Talk: The Theatre of the Feast: Power and Excess in the Georgian Dining Room

2:30pm Thursday 11th June 2026

Step back into the 1700s and into the most important room in Britain: the country house dining room. In this engaging talk, Dr. Amy Boyington pulls back the velvet curtains on the ‘theatre of the feast’ to reveal how the Georgian elite used architecture, art, and an almost religious devotion to excess to cement their social standing.

Explore the high-stakes political dining of the Kit-Cat Club, where Sir John Vanbrugh’s ‘Castle Style’ architecture provided a literal fortress for Whig power and legendary toasts. From the Gothic drama of Lord Byron’s wine-filled human skulls and the scandalous glitter of silver bought with bribes, to the visceral reality of Parson Woodforde’s ‘maggoty ham’ and drunken pigs, Amy explores the dining room as a pivotal engine room of society. Discover the rigid choreography of Service à la Française, the ‘Frenchified’ culinary rivalries of the Napoleonic wars, and the legendary after-dinner rituals where port was poured and political alliances were forged. Join us as we peel back the gilding to reveal a world of impossible tensions - where the line between supreme refinement and raw, gluttonous reality was as thin as a silver-handled blade.

As the talk takes place during normal opening hours, all visitors will need a valid admission ticket for that date to gain entry. Season Ticket holders and Historic Houses members may also use their passes.

To attend, please first book your admission ticket for the relevant date, then reserve your free talk ticket, as spaces are limited.

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This nationwide series of VANBRUGH300 lectures, held across the great houses designed by Sir John Vanbrugh, has been generously supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with The Georgian Group.