I have rather welcomed a quiet day - I have had a busy last few weeks and next week will be non-stop. So family came first today, and will tomorrow until I venture forth to the National Theatre to see the new production of Pinero's The Magistrate. This should be a fun evening and will provide a good opportunity to see some fine acting and high production values - a hallmark of the National Theater whose director Nicholas Hytner has led it to so many triumphs over the years since he took over from Trevor Nunn in 2003.
I always regard Hytner as the man who made the breakthrough for Handel opera - it was his production of Xerxes in 1985 that opened up so many possibilities and convinced sceptics that Handel might after all be a great operatic genius! It seems ridiculous to imagine that such negative thoughts had existed in respectable society - but they did!
On Monday I will be seeing a Haydn opera - and on Wednesday Carmen at ENO in what promises to be an exciting evening - the director is Calixto Bieito. There is lots of variety in London!
More about all this over the coming days.
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