Day of opera

A great day, mostly operatic. Earlier, I made my way over to the Grand Canal Theatre (I refuse to us the hideous and ungainly branding name) to book tickets for Irish National Opera's forthcoming production of Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. My Chew&Chat buddy and I will wallow in Strauss's lush, high-Romantic music at the final performance of four on 11th March. Unfortunately, the theatre uses Ticketmaster for online booking, so that wasn't an option — no way will I ever use this dreadful business or pay their disgusting fees. Sadly, the theatre doesn't facilitate telephone booking either, so the only way to bypass Ticketmaster is to book in person at the box office. That's what I did, taking the opportunity while there to stroll around Grand Canal Dock (extras) despite the chilly breeze.

Back home afterwards I passed the time listening to some music and then got dolled up and headed over to Bray for INO's current production of Donizetti's Don Pasquale which was finishing its nationwide tour in the Mermaid Theatre there. What a terrific night! A busy, wonderfully funny take on the opera, which went down a treat with the packed house. The production got a laugh-out-loud reception and was a joy from start to finish.

It was 11pm by the time I got to Carl's place for supper and an overnight. He'd been watching an episode of the Irish version of Masterchef and we decided to dip back in. More than a few glasses of very nice wine helped convince us to watch episode after episode, staying with the show until almost 3am! All in all, a really great day.