Mary

I noticed this last time I went to SB in the previous run so  sadly  it is not new. If it happens to me again I too will email ROH. Why put the lights half up??

All of the above,  but if I could only have ONE,  I have sometimes thought in maudlin moments that I would  like to die on an absolute high to the ending of Symphony in C, the apotheosis to me of utter ballet bliss-oh and please could it be Cojocaru/ Koborg.

Which choreographer could do justice to his The Masochism Tango I wonder?

Many theatres and galleries have brought in these restrictions, not just ROH.

I must say, as a young ballet fan, this topic is both enlightening and depressing. I'm afraid I'm green enough to still enjoy the most overperformed classics imaginable, to want to re-view every ballet, even the ones that didn't make a great first impression. I find all of this back and forth completely incomprehensible. There have certainly been ballets I've seen (90% modern ones) that have failed to impress me, but I'd probably still give them multiple chances with multiple different casts, if I had the time or money to do so.

I agree Vicky, and compared to all the other things that  annoy or bore me in the modern world ....ballet is 100% JOY, even when it is not my favourite moment or work.

I gasp in horror at some of the comments above too -( not like Swan Lake? Not like Balanchine?????find R&J too long?? think Ashton is twee? this and more all baffles me) and I am getting to be an oldie who has seen Swan Lake  100s of  times.  Like Sim  I hope I see it 100s of times more, and indeed all the classics.

But I think we are all being fairly light-hearted. Forumers on the whole are very, very passionate in their love of ballet. I am sure we will soon get back to what we are best at which is being appreciative in an informed and occasionally critical way.

Duck, I entirely agree.

I think in Tuesday the Sarah Lamb character is meant to be her sister, Vanessa Bell, for some of the time.

I didn't find it cold in the bar or anywhere else, at all.

Less able people will find the cloakrooms difficult I can imagine. Presumably when the new one is finished in the amphi, things will be better?

However, the number of fit younger people who expect to take several large bags and coats into the amphi does surprise me a bit... Especially  the lady on Saturday who had filled the small floor space of my seat with her suitcase- sized designer handbag and two department store bags and didn't move them until I  asked..even then only a grudging few inches- until I had to insist, golly, some people- is it called ' a sense of entitlement'?

Those puffa coats which fold up v small are PERFECT - I fold mine up and use it as a cushion behind my back. Very comfortable.

My third viewing today and I liked it even more.

I do think the second part, Becomings,  could be trimmed. The first section is great: McRae is ideal in this rather strange world which is like something from another planet (  a speciality of his and I was reminded of his  Frankenstein's monster today) and of course Osipova's  sinuosity is riveting;  the ending is really exciting and wonderful with dancers running between spotlights as characters having their moment in history, and the music surging most gloriously....- BUT the section before the ensemble at the end goes on a few minutes too long for me, with too many couples in similar pieces-: it was absorbing in the cinema close up but in the theatre there is insufficient variety and it still seems dark.

Apart from that,  I found the whole performance absolutely compelling and the performances uniformly excellent;  the music grew on me more and more and the effects were so much more effective live, especially the projection of the Rodmell garden, which was lost in the screening.

In fact I Now and I Then and Tuesday are pretty much perfect in my opinion.

Watson was just superb today, I think the very best I have seen him dance, he seemed to have no bones at all, and such utter conviction.

I think the ending MIGHT have been slightly different to 2015: I complained before that the applause came far too quickly, and I think in the first performances there was a pause while the sea crashed for a while behind Ferri's prone figure, which was a perfect ending. It does seem more abrupt now,  and that might also be encouraging the too-fast appplause. ..

I cried buckets this time.

Who would have thought McGregor could make something so deceptively simple, so gentle - so classical, -so beautiful as I Now and I Then?

Bravo.

Beryl H yes I want to book for the matinee on June 3rd but will go for the Thursday evening if can't get tickets for the mat.

 

The casting is good for the other ballets too......sorry off topic.

 

Yes I've been to Monks House a few times now as its near to where I live but last summer was the best visit as the weather was sunny just perfect the garden was lovely ...at its best and it was lovely lounging around on the grass and listening to the readings........I quite like being read to even if only half get the gist .......

