Opera: Noye's Fludde

When I saw that Noye's Fludde was showing today, I thought it sounded interesting, and after a quick view on YouTube, I decided to book for it. An unusual sort of thing to be running, it's part of Limerick's year as City of Culture.

We decided that the matinee would be handier, leaving the evening free, and so headed out around lunchtime. Since it's showing at St Mary's Cathedral, which hosts a lot of events and which I've been to before, I knew you can park there and figured we'd arrive in good time to get a space. We arrived with 45 minutes to spare - imagine my surprise when, on approach, the place already looked full! As I passed, a couple of cars exited the grounds, and I guessed they'd been looking for parking too - unsuccessfully. So I crossed my fingers for luck, and headed towards the courthouse, just down the road. This would be the nearest parking, as you can't park on the main road. Now, there is an official car park too - the old potato market - but I was just lucky; as I searched around the courthouse itself, a car just pulled out at that moment. So I parked for free! (The courthouse is closed at weekends, so no-one would be using it for official business.)

Ticket sales for this are handled by the University Concert Hall, and when I went to collect our tickets, the lady turned out to be the same who had given me our tickets the night before (at the concert hall)! Seating was unassigned, except that, if you had paid top price (€15), as we had, you were entitled to one of the seats with a "€15" note taped to them. These, of course, are the best, near the front. Mind you, my mother is fussy about these things, and we did a bit of moving around before she was happy. Making sure, above all, not to be right beside a speaker. And then moved again, to be away from the two small children seated behind us - which turned out to be a wise decision, as the little boy turned into a ball of hyperactivity as the show progressed.

The place was quite full by the time the show started, and the dean explained to us that it would be recorded by Lyric FM, so PLEASE make sure your phones are off - not on silent, as they'll lead to a "blip" on the recording if they receive a signal. This is - as you might guess from the name, but it isn't obvious - an opera about Noah. The composer, Britten, specified that it should be performed in a church or large hall, but not a concert venue. He wanted the audience to participate, so we were provided with hymn sheets and taken through a practice run by the conductor. And we were off!

It was obvious from the start that this is a major undertaking. The orchestra occupies the whole right side of the church, and not all members are even in the conductor's line of sight, which must be awkward. Still, I can't fault their performance. The whole altar area is taken up with props, many of which are reorganised during the performance to reveal the ark. And the cast enters and exits via the main aisle, with various other performers lurking in the side aisles.

But it's not until the show begins that you realise just how much work went into it. The performer who plays Noah is a superb singer, and first on, striding down the aisle to the altar, and then talking to God. Who answers from the back of the church! Now, that was fun, because, while lots of people were looking around for him, it took a while for me to find him. Turned out he was dressed in a sort of white shift, standing high up on the window-ledge, and intoning in a booming voice. Cool! Then the other cast members start to come down the aisle.

The next fun to be had is when the animals start to come to the ark, two by two. Dozens of local schoolchildren must have spent ages making papier mache masks and wings to adorn themselves. Some of the animals are recognisable, some more unexpected - but it's all good fun. Some of the children also try to mimic the motion of their animal, and particular mention must go to the one child that runs along on all fours! Sadly, because of this, and because this was the only child to do it, I didn't get a look at what kind of animal this was supposed to be.

I liked the bit where Noah's wife didn't want to go onto the ark, and had to be carried on bodily, whereupon she rewarded him with a slap! And then the ark is secured, and the flood waters start to rise. These are creatively recreated with flowing blue fabric, adorned with fish, and flapped about by cast members. The storm includes a little strobe lighting to represent lightning, and when it's all over, lights produce a rainbow effect on the altar. Finally, cast members come on, brandishing the sun, moon, and stars.

I was delighted with the production! What a great community effort, and what a fun show they produced! Runs until Tuesday, but the only performance for which tickets are still available is tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon. Appropriately, they held a collection afterwards for local flood victims. Equally appropriately, as we left, it was lashing rain, and has continued to do so all night. My mother didn't want to walk over to the local restaurants in the rain - there is no parking outside them - so we went to the Abbey Tavern in Quin for dinner. This is our usual haunt, and we could park right outside, and were, as usual, most excellently fed. I must say, I am partial to their steak, and to the pepper sauce they serve with it!

Back to London tomorrow, and looking at the plays available, I came up with Other Desert Cities, at the Old Vic, for Monday. Another fraught family drama, it concerns the return of a prodigal daughter. As the Time Out review says, it's a story we've seen so many times before - but we've seen it done in some terrific versions. The review goes on to say that this is the best thing the reviewer has seen at this theatre in ages! That, combined with the fact that the stern matriarch is played by Sinead Cusack, made me surprised that I could get a ticket at all, but I'm not complaining. As ever, in search of the cheapest ticket, I'm in the top level - best deal for a seat with non-restricted view was with onlinetheatretickets.co.uk, which is running a sale with 22% off and no booking fee!