Operatic Synopsis

Ahh Budapest, and how would a Rugby League loving barbarian such as myself spend an enjoyable evening?... A night out at the Opera of course.

We went to see half of Turandot (more information on that later). The location was the Hungarian State Opera which is a most beautiful building, ornately decorated -enough to make the Austrian Hapsburgs (the villians in Hungary) envious. Turandot is an Opera by Puccini. It includes the song made famous by Paul Potts on You Tube following his debut on "Britains Got Talent" and also covered by some bloke called Pavarotti.

The story of Turandot is set in China and follows the common theme I´ve noticed in some modern Chinese films of: "you rebel and you die!" Turandot is a homicidal princess who doesn't show a lot of expression and likes to have potential suitors beheaded. Because she is beautiful, an unknown Tartar prince falls in love, ignoring the fact that she is a complete cow, with murderous tendencies. He answers her 3 riddles thus not getting the chop himself.
Turandot is then given a task as a get out clause where she has a slave girl who truely loved the prince tortured until the poor girl commits suicide and in the process of dying, reveals her love. Turandot then finds out the Prince is a Tartar (the people who killed one of her ancestors) and then sings for about half an hour while dithering on what to do. In the end, she and the Prince get married suprise suprise. This was then followed by hours of rapturous applause worthy of a Grand Final victory. And a lot of bowing, and more bowing and so on.

The reason we saw half of Turandot is that we bought dirt cheap tickets with obstructed view. This I decided was a joke on part of the Upper class on the rising Bourgeois who having risen in rank, were able to elevate themselves to the upper tiers away from the salt of the earth with a good view in the stocks below. Nice to be elevated but a bit pointless in not being able to see the show. What was the architecht thinking? It might just be me, but if I were to design a theatre, sight lines would be a major consideration.

Well I hope you are all now a little more culturally enlightened.

Dean (no, really it's not Thora)

P.S Our evening of culture was bookended with Burger King and a trip to a bar housed in a derelict building awaiting demolition.