In Favour of the Matinee

In Favour of the Matinee.

As a rule we tend to book evening performances however last week one thing led to another and the next thing you know we are fronting up to a mid week matinee of the ballet at The Coliseum.

The show was brilliant. Young full-on dancers at the peak of their powers giving it their all. Throw in a couple of trained pigeons for the final act and all the punters went home happy.

Now, on to the punters. From the looks of it, these afternoon sessions are geared to an audience of retired ballet lovers.

These elderly punters turned up in hordes. To be honest, I have never seen so many zimmer frames and walking sticks in the same place at the same time.

For many, climbing the stairs into the theatre, then up to the level of the circle must have been something akin to a major obstacle course, however they got there in the end and in high sprits.

I’ve got to give it to the elderly, they are there to enjoy themselves, don’t give a toss about dressing up and simply have that look on their faces that tells you in no uncertain terms that they will dress and behave exactly how they like.

This attitude is frankly quite inspiring.

If our particular performance were held in the evening I would have no doubt that the audience would behave in line with a different set of rules.

However, we were surrounded by any number of individuals with hearing difficulties, which I would have thought would have led to a heap of looking and not much talking.

Talk about wrong on all counts!

For starters, these guys are pretty cunning and as a rule had come armed with torches so they can track down those pesky walking sticks or pieces of clothing if they happen to fall by mistake into another row.

As for talking during the performance, these retirees were spectacular. They simply don’t know how to press the off button and chatted (more like yelled) to each other throughout the three-hour performance. If they saw something on stage that amused them they would laugh out loud and applaud wildly.

We were also constantly bombarded with ribald comments like “ See that one in the black tights, I wouldn’t mind seeing his pegs lying between my sheets “ or “look at that girl on the right, poor thing, she looks like she’s got a gammy leg” or

“ Do you think there’s going to be a break any time soon, my bladder’s killing me.”

Both Julia and yours truly were splitting our sides throughout the performance

What a great afternoon. You have to give it to the English.