Madame Arthur Paris Guide: Drag Cabaret First, Club Until 6am

Madame Arthur is two things under one roof at 75 bis rue des Martyrs, on the slope between Pigalle and Montmartre in the 18th arrondissement: a drag cabaret founded in 1946, which Le Bonbon calls the first in France, and a club where every song is in French. From Thursday to Saturday the curtain rises at 9pm and the resident DJs keep going until 6am. The house turns 80 in 2026.

French-language music only: pop, chanson and hits, remixed by resident DJs · PigalleSee Madame Arthur →

Show, club or both: plan your evening

The first decision is what kind of night you want. Come at 8pm and you get the whole thing: the cabaret, then the club without leaving the building. Come late and you get the club, which is a party in itself. The venue publishes its timetable, summed up here:

Everything here is booked per evening, whether it's a seat for the show, dinner or club entry, and tables vary from one night to the next. If you're a group, send us your date, your numbers and whether you're after the show, the club or the full evening on WhatsApp, and we'll come back with what's left.

Eighty years of “créatures”

Le Bonbon (September 2026) calls Madame Arthur the first drag cabaret in France, a stage where figures such as Coccinelle and Bambi performed after it opened in 1946; the house itself claims an older ancestor, the Divan Japonais of the late 19th century. Its home since 2024 is the old Divan du Monde on rue des Martyrs, a building of four floors and five bars, with three rooms that each have their own mood. The cabaret is sung live in French, with a piano, real voices and drag artists who rewrite the classics (new arrangements, new words, new staging and costumes), and there's a fresh show every month. Right now that means “Sur la route de Catchana”, from 5 to 28 November 2026, followed by “Opération Bal Masqué” from 3 to 19 December.

A club where everyone sings

Once the shows end, the club plays only French-language songs, revisited by ten resident DJs, and Le Bonbon notes that the room often ends up singing along. That is the charm, and the one thing to know if you don't speak French: you'll recognise the energy more than the lyrics, and nobody minds. It's a great choice for a birthday, a hen party or a group of friends who want more than a dancefloor. As for clothes, no dress code is published, but this is a house of “créatures”: sequins, a costume or anything with a bit of glamour fit right in, and December's masked ball is the obvious excuse to dress up.

Between Pigalle and Montmartre

Rue des Martyrs climbs from Pigalle towards Montmartre, and Madame Arthur sits near the top. If you want a second stop, the Mikado, Folies Pigalle, Bus Palladium and La Machine du Moulin Rouge are all a short walk away. The last metro reaches the end of the line around 1:15am on weeknights and 2:15am on Fridays and Saturdays; after that, the Noctilien night buses run, and by the 6am close the morning metro is starting again.