Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Kim and I went to the opera yesterday. It was Opera Zuid again, but this time they were performing The Barber of Sevilla. I picked Kim up from work and we took a bus to the city centre. We had originally planned to eat at the newly opened La Place. Kim, however, preferred somewhere where they would bring our food. I though that was a splendid idea so we went in search for another place to eat. We picked De Kostery but it was closing, which is weird for a place that loudly displays outside that they serve dinner… We then tried Het Feithhuis. This was a long shot as it’s quite popular and generally requires a reservation. And indeed, they had no table. So we settled on the Drie Gezusters. I’d been there before, but never to eat.
They have a pretty basic, but good, menu. I’d wanted to go for steak but then I spotted Moroccan lamb stew with sweet potato and went for that. It was very tasty. It came with a wedge of water melon, which was a nice refresher at the end. The sides we’re also good: well done fries in the skin, steamed cauliflower and broccoli and some salad. I skipped that last one for I was getting quite full. For dessert I chose a wentelteefje (aka French toast) made from suikerbrood (sugar bread) with cinnamon ice cream and whipped cream. Delicious.
After dinner we made our way to the theater on foot. Joran, our friend from work was also coming with his girlfriend. We met up at the theater. It was their first time at the Schouwburg in Groningen so we showed them some of the places to sit and where to enter to get to their seats.
The opera it self was, musically speaking, very good. The orchestra (Philharmonie Zuidnederland) played very well, and the players were great. The color of voice of the woman singing Rosina (Romie Estèves) was a bit too shrill for my tastes. Technically, though, she was very good. Both Figaro (Luthando Qave) and the Count Almaviva (Juraj Holly) were fantastic.
What I liked less was the staging. Instead of taking the story and playing it as is, the directors modernised it. In was now place in a Spa in Sevilla where the people would come to enjoy luxurious excesses and vices. This had some of the ensemble performers playing sniffing coke of a hand mirror, both supplied by Figaro. Old Doctor Bartolo lives next to this spa. And the old time soldiers become a modern cross between military and private security. This leads to Rosina singing an aria in a bikini and Figaro doing modern dance moves during his.
After the show we briefly met up with Joran again to compare experiences and say goodbye. We were in no particular rush, the train was gone anyway, but they had to leave. We then grabbed a bus back to the station where we had to wait an hour for our train. Luckily the Burger King was open so we indulged in some nuggets and a hot blondie. The train showed up early so we could wait the last fifteen minutes or so in more comfort.
Picture (credit: Joost Milde/Opera Zuid) shows Almaviva on the left in his disguise as Don Alfonso, Rosina being choke held by Doctor Bartolo and Figaro trying to restrain him.
Oeh, also, I finished the shed!
Just got back from the theater where I saw Daniel Lohues perform. He has a new album out, Aosem, and he played songs from that, together with choice numbers from earlier albums. Daniel is always good. His songs are great and he is a fantastic storyteller. The only thing that I liked less is that the songs from the older albums were mostly the same ones he did last year when he was touring his previous album. His repertoire is so large, he could’ve easily changed up some more songs for variety.
Thursday, Mom and I went to Appingedam for some shopping. The thrift store there is amazing, I’m in love. It’s huge, spread out over two floors, and has a very large book section. We also walked through town a bit and saw, among other things, the famous hanging kitchens.
Caligula is a play written by Albert Camus just before World War two. It tells the story of the cruel Roman Emperor Caligula. He loses his sister and lover Drusilla and cannot deal with this. After wandering in the fields for three days he returns with an absolutist world view. Unable to deal with the relativitiy of everything, and most notably, happiness, he enters a reign of terror.
Showtime again 🙂 This time around it was Jochem Myjer performing his latest show at MartiniPlaza. Mom wanted to go to this so I agreed. I generally like Jochem Myjer, but sometimes it’s a bit too much for me. So I wasn’t sure what I’d think of a live show. Luckily, it turned out to be a great show. Too bad about the seats being so far away. The show sold out so fast that by the time I ordered these were one of the few still available.
Yay, my Oosterpoort & Schouwburg theatre tickets for the coming season have arrived! I have eight shows in the Oosterpoort and the Schouwburg to go to, and then there’s also two shows in MartiniPlaza this year.
Shakespeare’s King Lear is an elderly king who decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters. He asks them to declare their love for him, the best declaration gets the biggest iece. The elder two children do so, but the youngest refuses to play this game. Angrily, King Lear gives her share to her sisters and she leaves for France with her new husband. The remaining sisters immediately show their true natures and treat their father like an old man, and even planning to murder him. During this, Lear flees the house in a great storm and loses his mind.
Elizabeth Lear is the CEO of Lear Inc. A world-spanning business at the top of its power, started by her father and further built up by her husband until his death. She rules with an iron hand but she is getting older, and as such has decided to split the business in threes, one part for each of her sons. At the board meeting she interrupts Kent (played by Gijs Scholten van Aschat), who wishes to celebrate recent acquisitions, and declares her intentions. She asks her eldest son Gregory (played by Roeland Fernhout) to declare his love for her. He is unprepared, and initially unwilling, but manages to spin a tale and gets his portfolio.
As the business is going under, Queen Lear is forced to cull the number of servants. She protests heavily but both brothers will not budge. Oleg calls his mother to tell her that he will not be able to send more money as the business is not doing well. We can’t understand this, as the conversation is in Bosnian, but Rukavina lifted the veil on that for those who were at the introduction 🙂
After another argument with her sons and their wives, Queen Lear runs out of the building, into a terrible storm. She wanders around, lost, desolate and in the grip of her disease. She throws a monologue into the storm before she is found by Oleg who tries to take her home. They meet a homeless junk who she, in her delirium, mistakes for her youngest son Cornald (not quite coincidentally played by the same actor :D).
Wednesday, Mom and I went to the Schouwburg to see Sara Kroos play her latest show “Van Jewelste”. Sara Kroos is someone I’ve seen on TV and always liked, she’s spontaneous but does always seem to make a point. So when Mom suggested we go see her back when I was deciding which shows to go to, I happily agreed,
In between stories she sits down at the piano and sings a song. And the songs are the counterweights to all the laughter of the stories. They are calmer, and more serious and light the other side of parents and different generations and time, which are the main themes of the show. And by combining these elements, she really drives the point that time goes ever on.
Hensema started out by singing old songs adapted to be about places in the province. He then did dress-up as a character and started doing a sketch-like story, which morphed into another story, as another character and so on. As he made his way through characters, repeating some, and stories, it became an interconnected whole showing this big slice-of-life of all these characters. All to make the point that life isn’t this grand tale, it is everything in between, and so it is also for the people around you. Everyone influences everyone, and you’re a part of more lives than you think. So look around you at your life and don’t pass it by waiting for special occasions, grand accomplishments or other extraordinary things. As the saying goes: “Life is what happens while you’re making other plans”