This month, The Goblin Ball will return to the Northcote Town Hall for its third year, with its next installment in the adventures of Pintina, Fire demigoddess, murderer and thief. This time she will be journeying to Terra Bayou, a land of inexpedient earth magic, in pursuit of an exiled swindler. There she will face danger from vindictive Ice Kingdom loyalists and rancorous Barons. Since its first appearance, The Goblin Ballhas extended beyond a homage to Henson’s cult-film, Labyrinth, and fashioned a four-kingdom world for itself – Terra Bayou, the Ice Kingdom, Ember Rule and Starlantis – complete with magic, enchantments, regal scandals, insatiable bloodlust and character story lines that sound as if they fell out of an epic RPG.
“[It] started in the Ice Kingdom and everyone was introduce to this family of royalty that was the Ice Queen and the Ice King, and their daughter, the Princess,” relates Knaggs. “There was a murder that happened in the Queen’s Garden and all the guests were told that in order to finish the night, they needed to work out who the murderer was; and it was one of the royals. They worked out that Pintina the Princess was the guilty party and she was taken away by guards to the next Kingdom, which was the Fire Realm because it was the Fire God who had been killed.”
The next year, guests returned for The Goblin Ball: Ember Rule where they suggested that Pintina was a stolen daughter of the Fire Gods, and that the Fire God she had murdered was actually her father – “everyone comes with their stories and we [have become] this conduit for these people to live out these fantasies and we’re like ‘You know what, we’ll run with that’,” laughs the Labyrinth fan, explaining how these narratives become part of the ball. “The story was that she was taken there to face her biological mother and be punished for it, but because the Fire God was a phoenix, he rose from the ashes and all was forgiven. Then she was celebrated for being so brave in the face of adversity and taken to be presented as a demigoddess figure, which the guests had decided that she was worthy of.”
It’s this collaborative process between guests, designers, creators and artists that make The Goblin Ball unique. Some attendees may come dressed as “a ten-foot walking tree” and win Best Dressed – looking at you David Marks – while others sneak about causing mischief and stealing goblin coins through trickery. Some may return as original reoccurring characters, such as the Moon Goddess, who comes from the moon and has her own elusive back story. Apparently she stole some phoenix ash from the Fire God last year, which may possess unique properties in the earth realm of Terra Bayou. We’ll find out this month.
“There’s four [rooms] in total,” says Knaggs, outlining the venue schematics. “You go into the foyer and cloak your bags and you go into The Goblin Market place. [It] has a store where you can get painted in glitter by Mad Dame, who’s one of Melbourne’s renowned photographers and makeup artists. There’s a professional photo-shoot area where people can get their photos done in full costume, which is quite popular.” The Goblin Market also possesses trinket stalls, fortune-telling areas and enchantment merchants. It is also where guests can be assigned their Goblin Ball quests from Ringmasters Astralie and Octavia – to support the Fire Realm and Air Kingdom, Starlantis, and save Pintina from being poisoned, or associate with malevolent Barons of Terra Bayou and Ice Kingdom loyalists to ensure Pintina’s demise.
“We’ve also got a hidden room called the Swamp Rock Room, which is a DJ with a laser show and bubbles. It’s a good hidden secret,” gushes Knagg, hinting they’ll be some burlesque there too. “The Grand Ballroom – it’s The Grand Ballroom. Up [near] the front is where the Grand Baron sits and presides over everyone. Up the back is the [House of] Voodoo tent,” named from Dance Magic lyric ‘the power of voodoo’ and a place of potion-making and mystery, “and the garden where people can explore,” or watch burlesque performances from Miss Marilyn Mocktail or watch New Orleans-inspired rag-time band Shirazz, perform. With so much planned, you’ll hardly be bored.
BY AVRILLE BYLOK-COLLARD
