Six of Clubs - women who shaped London's clubland at The Astor Theatre

Performer and writer Celine Hispiche brings her acclaimed show Six of Clubs to The Astor Theatre, Deal, on Saturday 19 September 2026, celebrating the fearless female impresarios who helped shape London’s nightlife, from Georgian Soho to the glittering disco era.

Through storytelling and song, Six of Clubs brings to life six remarkable women who ruled dancefloors, rewrote social rules and created spaces of glamour, danger, liberation and reinvention. The Astor describes the show as “an historical homage to the women who shaped London’s clubland”, with Celine embodying each of the six women against a pulse of electronic music.

The show travels from Teresa Cornelys, the Venetian opera singer and society hostess who transformed Carlisle House in Soho Square into one of London’s earliest pleasure palaces, through to Frida Strindberg’s radical Cave of the Golden Calf, Marchesa Luisa Casati’s theatrical decadence, Kate Meyrick’s notorious Club 43, Muriel Belcher’s sharp-tongued Colony Room and Lady Edith Foxwell’s Embassy Club, London’s first New York-style disco.

For Celine, the show began with the discovery of a “golden thread of extraordinary women”.

“I just don’t think people are aware of these important women,” says Celine. “I stumbled across women who were risk takers, left field, who knew how to run establishments. Over the two years of development, it has been so rewarding to see the show connect with a huge spectrum of ages and walks of life. Six of Clubs is open to everyone.”

The Deal performance has particular significance for Celine, who has long-standing creative connections with Kent seaside towns.

“From knowing many people in the Deal and surrounding areas, I know there is a huge creative community,” she says. “I heard about The Astor several years ago and I just knew this would be the right location for the show. There’s something very music hall about it.”

Celine also sees the Kent coast as part of a wider artistic map — a place where theatre people, writers and performers have long found refuge, space and inspiration away from London.

“The Kent coast drew many theatre people as a bolt hole to escape from London,” she says. “From Peter Cushing in Whitstable to Ellen Terry in Small Hythe to John Le Mesurier in Broadstairs, there’s a creative history here that feels very connected to the spirit of the show.”

With music by Dave Ball and Dave Chambers, Six of Clubs also features one of Dave Ball’s final music projects before his death. Ball, best known as one half of Soft Cell, brings an electronic pulse to a show that looks back through history while speaking directly to the present.

At its heart, Six of Clubs asks who gets remembered as a cultural pioneer—and how many women have shaped the spaces where art, music, fashion, nightlife and freedom collide.

The show’s opening act is Sandwich-based performer Ferdinand, The Oracle Magician a modern mentalist bringing a high-energy approach to mind reading and psychological illusion. Combining audience interaction, charisma and impossible feats of intuition, he creates unforgettable experiences that leave people amazed and entertained.