Geoff Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 Last night, just before the event started, there were still tickets available for the Insight conversation between Monica Mason and (89 years old, still working) Peter Wright. Why? ROH Insight events are usually sold out months before, so shame on us. Anyway it was a lovely evening. Some fascinating stories and, yes, insights. Sadly the recording won't get much of an airing: the Covent Garden tv people were filming but just with a single and unmanned camera, taping only for (presumably) archival purposes (when the powers that be like an Insight event, there are always at least three manned cameras and then a video gets put online). Hope someone was taking notes and can post more here. By the way we are celebrating 25 years of Peter Wright's BRB Nutcracker:- http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/11205-birmingham-royal-ballet-the-nutcracker-birmingham-november-2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Last night, just before the event started, there were still tickets available for the Insight conversation between Monica Mason and (89 years old, still working) Peter Wright. Why? ROH Insight events are usually sold out months before, so shame on us. Yes, I wondered why as well and came up with three possible reasons: the wonderful Peter has spoken at both the Ballet Association and the London Ballet Circle, the latter only quite recently his illustrious career and achievements do not register sufficiently strongly with those who normally buy tickets for such events (shame on them!), maybe because, despite his Nutcracker and Giselle being mounted this season, Peter is not sufficiently associated in people's minds with the current Royal Ballet others who often attend Insights are feeling pretty 'spent out' at the moment and have chosen to book for performances (which can work out cheaper!) Just a thought............... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridiem Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Yes, I would love to book for Insights as well as performances, but they cost as much as or more than a performance. And when I do occasionally try to book one, it's usually sold out anyway so I tend to assume I won't be successful and don't pay a huge amount of attention to what's on. But it's a great shame - I hope the empty seats weren't too obvious. I will pay more attention in future... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mummykool Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 It could also be that the Nutcracker draws an audience from further afield. Much as we would love to go to these evenings, living in Bristol makes that prohibitive unless also attending a performance. I wish they would post more of them online as they can be absolutely fascinating. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Yes, I wondered why as well and came up with three possible reasons: Fourth one: we didn't know it was on. The Insight events are so hidden away on the ROH website that it's difficult to keep track of them. I only discovered it yesterday morning, when I was looking to exchange a £16 ticket, and £17 Insight evenings would have fitted the bill nicely. I was hugely disappointed to see I'd missed it There's no mention of it in either the Period 1 or Period 2 programmes, which seem only to mention edited highlights of the Insight evenings. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm365 Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 I can assure everyone that there were no obvious empty seats. Had there not been this thread, I would have had no idea that the event was not sold out. And in addition to Peter Wright's amazing memory and stories of his early years, I was most impressed by Monica Mason's excellent debut - as she referred to it - as an interviewer. She had the lightest of touches in keeping Sir Peter on the right lines and brought the session to a gracious end exactly on time. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A frog Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 If there were no obvious empty seats, wouldn't the available tickets just have been a handful of returns? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minxette Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 What price do you think the Insight events should be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 (edited) Reading through some of the comments, it seems I may not have been clear enough about ticket sales. At the risk of labouring the point, there were plenty of tickets available for PW's Insight evening from when they went on sale until the day of the event. By way of comparison the next season of Insights is currently going on sale to various categories of Friend, and all sold out before normal Friends got a chance, although a few more seats may be released in due course. By the way, I got the feeling that some students were given tickets at the last minute, which may explain the difference between sales and how the room looked during the evening. If true, this was a gracious gesture towards PW and MM (as well as good for the students) but I am still puzzling on how / why the "regulars" missed this unique occasion. Edited December 3, 2015 by Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 I never look at Insight evenings because, as a non-Friend, I assume that they will be sold out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two Pigeons Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 I have had the great good fortune to interview Sir Peter in person twice and once over the telephone for a magazine article. He really is very good value and I loved hearing his stories about touring during the War. Having said that, my favourite stories were those which related to seeing Galina Ulanova and how she influenced his love of Giselle over the decades. He is one of British ballet's greats and it is terrific that we still have him and all his knowledge. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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