Hestia's Highland Fling

I know that you probably FELL upon this posting, in the hope that I have kicked Tartarus out and embarked on a mad, passionate affair with some man in a bothy somewhere.  Come ON, people!!!! *claps hands together like school teacher*  It means that I went to the ballet.

Scottish Ballet's Highland Fling.  Technically, Matthew Bourne's Highland Fling, but he not only gave permission, but actually oversaw the choreography for Scottish Ballet.  *impressed*

If you are a long-suffering time reader, then you might recall that I met up with an old school friend after a hiatus of about 20 years?  Well, we decided to celebrate our 50th birthdays jointly, by having an outing to the ballet.

Some background information  *does the wobbly-time-shifting-hands thing*

We were impoverished students (always had enough money for a sausage supper and a pint of wine at the uni disco though) and we liked our culture, so we would take our  £410 grant money and use it to buy a season ticket for Scottish Ballet.

We saw lots of excellent ballets, from the best seats in the house (the Dress Circle).

So what better way to celebrate our passage through life? A night at the ballet!!!

Aphrodite (she'd like me to call her that, rather than her real name) bought the tix, I booked a couple of inexpensive hotel rooms and before you know it, it was performance night!

Here's my hotel room.  The Campanile hotel at the SSEC - absolutely brilliant value for money - bright, clean and a lot nicer than a room costing £29.00 per night might suggest!

Here's what I can see from my seat in the Dress Circle:

This is looking straight across to the boxes.  Next time, we're going to get that box on the far left and wear tiaras....

This is the ceiling.  Of the Theatre Royal, not the Campanile Hotel bedroom.

The stage, set for Act 1.  That bright light actually says 'Highland Fling' my camera couldn't cope with the different lighting conditions.  To see what the set actually looked like, there's this, official photo.  I don't know who the photographer is, but this is definitely not my photo:

I won't tell you the whole plot, but it ended in tears.  The choreography was by turns lyrical and edgy.  There was a lot of Bourne's humour - even little animals in the Sylph's forest.  If you can get a ticket to see this when they tour it, please do - it's really good.  Aphrodite even gave a little gasp as the final scene played out.  Telling you nothing else, but GO!