Back to SOH!

I'm not sure how, but I forgot to tell you about Aida -we had amazing seats as Becky's lovely, generous brother had secretly upgraded us. The production was brilliant-interesting projections and lots of pyramids, and two (sometimes) effective conveyor belts at the front of the stage going in opposite directions gave it a modern slant. However, we can't pretend that there weren't moments when we thought the singers might glide off the stage mid-aria if the conveyor belt didn't stop! The soprano (Latonia Moore) had a sublime voice-she's from the USA and she looked the part too. In fact we were impressed with all the singers but she and the tenor were especially good. When they sang together it was like listening to warm butterscotch sauce drizzling over rich sticky date pudding but with a smattering of summer fruits& clotted cream to counteract any hint of stodge. I did weep silently at the end but it was the most positive version of the tragic ending that I have seen, if that's not an oxymoron. I won't do any spoilers just in case any of my dedicated readers see it in the future (you should-it's probably got some of the most emotive music ever written and a storyline to die for...) The huge relief of the evening was not having my feet nibbled by a poisonous spider...I really regretted wearing sandals when I realised that I had no protection from anything crawling around under the seats, but thankfully on this occasion the arachnids stayed safely hidden away.

Then last night, enticed by cheaper tickets offered after our opera house tour, we went back to see a production in one of the theatres (it's not just an opera house) by the Bangarra Dance Theatre. They are an aboriginal or indigenous performing arts company. It was truly breath-taking. Inspired by the different facets of Lake Eyre, a series of dances took us from the struggle for land rights to the passing on of land and from the ancient power of salt to the deluge of water when the lake fills. The lighting was simple yet incredibly effective and the costumes were really well designed to reflect each different section. The overall combination of elements was incredibly powerful and it only ran for 65 minutes but was definitely worth the dollar-a-minute that we paid for it. The atmosphere in the auditorium at the end was quite overwhelming.