There were two readings by different people ....one from "To the Lighthouse" and one from "Mrs Dalloway"

 

The House there is interesting too and of course a few miles down the road is Charleston Farmhouse......another place really worth a visit and the talk there is really very informative if you like the Bloomsbury set ......I would n't be surprised if the ballet doesn't have some reference to what was going on there......including naked ex ballerinas wandering .....maybe even dancing around the grounds!! But the relationships were all so complicated and so much duplicity that I'm not surprised you could sink into a depression and get suicidal.

It is a wonderful place isn't it, and so is Charleston.

Of course Woolf suffered from very serious psychotic episodes throughout her life, and her tragic suicide was the result of fearing the onset of such an episode- during the terrible time of the Second World War- (her husband, Leonard was Jewish and they had obtained cyanide capsules in case the Nazis invaded) and nothing to do with convoluted relationships.

I don't think I was alone in weeping at the start of 'Tuesday' as her suicide note was read out, paying such eloquent and moving tribute to Leonard for all his devoted support during her periods of illness. They had a very  good relationship, wonderfully documented in her diaries.

It seems to me that MacGregor dealt very sensitively and movingly with this aspect of Woolf's life and work.

It was a very different thing seeing it in the cinema, rather than live.

In the theatre it is much more of a spectacle, so in a way one is distanced. The live screening made it seem much like three chamber pieces, which was good in a way-the relationships made in dance were endlessly fascinating and involving close to.  Yet, in the theatre, it was like being in the middle of the whole thing. The fourth wall dissolved. In the cinema, not so. I noticed this especially during the end of the second-in the theatre we were surrounded by lasers as if in a net or web,  and at the very end, the rolling waves piling up and toppling towards us were overwhelming. This was much less so in the cinema.

I was just as moved, in a different way.

I am a lifelong great lover of Woolf. Not so of MacGregor! But with this work he really enthralled me when I first saw it, and now having seen it close up I really think it is, not only far the best thing he has done, but a masterpiece. But, I do feel the wonderful dancers on whom he made the work must take a lot of credit too-as I believe Wayne would be the first to agree. Their individual characters are preserved in the choreography. Ferri, Lamb, McRae, Bonelli, especially and Watson-on totally amazing form tonight, his Septimus was shattering  and brilliant.

Hayward was most beautiful in the first piece I thought.

It was just such a shame that applause began so quickly at the end- in the theatre there was just that pause, perhaps 10 seconds, while we all sat silent and took it in, which feels appropriate at such a moment. Deeply moving.Reminded me almost of Song of the Earth.

Last time I went to the Barbican I swore a solemn  vow never to go there again.* The whole experience got me down so much.  Walking through the tunnel... the depressing, bleak surroundings. The puddles. The lack of signs. once inside, the lack of any feeling that this was - er- a theatre. The overflowing bins. Everyone drinking out of huge plastic cups in the auditorium.

But it's a shame as BB have stopped coming to my town and I do miss them. They are a super company, very original and entertaining.

* Oh but I know I probably will

Bad luck- this happened to me last season. It is v depressing to hve tickets and then not be able to use them . I shall do my best to evoke the experience for you when I go Alison. There is the live screening on 8th isn't there?

I thought it was meant to be based on the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo- hence the South of France connection- and the presence of Massine.

But I could be completely wrong.

I have to agree that AK was a -very-great disappointment. If one is only able to go to one of the Marinsky season, I would not recommend making it that one.

I think you will find it worthwhile to see Semyon Chudin on top form! For me , with his blend of noble poise, strength, fantastic jump, beautiful lines and flowing musicality he encapsulated the perfect Prince Desire-oh and not to mention of course Smirnova- and an all round ravishing spectacle-must get to work though!

Love the idea of Ferri in M & A!  I shall have to purchase tickets to two different casts now. 

 

I suppose we will have to wait a long time to see the full cast for Symphonic Variations.  

 

And I have never seen The Dream.  No idea why, just missed it every time.  

 The Dream in this absolutely beautiful design is an  essential trip! Don't miss it! Go go go!

..that's my view anyway.

Thanks!

I shall have to take in some laundry I can see to finance this...

I loved Lamb /McRae in The Dream last time so definitely one to watch and then a lot more besides.

The modest cafe at the end of my small street asks £2.20-!!! for a cup of ordinary tea , and last time it was served to me in a cup with no extras at all- I did go and ask for a top-up which was not met with any enthusiasm.

