Indigo

Yes, it's been when I was sitting in the Amphi Row B side blocks that it's been an issue. I've only once sat in Row B central & all was fine on that occasion, but I made a mental note that I preferred Row C or D central instead. Can't remember why exactly! I've a feeling it might be to do with the way the seats are staggered, but I'll have to look again when I'm at the ROH on Saturday to try to jog my memory further. Seat preference is very subjective. Don't forget to consider the Balcony, Gianlu! I've not attended a pre-performance talk at the ROH before. Can anyone recommend them? My previous experiences of pre-performance talks at other venues for opera & classical music have not been fantastic. Nothing I couldn't really have got from a quick look on the internet / wiki.

Oh dear! Judging from the posts above & Twitter comments, this doesn't bode well for my enjoyment of Carmen at this Saturday's matinee & evening performance. Or the live cinema relay (tickets already booked) Is it likely to be tweaked / revised between now & its next performance to address the shortcomings, do you think? Or would that be unlikely? I'm not sure how these things work. Nor any idea of how substantially it would need reworking / the time needed, as I haven't seen it yet. Whatever I think of Carmen at Saturday's matinee, I certainly plan to stay on the Saturday evening to see it again, if only for the casting of Matthew Ball as Escamillo, Tierney Heap as Carmen & Vadim Muntagirov as Don Jose... Hugely looking forward to Saturday though, especially as the other three ballets sound wonderful. [Edited for clarity]

I've booked to see the performance on Friday 8/1/16 because of the cast, but agree with posters above - I'd be very happy to see the Wednesday cast. Personally I've found I prefer to see ballet from a higher viewpoint - especially ballets which have a lot happening on stage & many dancers / crowd scenes. I've tried front of stalls & also top price stalls circle, but now tend to sit in the Amphi (good for my bank balance!) or occasionally the Balcony. Although weirdly, if I'm seeing a play somewhere, I like stalls seats closer to the stage. As others have mentioned, I've also heard from people who've experienced it that the view from the ROH Stalls seats can be obstructed by heads in front. That said, I've found the same with Row B of the Amphi at times, due to people leaning forward in Row A. But that's less likely to happen in the central block of Row B. The other aspect that you might want to consider is whether the seats have armrests or not. As it can get quite cosy with your neighbours up in the Amphi! So if I were choosing for the Wednesday, I'd personally go for either the central Balcony or the central block of the Amphi, probably Row C or D. If choosing from the very few seats left on the Friday, I'd choose Amphi F40 & 41 as I've sat in that area before & was happy with my view for the price. That said, definitely look at the photos of the stage view & of the seats before buying to make sure they'll suit you! And if viewing from the Amphi / Balcony, I'd recommend taking opera glasses / binoculars for when you want close ups I hope you & your wife have a wonderful time wherever you choose to sit. Edited for clarification

Oh my goodness. Yesterday's matinee with Yasmine & Matthew more than delivered the kind of experience I personally look for with a ballet like R&J. For me, their performance was simply radiant & profoundly affecting. I have to confess that my reaction to the story of R&J, ever since studying it at school around GCSE, has been one of exasperation & irritation. When watching R&J as a play or on the screen at times over the years, I've never been able to suspend my disbelief. Or find the sheer number of circumstances that conspire to go wrong / the whole star crossed lovers aspect, credible. Yesterday, I lived it alongside the cast. In particular, Yasmine's performance in the scenes with her parents & Paris, then in the crypt, enabled me for the first time to truly appreciate the situation from Juliet's perspective. Also, most crucially, believe in her responses & decisions. As others have said, she WAS Juliet. This was only the second time I'd seen this ballet, so Alison's comments were interesting. To me, R&J seems a ballet that is less about delivering a perfect performance technically (I'm not sufficiently knowledgeable to know if it was or wasn't, anyway!). But more about delivering a performance that enables as many of the audience as possible to be swept up by the tremendous emotions. Judging from the fantastic audience reaction I saw & heard yesterday, as well as comments on this thread, they succeeded in that. I too had this reaction to those scenes. I was emotional at the end of Act I & tears were steadily falling through much of Act III - so much so that I had to be careful how I was holding my binoculars so I could still see through them! I didn't feel Matthew or Yasmine had any difficulty projecting to mid-amphi where I was sitting, but it's nice to use binoculars/opera glasses to see the detail at times. I did wonder if Matthew found Yasmine's dress a challenge to get a good grip on at times during some of the lifts. But I wouldn't have noticed without seeing it in such close-up. Matthew's tenderness towards his Juliet & all the little details & gestures they incorporated, as Sim notes in her lovely review, made their portrayal of young love so real for me. Especially in the crypt scene, which has previously failed to really move me or convince me that R&J loved each other so much that death was preferable to life without the other. The performance delivered by the whole cast yesterday made a tremendous contribution to its overall success. In particular, I thought Bennet Gartside's interpretation of Tybalt & Kristen McNally's Nurse fitted so well with R&J as interpreted by Matthew & Yasmine. I was sorry that Gary Avis was indisposed (most understandably from Twitter). I'd have liked to have seen his take on Lord Capulet, but Christopher Saunders in the role made me forget any slight disappointment. Today, I had planned to catch up with some parts of World Ballet Day which I'd missed. But I've such beatific memories of R&J yesterday, I want to fix them in my long-term memory first! I too very much hope that if Yasmine & Matthew both wish to continue performing together, they will have the opportunity to do so.

