Coated

Ticket now gone

I have D50 for sale for tonight's (3rd Dec) Nutcracker. It's an eticket, £10.

 

please PM if interested.

If they want to be environmentally friendly and save some money, they could drop the gloss coating and buy standard A4 pieces of paper as used by ENB and BRB. If the didn't fold them, they might even save a few more pennies.

 

Not using glossy paper would have the pleasant side effect of increasing readability since you wouldn't have bits of the print obscured by light bouncing of the gloss.

 

The main issue I have with the design is that no thought was given to accessibility. If you design print or Web materials professionally, you're expected to be familiar with accessibility issues for users with specific needs, eg visual impairments or dyslexia and how to address them through 'inclusive' design. Providing large print, audio or braille cast sheets would be too costly (and perhaps too much asked), but providing 'inclusive' cast sheet would ensure that a larger proportion of visitors can read them easily at no extra cost to the ROH.

 

The use of capitals for entire words is a big no-no since it makes it harder to identify the 'shape' of a word. Same goes for italics. Gloss paper is also a no, as is the inconsistent use of headers. The newly designed cast sheets do all of this, which isn't awesome for an arts organisation.

 

(If you're still reading this, stop now unless you enjoy pedantry)

 

Having a look at THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER cast sheet, the following can be found:

 

They did right align the text apart from a tiny section at the top of the front page. Bonus points for that, since centre or left alignment is harder to read for some people.

 

The titles of the ballets are in upper case, as are most but not all names.

 

There is no visual indication that INFRA is not part of a title that starts with THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER. This could be solved by increasing spacing between lines. Or cheat and give the triple bill a name instead of listing all 3.

 

No header for the orchestra listing (inconsistent use of headers), use of italics for ballet title.

 

Date appears in larger font without header (double whammy for inconsistent use of headers and conveying meaning through font formatting)

 

There's more inconsistent use of headings on the front page and a random line, but I think I belaboured the shortcomings of the front page enough.

 

The following pages have similar issues, though the DURING YOUR VISIT section nearly got it right, apart from the header obviously. 

 

Special shout out to the last column on page 3, an unacceptable combo of extra large uppercase and very insuffient contrast between background and text. 

 

Special tip to the ROH:

When hiring marketing services, include 'working knowledge of basic accessible and inclusive design' in your selection criteria and have a look at a company''s website before bothering to shortlist them.

 

The busy background images with text overlay on Konica Minolta's website could have served as a massive hint that the company has never heard of accessibility standards.

 

A basic primer can be found at

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-communication/accessible-communication-formats#accessible-print-publications

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EGY was known to JUT FR  but other JFF DEHP did BB UHF dishwasher EG

 

Or as my grandmother used to say, TMA (too many abbreviations)

3 hours ago, bridiem said:

I do agree with Nogoat that The Unknown Soldier is unsophisticated, and also that the timing is wrong. It should have been premièred any time between late 2014 and (realistically) late 2017

I felt that the focus of the piece was on 'the ones left behind', which made the timing fitting for me - the rememberance feast of the last 4 years is over, but mellow sorrow lingers. Neither love nor hate the piece myself, to me it's more about the people who remember than the ones who died, and an underlying note of tempered sorrow. Not very sophisticated, effective in its own way, but sadly the choreography isn't the most memorable part of the performance

Ticket has found a new home

Can't wait for those Swans to get to London.

I have SCS D-46 for sale due to double booking, it's an eticket for the matinee on Sat, 2nd Feb

 

PM me if you're interested

I'm now in possession of a nice Bayadere ticket in Berlin and the only date that worked out for me has Ksenia Ovsyanick as Nikiya - seeing that Ksenia was one of my favourite ENB dancers, I was clearly meant to go

 

*does the dance of joy**

 

*I admit that's only amusing if you used to watch Angel

More apologies requested 

https://inews.co.uk/culture/arts/hindus-apology-royal-opera-house-la-bayadere-racism-cultural-appropriation/?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=ijp

 

I'm hoping that the Austrians will cotton onto cultural appropriation soon and demand the demise of both Sound of Music and Mayerling. 

Fab review, nogoat. I came here to say something similar but less eloquent, but I think you saved the board from my attempts of explaining why last nights assortment of aces was the most exquisite for me. If the Shades and Brahmin had been the same as in the cinema cast, I might have been permanently spoiled for all future Bayaderes, forever whispering how nothing can match my peak-Bayadere in 2018 when watching new performances. 

I clearly didn't look up the tour cast - hence a surprise to me  

Rupert Pennefather in Manon? That came as quite the surprise to me and I feel a sudden urge to squish a matinee into my busy January.

Ta!

 

I've also found a nice site to check the view for Staatoper seats

 

https://sitzplatzvorschau.de/staatsoper

Thanks for the video link Angela - the production looks gorgeous

 

Im sorely tempted to splash out on a Berlin trip. Does anyone know what the view is like from an aisle seat in the central block of 1 or 2 Rang?

Fab Sadler''s season, and all I had to do to get aaaaall the tickets I wanted was to cancel Christmas. 

 

Shame that ENB takes the high seats near the stage on the first circle off sale - their stalls prices are moving towards the unaffordable for more than one viewing.

 

 

3 hours ago, Sophoife said:

Pìobaireachd

I had to google that - excellent suggestion. Maybe the most hardcore Campbellites could hire a piper to play a suitable Pìobaireachd (am I getting this right?) at the first night of any ballet where he's not cast in the main role

 

Day off for Alison, innit?

 

I just spent hours fixing my online calendar, after not noticing that the iPad cal stopped talking to all others calendars and I had merrily added entries using whichever device/app was closest to hand for the last few weeks.

 

New rule on calendars in my house as of today - updates through google calendar only.

 

On the plus side, my calendar now looks marvellous for June. Instead of showing a dearth of dancing, it's full of BRB and SFB

43 minutes ago, Rob S said:

 

Yes the order is a little mixed up for various dates on the summary page, however if you click on the date it confirms that it's not Yasmine that dances Nikiya but Boris Gruzin

Is Yasmine conducting?

Judy Dench,  Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift etc might argue on what the lead role is

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5697572/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

 

seems to be one of these 'a little bit of everything and some cream on top' musical productions

 

(Please don't make either Dench or McKellen twist their legs around their ears, Mr McGregor, they count as national monuments and should not be endangered for the sake of a musical)

filming over summer would have been nice...

Nicely booked up, apparently it's so popular that they made the dress rehearsal public. 

Just saw the King Dances and can only say that Tyrone Singleton is magnificent and the piece itself is practically meditative. So glad I dragged myself out of the house for the matinee.

 

A seat close to the stage is perfect for the lighting, which is beautiful but a bit dark from the back of beyond. 

 

I rather hope that this will be a Bintley piece that stays in BRB''s repertoire (not always fond of his pieces, but when he gets it right they are very good)

If you ring them today to cancel the ticket due to booking error, the box office might be able to help you. I've called them before in situations like this and they cancelled the ticket as long as it hadn't been printed yet. 

Should the thread perhaps be renamed the 'Campbell Lament' or something similar?