Dinner with The Twits

Do you want to have dinner with the Twits for £70 my friends asked me?

Hmmmm – not sure. I’d never read the Roald Dahl book at this point and thought that the price tag was pretty steep. However it was meant to be an interactive theatrical experience as well as a meal with wine and cocktails so I decided to give it a go.

I thought it would be a good idea to read the book before we went – and it was! Without the background knowledge none of the experience would have made any sense at all. As it was the experience was pretty crazy – but good crazy…

Upon arrival we were shown to an upside down bar with furniture on the ceiling and an intriguing selection of cocktails. Having now read the book I understood why the bar was upside down and why the cocktails seemed to have some rather rank sounding ingredients… I was also not particularly looking forward to the meal so thought it best not to try a drink that was too adventurous. So we opted for a simple glass of wine each to start off with – although with hindsight I wish we’d chosen the cocktail with balloon attached, as it looked fab!

Once our time-slot was called we were shown upstairs to another bar with excellently oversized furniture including a bar stool that was taller than me! The woman who nabbed this to sit on was rather smug – tho the smile slightly waned when it was time to dismount it! Once we’d all been assembled in this bar we were sent back downstairs to the Twits garden for the rankest selection of canapés I’ve ever had the misfortune to eat.

Chicken hearts, mouldy cheese, cold spaghetti masquerading as green worms, snot in a pot (don’t know what this actually was or what it was masquerading as but it was vile). It was however washed down with a delicious G&T which had a rather nasty thistle in the glass that was to be avoided.

The Twits garden was excellent tho. The set design was stunning and the actors – monkey humans, Twits and everyone else – were brilliant.

Canapés finished it was time to dine – and we were slightly worried at this point as we were meant to be on a large table called Wet Sock with strangers. However because the event wasn’t fully booked we were sadly plonked on a table on our own – we were rather relieved by this but it probably wasn’t in keeping with the whole occasion which was a kind of wedding ceremony for the Twits to renew their vows.

Throughout the meal we enjoyed hilarious monkey antics plus interaction with Mr and Mrs Twit – and they were all brilliant. The food however was pretty grim. The bird pie and potatoes were still repeating on me the following morning – however the red wine we were provided with was delish! At the end of the meal we witnessed a wonderful wedding ceremony apparently compered by someone random from the crowd… while I’m not totally convinced he was a random – it was still excellent.

So what was it like to dine with The Twits? Well the food was truly unpalatable (this was quite a surprise as I had read an article that said although the food sounded rank and extraordinary it was in fact created by a top chef) and the organisation was shabby. However the acting and the experience was absolutely brilliant. The staging and sets impressive – the makeup and costumes clever – and the drinks and bars great too. So all in all – yes I would recommend dining with The Twits – although maybe next time I’ll eat before I get there as I didn’t feel quite right for a while afterwards!

Find out more at Dinner With The Twits.