Also...the "disappearing banquet" in The Tempest....now there's a prop that has me laying awake at night....I've thought about making the table out of people...you know..on their knees..the table being their back. Another - making the food and dishes out of paper that then folds away...like a pop-up book.  Finally...bribing the director to cut that scene.

Any bright ideas would be most appreciated.....

 

For some reason, I thought of the old "Green Hornet" TV show where his limosine was concealed beneath the floor of his garage which could flip over at the push of button.

 

I would suggest building a similar "flip-top" table.  This would be a frame on four legs with the table-top actually suspended within the frame on a pivot that rotates 180 degrees. 

 

Staple a tablecloth onto the EDGES of the frame, running it to floor length around the table, to conceal the underside of the table from audience view.

 

Glue down a piece of identical tablecloth cut to fit WITHIN the frame, not overlapping the edges.  Glue or nail down all your fake food, dishes, utensils, etc onto this side of the table-top.  When it comes time to vanish, the tops flips over, revealing the empty side (With an identical piece of table cloth glued in its place).

 

Of course, you won't be able to use any real liquid (what a mess that'll make!) and you'll have to come up with some kind of locking mechanism, or manage to make your fake banquet perfectly balanced to prevent premature rotation.

 

And it would be simpler to operate it manually, unless you can be like the Green Hornet and flip a button.

 

Good luck.