Culture Vultures and Ladies of a Certain Age.

Giselle at Lincoln Theatre Royal.


It’s a ballet, for the uninitiated.

Bearing in mind the only regular visit we make to the theatre in Lincoln is the annual pantomime it’s worth saying that there are many similarities between the two productions although the posher element amongst us will say “oh no there aren’t” .

Both entertainments contain flimsy and even outlandish story lines, pronounced facial expressions and wild over acting. One is high art, the other isn’t. How then, given that the pantomime is a financial lifesaver, was the ballet received in not always terribly cultured Lincoln? Bums on seats to use a phrase, rather refined ones admittedly, there were lots of ladies whose statuesque posture would appear to point to a youth spent at one of those bars with a big mirror behind it as opposed to just a bar, that’s the pantomime audience.

Well they say use it or lose it and there were very few spare seats in the auditorium and even those may have been no shows. With coaches parked outside the theatre no doubt ballet lovers can look forward to Lincoln being included in more visits. This one was by the Moscow Ballet and a very fine spectacle indeed was enjoyed by a closely seated and very warm audience so much so that interval ice creams were eagerly awaited. Except there weren’t any. They have them for the panto, don’t ballet buffs like them? We got ours by sprinting round to Tesco Express (other emporia also available for really fast runners) and judging by the longing looks of those in the bar area I think I know the answer. We ate ours under the only food and drink purchased in the theatre may be consumed in it sign. Well if you’d have sold ‘em we’d have bought ‘em.

All in all a very successful and pleasurable evening preceded by a visit to Craft Bar and Kitchen on the upper High Street where we fuelled up in fine style ready for the entertainment. In fact the fun commenced whilst we were in Craft with the energetic young women of the city parading up and down the bar seeing and being seen and providing for us a glimpse of a world we only rarely visit. (Thankfully.)