Performance by Leigh Henderson and Kristin Hunt

Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space (June 2015)

This performance was staged by Leigh and collaborator Kristin Hunt as part of the Makers Exhibition at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space. Examining the intersection between the worlds of theatre, drama and food design, the Makers Exhibition invited scenographers to design their theatrical food and dining experience in front of an audience in order to explore not only the design of food itself, but also the way it is prepared, presented, shared and played out.

Leigh and Kristin restaged two of their previous edible dramaturgy performances, Woyzeck (2013) and Miss Julie (2014). Guests were presented parallel, five-course tasting menus that led them through Woyzeck’s increasing madness and Miss Julie’s sexual surrender through the scent, taste, and texture of the food. While this service was ongoing, the artists prepared the final offering, which concluded and united the two menus – pea cake balls with garlic marshmallow centers. The process incorporated the sounds of food preparation – blenders, mixers, and buzzing timers – as well as the scent of baking and the sight of the food at various stages of preparation. In these numerous sensory juxtapositions – formal service and noisy kitchen, finished dishes and disparate components, sweet tastes and savory ingredients, and menus inspired by desire and by madness – participants experienced physically some of the irreconcilable tension of discipline and chaos inherent in the texts of both Woyzeck and Miss Julie.