The Opera - Aida, 15th August 2015

I arrived at 19:45, an hour before the show started. It was still light and there was a nice, light breeze. My section was filling up but there was plenty of room. The atmosphere was already lively with the chatter of expectation.

The stage was set with a golden pyramid and 14 sphinx. The stalls were empty at this time, apart from arena staff, and instruments were still being manoeuvred into the orchestral pit. 

My view, from high up encompassed the entire arena, not just the stage. I realised that my stony seat gave me something those down below on the plastic chairs did not have - I got to park my bottom on the exact same ancient seating that Veronese did hundreds of years ago to watch gladiators, lions and other such gruesome spectacles. The stone was hard and unforgiving, but I coped, as many centuries of people before me coped.

The refreshment sellers were doing a brisk trade, 'red wine, white wine, cola, fanta, beer' and I bought myself a surprisingly good white wine, albeit in a plastic cup.

With 15 minutes to go, dusk was descending. The orchestra started to take their places. The seats at the top were packed, the plastic seats below, less so.

To keep the crowd amused in the final few moments before the show started, a random spotlight was sent around the crowd, picking out a lucky guest for the evening, who was then given VIP treatment. It didn't pick me.

With the show about to start and the orchestra warming up, I felt an excited thrill of anticipation - to see my very first opera, in a setting built in the 1st century, open air, on a warm evening - such a treat.

We were given candles on arrival and when the lights dimmed, they were lit and the arena came alight with tiny, glittering flames. Then the show began.

First Interval

Wow! If I am honest, I hadn't really got a clue what was going on, but it didn't matter at all. The music, the costume and the drama made up for it. I had read up on the premise of the story before I arrived which I'm glad about, but I didn't want to find out too much. 

There is no electrical amplification in the arena - the sound is all manmade,  emphasised by the acoustics of the structure. The power of the singers' voices is incredible. Even when the crowd clap the performance, the sound is hair-raising. 

Thunderstorms were forecast for the evening and the wind had picked up by the start of the second act adding to the atmosphere.

Opera, except when there is scene building or ballet going on, doesn't tend to have a lot of action, the emphasis is on the music, which means you can shut your eyes and really feel it. It is incredible. 

But during the second act, a few rumbles of thunder were heard and before long, a temporary halt to the show was called because of the detrimental impact of raindrops on musical instruments.

This provided a timely opportunity to nip to the loo, passing a load of the cast, still in costume, having a crafty fag. 

The brisk trade in cushions being plied by the vendors earlier in the show was soon replaced with sales of plastic ponchos. Upon my return from the loo, most of the audience was plastic coated, but to a Brit, that tiny amount of moisture did not count as rain. One of our showers would have put this imposter to shame. I bought an ice cream.

40 minutes later, an announcement invited us to kindly wait patiently while they waited for information on atmospheric conditions from the weather centre.

At 23:30 I called it a night. I'd had a wonderful introduction to opera and it didn't really matter that I didn't find out what happens in the story. The experience was enough.