the building. We don't know how long they'd been here before us — only that they were here first, and intend to be here last.

Noël is the tall one. Mostly dignified. Slightly Edwardian about it. Gertie is the one peering at you from behind the lighting board. They have seen every show, every first night, every quiet Tuesday. They are not impressed and they are not unimpressed. They are simply here.

On parlour-game nights they wander between the fifty-five seats, sit on the host's notes, and occasionally — though this is unconfirmed — vote.

Noël
Gertie
How an evening goes

A guest host. A specialist subject. A room of fifty-five.

  1. 01

    Take your seat.

    Easy to join in. No name tags, no fuss — just the room filling up. A guest host each week: a novelist, an actor, a sommelier, a forensic accountant who knows extraordinary things about disco. They bring the subject; we bring the room.

  2. 02

    It works from your phone.

    Scan the QR code on your seat. Enter your name. Wait for the host to start the games. The questions appear on the giant screen on stage; your answers come in from the room. No app to download, nothing to install — just open your phone.

  3. 03

    Fifty-five seats. One room.

    That's the whole proposition. No distance between the host and the back row, no broadcast, no overflow. Every seat close enough that the conversation doesn't stay on the stage. Scoring is weighted so knowing beats guessing fast — a small speed bonus exists for those who can't help themselves.

  4. 04

    The Cat's Whiskers, crowned.

    One seat wins the evening. The winner of the room — the highest individual score — is the Cat's Whiskers. The prize is small and the ceremony is not.

Two ways into the room

Pick your evening.

Every Wednesday · 7:00pm

Parlour-game
nights.

The standalone evening. Doors at seven, first round at half-past, last call at half-ten. Bring three friends or come alone and meet five.

Find a Wednesday
Show nights · 1hr before curtain

The Early Doors
pre-show edition.

If you have a ticket to that night's main show, the room opens an hour early. Three quick rounds, one drink, the same fifty-five seats. The format we're named after.

Find a show
The prize

The Cat's Whiskers,
for the night.

A small brass pin. A handwritten certificate. Free entry to the next parlour game — and a discount voucher for an upcoming show that's slightly more generous than it needs to be.

Past Whiskers include a poet, a town planner, two consecutive marketing directors (separate seats, both very competitive), and a gentleman who'd come in by mistake.

The next rooms

Coming up.

Dates and hosts are confirmed week-to-week — the room books out within forty-eight hours of announcement. We post on Instagram first.

Reserve your seat

Step in.
Come up.
Be part of it.

Leave us your name and we'll write to you when the next room opens for bookings. We don't write often and we don't sell anyone's name. Both cats verified this in writing.

What gets you out of the house?

Step in. Come up.
Be part of the story.

Circle & Star · Hampstead · NW3