So along we went this evening, deciding, as usual, to eat at the Castletroy Park Hotel. Well, it's so convenient, being right across the road from the university, and with plenty of parking. It's also known as "Munster's Premier Wedding Venue", and my mother remarked that she hoped we didn't run into one tonight! like last time. Well, we didn't - no red carpet, as I remarked upon entering. But then, as she pointed out, it was a Wednesday..
In this hotel, we always eat in the bar. It's less formal - not that the restaurant isn't welcoming, but if all you want is a quick bite, the pub is handy. We chose a table - ironically, in about the same place we used to eat when there was a wall there, with booths. Now it's opened out and much brighter and airier, but we still sit there. That wasn't the only change. Once upon a time, service was slow - today, despite the bar being packed with a large funeral (you could tell, most people were in black), service was swift enough to take your breath away. We soon had menus, and I immediately noticed another welcome change - they serve food all day now, from 2.30pm to 9.45pm. Good to know, if you're going to something across the road - time was, they didn't start to serve food until 5.30, which was cutting it fine, what with the slow service they had then. This time, in contrast, so many people were darting about, and it was possible to catch anyone's eye! Very rare for waiting staff.
We had Pinot Grigios, a soup, a chicken and cashew nut stir fry, and the ubiquitous baked salmon. All of which were fine. My stir fry was much spicier near the bottom, mind. For dessert, I had a lemongrass creme brulee accompanied by a zingy strawberry sorbet. Which was also good. My mother had panna cotta..
..which came with a trio of strawberries in the dinkiest little basket of hardened syrup. She wasn't much impressed with the latter - the basket was too tough for her to eat, and the strawberries were tasteless. Must've been from the supermarket.
After quite a long wait to turn onto the main road (they really need traffic lights), we arrived at the university early enough to get reasonably close parking. We made our way upstairs to the concert hall lobby - my mother likes to get one of the sofas at the edge of the cafe while we're waiting for the hall to open, but sadly they've reduced the number of sofas. So we took a table at the edge instead. As I collected the tickets at the box office, I noticed an advertisement for Carmen, but with no dates.. Unfortunately, I just checked and it clashes with the last of the U2 concerts I'm going to this year, in Glasgow. So my mother shall have to do without her opera fix, this winter..
They've always had a bar in the concert hall lobby, but now they've also opened a confectionery stand, where they also sell programmes. Much needed.. so I bought her an ice cream, and myself another wine, and we settled down at our table to people-watch. Not so many dramatic costumes tonight, in a city that's renowned for fashion - but we did see a lady with a mink jacket, and star of the pre-show parade had to be the lady that we spied climbing the stairs in a sparkly, full-length, red evening gown.
Our seats were, as usual, in Row P - edge of the central block. She likes Row P - the advantage being that there's a horizontal aisle in front of it, so you have as much legroom as you could want. And there's a metal bar for her to leave her coat on. She always insists on that row. The view, as with any stalls seat here, was excellent.
The set is sumptuous, as befits a courtesan's reception room. And the costumes are lovely and flouncy. However.. well, the male lead, Alfredo, had a terrific voice and was a joy to listen to. Otherwise.. (ahem). The diva kept reminding me of Kerri-Ann, a character from an Irish soap opera, Fair City - what with her voluminous blonde curls and enormous eyelashes. Not in terms of her trim figure, though - I tittered to myself in the final scene, which has her in bed sick, with her trademark dress on a mannequin in the corner, symbolic of her heyday, now past. No way would she have fitted into the dress on that mannequin..
As for the acting, both she and the guy portraying Alfredo's father pretty much phoned in their performances, which were actually painful to watch. And I'm sure he was off-key. We stayed to applaud Alfredo at the end, then legged it. My mother was glad to get away anyhow - it's a long opera, and had three intermissions. But we beat all the traffic, and were home soon as we could be.
Tomorrow night is a classical concert at the Limetree Theatre, where I haven't been before, so I'll have to look up that route. I spend the weekend here, then fly back to London on Sunday. Monday, I'm off to the Tricycle for After Electra, the most interesting thing advertised for Meetup groups that day. Not that I'm going with the group, mind - they charge a membership fee, which I couldn't be bothered paying to join them, when I can just buy my own theatre ticket. On Tuesday, however, I am paying to go to a Meetup event - a talk on Palestinian cinema, hosted by the Film Nite group (which I joined especially for this). See now, I don't mind paying them for that, since they're hosting. However, I baulked at paying £35 extra for a wine and canape reception afterwards! And for Wednesday, I joined yet another Meetup group, the Central London Outdoor Group(!). They're going on a walk through the City (always good) .. with a theme of horses. Hmm..
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