So it isn't just ROH. I rather feel we tea drinkers are subsidising the current coffee mania.

I have had a few very nice dinners in the ROH in the past on special occasions, been well looked after and fed,  and not encountered the bad experiences others report: what a shame- these should be taken up with the management, definitely. Could it be a consequence of all the current building and disruption? It must be making life difficult. That's no excuse, but might be one explanation- but  they do need to provide a first-class experience for all.

Just back from The Red Shoes- what a thoroughly enjoyable show. I don't know who the lead was in the matinee today- no casting info that I could see anywhere.

She was very good but I had a feeling not quite the best? Not sure. Overall the dancing was of a very high standard and I really liked the choreography much more than his recent works (e.g. Sleeping Beauty)

I can think of a few ballet choreographers (nameless) who could learn a GREAT DEAL about narrative, pacing, smooth transition of scenes, keeping the audience interested, and variation of tone and pace- oh, and fun- from watching this show.

The music was fantastic-most thoughtfully chosen and put together, and it all worked like a dream.

My only criticism is that the amplification was just too much- I don't think the music needed to be amplified in that way, and some of the sound effects were really painful to my ears.

There was a woman behind me stamping her foot in time to the music.  No requests or dirty looks would make her stop.

 

I moved...

My sympathies, I have endured this a few times- in the ROH amphi, someone's foot may be far too close to one's ear which makes it unbearable- but I fear some people don't even seem to realise they are doing it, and some even keep up a low hum of the 'Tumpty tum' kind, often followed by a chuckle and perhaps 'oooh lovely' ...- the same people who have a slippery lap piled with handbag, cardigans and  programme one after another of which gradually slide forwards into the back of my head or crashes to the floor behind me during the performance..

This is particularly common in Giselle I find.

Just as well they weren't following the plot really...

I am not sure that  the following argument I often hear actually makes any sense: ' too few young people go to ballet/opera/ etc and therefore the future audience will dwindle.'

Don't peoples' tastes change as they get older?

Perhaps most of us didn't go to so much opera and ballet in our younger,say,15-30 years- ?

It would only be a concern if figures showed that the percentage really was much lower now than in former years. But do the real figures show that?.

I would guess that in all the years I have been going to concerts of baroque music the audience has been predominantly older people- it hasn't changed. Plenty of old people coming along to fill those seats.

I am optimistic. Everything changes all the time as the Buddha rightly says: change is the only eternal truth. But, I am not convinced things are slowly getting worse.

There seems to me to be more enthusiasm generally for ballet than I remember 10, 20, 30 years ago. Houses are full.

It is true that funding is the big problem- BRB for example, is suffering. But, this could change- perhaps we can all do our little bit towards fighting this particular trend and supporting our fine national and regional companies.

I think someone explained that their theatre doesn't yet have the technology to cope with this- is that right? shame. The Bolshoi has really leapt ahead.

Me too.  I hadn't realised it was happening at all   I've only ever missed one Watson Mayerling, and I don't intend to make an exception this time, but if I can't get in the amphi then there are barely any seats I can afford (I'm assuming I won't be able to get a stalls circle standing).  I've no objection to them making one performance a "student special", but just wish they wouldn't take out the entire "cheap section" in so doing.  Perhaps they could do one half of the amphi at two separate performances - might fit in better with students' schedules, too?

My complete sympathies Alison. (Do you know any students??) I think students should get discounts etc but this seems a very arbitrary way of helping them out.

However, last time this happened I have a feeling they did open up the area to general booking later on in the booking period- or am I dreaming?

But of course shows at SW are often much smaller scale, sometimes with recorded music- so bound to be cheaper aren't they.

I think you do get a lot for your money at ROH- a first-rate full orchestra, the sheer scale of the productions, the wonderful costumes (I was comparing them v favourably with some seen close-up at a recent Met Opera screening)- and- so far anyway- noone drinking lager or eating a pot noodle next to you.

I find opera a bit beyond my reach nowadays unless I sit v high up,  but ballet I think is good value in terms of the quality of the productions, especially  if you pick your seat carefully.

SB,,,Mayerling- Symphonic Variations and to crown it all The Dream- can't wait!