Break bread and join the show

A tour of Canterbury breweries hosted by a local comedian and an open-air feast of food and entertainment are bringing a culinary flavour to the Bread & Circus festival.

Festival director Scott Maidment said he wanted to expand the event to include attractions that combine food and drink with entertainment.

Feast of Fools, which returns to the Christchurch festival on Saturday, is an open-air banquet of lavish food and drink with guests seated around a large table that doubles as a stage where performers entertain the diners.

It is an expensive feast, with tickets costing $199 each, but the public can watch the event for free from outside the enclosure, making the paying punters part of a broader spectacle on Oxford Tce in the city centre.

Maidment said Feast of Fools blurred the lines between food, drink and seeing a show.

‘‘It always comes back to the type of night I like to enjoy . . . A night where you go out for a drink and have some food and entertainment then go out afterwards and make a night of it.’’

He said the feast was designed to make the paying punters part of the spectacle.

‘‘People just stood in the street watching it for free for about an hour last year. It is like performance art where the audience that have paid become part of the show.’’

He also saw the event as an opportunity to showcase New Zealand’s food and drink.

‘‘There is so much good food and wine in New Zealand and it is something the country is known for. If you are a local you take it for granted.’’

While Feast of Fools is showcasing local food, the Buskers Brewery Tour shows off our local beers. The sold-out bus tour, hosted by Christchurch comedian Shay Horay, will take punters to Eagle Brewing in Kaiapoi, Three Boys in Ferrymead, and Cassels in Woolston on February 6.

Horay will be in character as his alter ego Keith Preene, the Rheineck-drinking Kiwi bloke who had a festival hit with his Golden Goose Bingo show in 2013.

He said: ‘‘It is a guided tour with Keith in full effect. Rheineck has become virtually extinct so he is now searching for a craft beer to find out what his next drop will be.’’

Horay said the tour was aimed at craft beer lovers rather than the party bus crowd.

‘‘It is a connoisseur’s trip rather than pole dancing on a party bus.’’

Left, Feast of Fools, an open-air banquet featuring live performers, is an attempt to bring a high-end attraction to the Bread & Circus festival; above, Satya Bella is a hula hoop act with a spectacular fiery finale.