Off to The Royal Opera House to see Manon the Ballet

Well ‘The Horn’ and I have had a very cultural couple of weeks. Last week we were invited to go to the Royal Opera House to see Manon the ballet. As the first chords struck Einhorn lent over and asked if he could ‘go home now.’ I struck him gently on the head with my program, he is SUCH a card! However as the time ticked away I have to admit I did find it hard to remain engaged.

The prima ballerina was amazing, she was like a piece of bendy string, her movements so graceful and skilled I began to worry about her internal organs being crushed, either by herself or by the male dancers who flung her around. The costumes were incredible and would not have looked out of place at the V&A museum.

We were, however, significantly perplexed by a) by the weird story line… Woman falls in love, goes off with richer man, sees man she loves, spurns richer man, (who she had absolutely no problem with going off with in the first place) then ends up in a swamp? b) Having spent the entire ballet in what looked like a market place/ballroom/bedroom… we were confused, why die in a swamp? I also worried about the amount of dry ice she must have swallowed whilst ‘dying’. Really, does no one think of these details? Health and safety?

The chorus looked like a job creation scheme for aspiring dancers and clothes horses. They kept coming on to mill about – crowd scene – ball scene – some other scene, where they were all suddenly ‘poor’ etc. Gentle snores omitted from the celebrity jewellery designer beside me, but I have to admit, he had a valid point!