(Flamenco 35: Kathryn Stone (Chef); Emma
Lockhart (Experience This); Bradley Porter (Experience This); Model Catherine
Lewis (as a Flamingo); Clint McLean (Punk Soul) & Ben Vos AKA Beauty
Ramapelepele)
Wickedly Odd – The Night Garden offers a sensational dining and innovative
entertainment experience, perfect for year-end corporate functions, to be held
in the Durban Botanic Gardens over the festive season: from November 20 until December
6.
Have you ever
wondered what happens after the gates at Durban’s iconic Botanic Gardens are
locked? Do the trees, birds and animals settle in silence, or is it then, when
Durban sleeps, that these magnificent Gardens wake?
Welcome to Wickedly Odd – The Night Garden....
The Durban Botanic
Gardens Trust has teamed up with Emma Lockhart and Bradley Porter of Specialist
Event company Experience This, award winning actor/producer Ben Voss (Beauty
Ramapelepele, Spud, Green and Black Mamba) and acclaimed set designer and video producer Clint
McLean to present a night of experiential food and festivity set in the heart
of Durban’s greatest botanical wonderland.
On arrival, guests
will be welcomed with a glass of champagne and taken on a whimsical amble up
the garden path, to the sunken summer garden beneath the gnarled branches of
South Africa’s oldest Litchi tree, for a 1930’s “garden party” welcome drink
and snack.
After some savoury
scones, Pimms or a gin and tonic, and as the sun sets over Giant Jacarandas,
Paper Trees, Figs and Banyans, patrons will be given an hour and a half to
enjoy the gardens at night - sauntering through pockets of botanical curiosity
and wonder, individually chosen by Curator Martin Clement. The gardens will be
lit up and brought to life by quirky characters, musicians, drummers, dancers
and puppets with hidden bars and experiences waiting to be discovered.
At 20h30, the
performers will lead the guests to a glorious Bedouin tent for dinner, hosted
by Beauty Ramapelepele. Here they will be treated to the finest plated menu
Durban has to offer designed by Silwood Cookery School graduate Kathryn Stone.
Throughout dinner, the trees, birds and hidden creatures of the gardens will
permeate proceedings, morphing the night into a whimsical, bewitching and
fantastical blend of luscious food, crisp champagne, magical puppetry and
curious delight.
From 22h00, a live
band will play to accommodate all tastes. This is time for an upbeat razzle in
the most enchanted venue in Durban.
Wickedly Odd – The Night Garden is not a show, a dinner, or a party. It’s a
gloriously unusual Christmas dining and entertainment experience. Patrons are
invited to slip behind the moss curtain of fantasy and immerse themselves in a
captivating world of botanical peculiarity, four metre flamingos, marvellous
praying mantisis, aerial acrobats, beetled barmen, feathered barmaids and
cantankerous crows.
This is an
experience with a difference. To enjoy the experience to the full, bring a QR
reader downloaded on your smart phone as well as a powerful torch. Dress
elegantly... but wear sensible shoes and bring umbrellas for rainy days. Dancing
is encouraged but the Gardens are near a residential area so from 22h00 onwards,
volume will be kept to acceptable levels.
Recommended parking in
Botanic Gardens alongside Visitors Centre.
Public bookings are
available on November 20 and 28 and December 5 at 17h30 for 18h00. Tables seat
ten people - Either book ten pax / one table or individual seats at a table. Tickets
R695 pp includes unique venue experience; extraordinary entertainment; a five
course menu and champagne on arrival. Booking through Computicket outlets,
telephonically at 0861 915 8000, or online at www.computicket.com
Corporate Booking
Details:
OPTION 1: Corporate
Booking: Exclusive Evening - Exclusive Evening for your company’s year-end
function. R130,000.00 exclusivity of the venue, excl. Menu. Minimum of 120 pax
& maximum of 400 pax. Five course menu @ R350 pp including champagne on
arrival. Contact 031313 3330 / rene@experiencethis.co.za / Facebook: Wickedly Odd – The Night Garden
OPTION 2: Corporate
Booking: Smaller Groups. Table Booking Experience for smaller groups (shared
venue). Cost R695 pp / tables of ten includes unique venue experience;
extraordinary entertainment; a five course menu and champagne on arrival. Contact
031 313 3330 / rene@experiencethis.co.za / Facebook: Wickedly Odd – The Night Garden
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