Divine Proportions: A Burlesque Banquet Underneath Waterloo Station
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Last Updated 03 October 2018
Pitched as an indulgent banquet with an Ancient Grecian theme, the new supperclub at The Vaults is entirely that. And a lot more. Female-led collective Shotgun Carousel have added burlesque, fire-breathing, cabaret and mythology to deliver a bacchanalian direction to their immersive dining.
We dance to a belting, filthy rendition of Like A Prayer. We shout expletives — under strict instructions — to the roof. We down a truly Dionysian amount of alcohol, including some classical nods via mead, honey and grape cocktails, and eat a five-course feast scattered with wine, women and song.
The feasting is a generous five courses. It's less magnificent than the burlesque entertainment that comes with it — game birds are on theme, but easy to dry out and a tough choice for mass catering — but there's so much dancing, nudity and ribaldry going on next to and sometimes on top of the feasting tables, the food's an enjoyable sidebar rather than the main event. After dinner ends, we watch firebreathers by neon light and tumble out into the Leake Street arches some time later (hours maybe?) in a bacchanalian daze.
It's a place you can be confident you won't be OTT if you go wearing gold bodypaint, or antlers, or a codpiece. And for two evenings in the run, there'll be clothing optional nights (8 and 24 November). This is a supperclub that makes good on its claim to be an evening of hedonistic pleasures.
Divine Proportions at The Vaults runs till 12 January, 2019. Tickets start at £35 for admission and a five course banquet. The Vaults, Leake Street, SE1 7NN.