I was wondering how effective 1984 would be as a ballet & have held back from booking a ticket. Especially as it follows a tough act in Headlong's recent theatre production of 1984, which I thought was outstandingly good. Thanks to the positive press reviews & everyone's feedback so far on this thread, I've now booked a great seat for when they visit The Mayflower, Southampton next May. Be interesting to see how well this sells, as I was at The Mayflower on the opening night of NB's last visit with Wuthering Heights & it wasn't very full, sadly. (Though a friend went to the Saturday matinee & said many more seats had sold.)

I've already booked my ticket for when they visit The Mayflower, Southampton in January 2016. After reading this thread, I suspect I'll be tempted to book another one once the casting has been announced!

Quite! It is a rather unusual requirement, like one of the dancers steering/driving the electric sleigh in The Nutcracker. Perhaps these activities are held out as a fringe benefit at job offer stage

Peregrine's fabulous! This is the second time I've seen him attempting to demolish the scenery - in a previous performance, a cart wheel got caught in the gateway when exiting the farmyard. In Peregrine's defence, I suspect the person leading him didn't quite allow enough turning room for the cart... How lovely of the ROH to broadcast Peregrine being presented with an edible bouquet/basket of carrots & apples, courtesy of a group of his fans #PeregrinesBouquet. Possibly because it was the first Fille I saw, I think the performance by Morera & Muntagirov just edges it as the most enjoyable for me. It also had the amazing Will Tuckett as Widow Simone. I especially enjoyed his facial expressions, clog dance & antics at curtain call. I also recall him pausing to look at the flower pot before throwing just the flowers at Colas & understanding the thought process! Actually, I did wonder if Philip Mosley had been reading the comments earlier in this thread regarding some Widow Simone's forgetting dramatic pauses & needing to aim more accurately, as in the cinema relay it looked as though he was much closer to hitting Colas! Picture darkness issues aside, we really enjoyed the cinema relay, especially Paul Kay's dancing as Alain. Our local cinema was almost full & people applauded Osipova & McRae's dancing - we all used to sit in silence as it seemed rather pointless to clap when the performers couldn't hear, but we're getting more demonstrative.

Interesting to read a number of posters commenting on the darkness of the picture - I found the same issue at my local cinema. The ROH's recent relay of Swan Lake (Osipova/Golding) had darkness issues too, which I certainly don't remember from the 2012(?) Yanowsky/Kish Swan Lake screening. I've no idea where the problem lies. I just hope it can be resolved as one of the things I really enjoy about seeing ballet at the cinema is being able to see the detail of the scenery & appreciate the emotion of individual performances in close-up, which isn't always possible from seats at the ROH!

Many thanks for the suggestion, Floss. I recall reading posts on another thread, which were very enthusiastic about the revival of Two Pigeons & saying what a lovely Ashton ballet it is. I've noted the cinema relay date in my diary & hope to see it at the ROH too!

Thanks for the kind welcome, Alison & Floss. Really looking forward to the cinema screening of Fille this evening, too. Incidentally, while I was enjoying a recent performance of Fille at the ROH, Mr Indigo was strolling down a London pavement nearby when a small, white pony wearing a red bridle came walking towards him. Mr Indigo recovered from his surprise & politely enquired whether this was the famous ballet pony, Peregrine. (Although really, who else would it be?!) Apparently Peregrine was a real pro & happily posed for a few quick photos, before trotting off home to his stables. It made Mr Indigo's day. He was so delighted to have met Peregrine, that he's coming to the cinema with me tonight to see him perform. [Edit - tried to link to photo but having problems!]

As a relative newcomer to ballet, I've only seen three mixed bills & found Floss & Fonty's posts interesting food for thought. Initially, I wondered whether this viewpoint would perhaps be more common amongst those posters who have considerable ballet going experience, as I get the impression that lighter/"cheerful crowd pleaser" ballets aren't performed quite so frequently as in the past, so might be more missed. It's also the case that if you have never seen these light ballets, you won't really know what you're missing! But then I thought about my own personal enjoyment of ballet. The three mixed bills (all RB) I saw were mostly what I think would be described as more serious/weighty contemporary or abstract works. Two bills included the ballets Month in the Country & Marguerite & Armand. I enjoyed the greater variety they provided in each evening, although I don't think either would be described as cheerful or light, exactly! I didn't know anything about Fille until I saw the ROH cinema trailer & based on that, initially dismissed Fille as being lightweight & pantomime orientated - especially those dancing chickens! Pantomine isn't my thing anyway, but perhaps my initial reaction was due in part to being used to being served up a diet of more serious ballet, as Floss speculates. So when I read the press critic reviews of Fille & the posts on this forum, I realised I'd completely misunderstood this ballet. I grabbed a last minute ticket for the 24th April with Morera/Muntagirov & was converted. I found Fille an absolute joy from start to finish, although I do share the same concerns about the depiction of Alain as others have mentioned in their posts. What I found interesting after Fille, was realising just how much I appreciated seeing a ballet which has such an abundance of charm & sunshine. Welsh National Opera consider that: "The Barber of Seville should be available on the NHS. Upbeat and optimistic, Rossini's sunniest creation is the perfect pick-me-up". I'd argue the same case could be made for Ashton's Fille. For me personally, I now hope to have the opportunity to see both serious & more light-hearted/uplifting ballet works, whether as part of mixed bills or full length ballets. After all, such a range of choice is arguably available in other artforms, such as music, opera or art. (This is my first post - I do hope all the quotes have worked correctly!) [Edited to add a smiley & test the function]