Please Go Home

"Shall we?" I hissed as the house lights, for some unaccountable reason came part-way up.

We were making our first trip in to Leeds to see Monteverde's Orpheo at Opera North. I knew, with a grim certainty within in the first few minutes that the production and I were not going to Get On. But it was only when the aforementioned occurred that I was able to start with the hissing and the desperate looks, only to find that the DSM was even more keen to escape that I was!

So, the fault may lie within us. I just did a bit of googling, and the only review that I could find absolutely loved it. Lets give you mine....

A stage, littered with chairs and sofas. The only entrances are on one side of the stage, large niches four feet off the ground which the hapless cast have to negotiate if necessary. In one case, this involves Musica, who for no apparent reason is dressed in a sort of cancan costume, tinsel and extremely high heels, having to balance on the narrow arm of a chair that is being braced by another singer.

The walls and floor are in a sort of tongue and groove effect finish in a bilious shade of mustard. The cast have to inspect the wall minutely at certain intervals and Euridice is taped to it at one point. The director is in love with sticky tape, a very noisy tape, employed frequently to wrap up Orpheo, Euridice and some of the furniture. The costumes are varied, more or less modern with the addition of some Elizabethan ruffs for some, and one character is wearing a fake fur tunic and brown leggings, another a particoloured red nd yellow....ensemble. Euridice is draped in white chiffon (and a lot of sticky tape) to become a somewhat reluctant bride. I was not too happy about the symbolism here, methinks.

The music was pretty much ok, although it could have been a bit crisper, and I hated the way that the director had them portraying the opposite emotion to that suggested by the words (surtitles) much of the time.

We left - oh, I think I said that.

I do not belong to the school of thought that says that theatre should be fossilised. I am perfectly happy with a production using contemporary themes - I once saw one of the Shakespeare Henrys in a semi=modern interpretation with crowds of football supporters and a gang of squaddies, and it was great. But this was just gimmick for the sake of it, and it makes me angry, it insults the performers and it insults the audience.

Rant mode off.

In other news - went to guild this morning, very pleasant, sat and spindle spun and chatted for an hour or two and then came home, whereupon I fell asleep on the bed! Obviously, the stresses of the last few weeks haven't quite worked through.

I've done some more braiding, still enjoying it, may post photos later if anything comes out well enough. I need to practice a bit more, and then get some work sheets prepared for Friday. I also have two women coming for a spinning lesson on Thursday - alpaca owners. Need to prepare a bit for that as well. A busy week, it seems.