Taking the Micky out of MacMillan

[Katharine Kanter]

Sorry, I have to put this up in English - it is too, too funny.

Mr. Christiansen, who wrote the piece quoted below, seems to consider 'Mayerling' a work of art (!).

Yeah.

Nor is there anything worse than being rudely interrupted just as one settles down to enjoy a good rape scene, eh ?

But the actual joke, is on Kenneth MacMillan.

****

From the Telegraph, March 31st 2004

"Rupert Christiansen urges noisy audience members to shut up and sit still


"It was towards the end of Act 1 that she started - she, I should say, being
a thirtysomething woman, of respectable appearance, sitting beside me at a
performance of Mayerling at Covent Garden last week. Like 99.99 per cent of
the audience, I was enraptured by this magnificent melodrama, danced with
staggering virtuosity and commitment. But, despite a price of £83 on her
seat, she wasn't having any of it.

Just as Prince Rudolf began to menace his teenage wife Stephanie with a
pistol, flinging her into weird erotic contortions unrecorded in the
Kamasutra, she informed her neighbour in something louder than a whisper
(well, I could hear her, anyway), "I'll have to leave early, you know. If I
don't get the 10.42, I won't get a bus at Plumstead. Oh, I forgot to switch
my mobile off."

While Stephanie rolled over the floor and Rudolf prised her legs apart with
intent to rape, she rummaged in her bag and eventually deactivated the
offending object. So at least we were spared the perky Nokia ring-tone. But
she wasn't finished yet. After the interval, she resumed her one-sided
conversation.

"I wanted to bring my glass of wine in, but they wouldn't let me. Safety
reasons, I suppose."

[haydn]

Is this to be considered as masterpiece of British humor, Katharine? I would quite agree with the woman who was continuously watching at her cell phone. Definitlely, it must have been far more interesting that wath was going on on stage...

[sophia]

"Mayerling" est-il un ballet si horrible que ça? Je pose cette question car je ne connais pas du tout. Le sujet paraît en effet assez redoutable pour un ballet... Ou bien est-ce tout simplement du MacMillan?

[haydn]

On va dire, c'est Mayerling + MacMillan...