Divine Proportions | Underground Immersive Banquet
We don’t know much about Greek mythology.
It’s always been our Achilles elbow.
But the people at Shotgun Carousel certainly do. They’re a female led performance collective, and they’re putting on a Greek god-inspired banquet over the next few months. It’s being held in the Vaults underneath Waterloo, and it’s an immersive dining experience “based on the story of Dionysus, God of Wine and Merriment”. In fact, it’s a modern re-imagining of the very real, very ancient ‘Bacchic Rites’, which involved an indulgent night of eating, drinking and wild dancing that took part as a religious ceremony.
Here, in the 21st century, your evening will start as you both literally and figuratively descend into the decadent realm they’ve constructed under the earth through “secret sparkling tunnels”. Here, you’ll be greeted by the priestesses of Bacchus, who will encourage you to “indulge in the smells, tastes and textures of visceral foodstuffs”. After making a quick ‘sacrifice’ (details are terrifyingly unclear on this part) you’ll then be ‘cleansed’ (er, ditto) before being led away to meet Dionysus himself, where the feast can start.
That feast is a five-course, truly, literally Bacchanalian affair which – if one were to close one’s eyes and try to picture a decadent & Bacchanalian feast – would look exactly like that. It’s all served up on huge gilded tables, and each course is themed after a specific Greek deity or idea, including:
- The Cornucopia This is your classic feasting table overflowing with food, including home-baked focaccia, caper berries, artichoke hearts, Olympic olives, virgin oil, balsamic, and honey.
- Zeus The king of the gods gets juniper & beetroot-cured salmon (or honeydew melon), seaweed salad, shaved fennel, puffed amaranth, and toasted sesame.
- Dionysus The god of the hour himself gets roast guinea fowl breast, orange saffron & cleriac puree, new caramel potatoes, honey doused carrots, romanesco hearts, and ‘red, red’ wine.
- Hermes The messenger of the gods will be sending you a very boozy memo in the form of limoncello, lemon thyme, and Riesling liquor jelly.
- Hera Finally, the wife of Zeus (and also his sister, which is one of the less weird aspects of their relationship) provides a sweet cap to the meal with caramelised white chocolate, count milk & Manuka honey ganache, berry granola, and ‘heavenly flowers’.
During the eating, you can expect a fairly racy cabaret-esque performance, and after the eating, there’ll be an afterparty with a few of ‘the darker celestial beings’ who, given the amount of mass you will have accumulated over the feast…
…will likely include you.
NOTE: Divine Proportions runs until 12th January 2019. Tickets cost £35-£55 and are available HERE.
The Vaults | Leake Street, SE1 7NN