Hitting 27 didn’t seem so daunting when I had a birthday
treat in store! As part of the Brisbane festival, which runs throughout
September, we bought tickets for ‘Fear and Delight: The Devil’s Banquet’, a
dining experience and entertainment show shrouded in secrecy. We had no idea
what to expect.
We dressed up to the nines, in keeping with the black and
white dress code. Lining up outside the venue with hungry bellies, we puzzled
over our only clue about the banquet: ‘Willy Wonka meets Heston Blumenthal….’
As we ducked through the velvet drapes leading inside, a
pill was tucked into my hand by the hostess, inviting me to ‘take a trip’.
Panic stricken, I broke open the capsule to check the contents. Edible glitter.
Duh. I made a mental reminder to loosen up and just go with whatever was in
store inside.
 |
| Dressed up to the nines |
We were invited to enjoy the cocktail area, whilst awaiting
the main banquet. First obstacle: retrieving my urine coloured cocktail from a
bathtub and drinking it from a plastic bag. Comfortingly, the room was full of
guests exchanging nervous glances. Not just me then…
At every turn, there were more edible surprises, each even
more strange and delightful. Carpaccio canapes ‘off the bone’ (literally laid
over a stags skull) complete with artichoke and freeze dried ant dip (yes, you
read that right!). Gloved hands darting out from boxes to deliver tasty fruit
and marshmallows. A creepy sorcerer serving spoons of ‘blood’ from his alter if
you dared to try. Interactive canapes called ‘flick and lick’ involved weird and
wonderful toppings, a perspex wall and spoons to use as projectiles. You can
guess the rest. We soon got into the swing of things and were in fits of
giggles.
 |
| Marshmallow? Yes please! |
Finally, we were invited into the main banqueting hall where
we had ringside seats, a prime spot for the show later. There were no plates
and my cutlery was a pair of black gloves! Starter was a syringe full of a
delicious tomato soup, which we were instructed to inject into each other’s
mouths. Main course was roast dinner, but by no means ordinary. The chicken came
complete with head and feet, and the garlic sauce was served in a paint pot, with
a brush to paint it over your food. Dessert was ‘egg and soldiers’; a sweet
custard served in a hen’s egg with shortbread biscuit soldiers.
 |
| Dipping and Brushing |
Getting interactive with food in such a unique way,
confusing the hell out of our taste buds and just getting generally messy was
so fun! We couldn’t stop laughing throughout the entire meal, especially with
the wine flowing. Even the water was served via a nozzle jet through the waiter’s
legs, ooo-err.
 |
| Dinner is served |
The entertainment afterwards was an entrancing mix of
acrobatics, comedy, singing and dancing, injected with sex, leather and
bondage. Not for the faint hearted!
 |
| Creepy Clown |
After the show, we enjoyed some bubbles at a riverside bar,
animated by what we had just experienced. It had been even stranger and more
fun than we had expected. Truly ‘Fear and Delight.’
 |
| Bubbles on the riverside |
Acknowledgements: ‘Fear and Delight’ picture and ‘Creepy Clown’
pictures taken from Brisbane Festival Flyers.
No comments:
Post a Comment