Booking went well, as it had all season and we got seats Red Upper Circle B42-45 for £130 each.
Falstaff the opera is based on Shakespeare's comic play The Merry Wives of Windsor which, in turn, reuses his character Sir John Falstaff from Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2.
Travel went almost to plan but we were too late into Lewes to visit The Depository for lunch so we settled for the cafe in the station instead and that actually worked well. It also meant that we were in prime position to get a good seat in the first coach.
And being in the first coach meant that we were able to secure a table in the Veg Patch Stretch Tent which is our current first-choice location.
Somehow we spent the almost two hours before the opera chatting over cake and bubbles and failed to go for the traditional walk around the lake. Not that it mattered, going to Glyndebourne with friends is as much about the friends than it is about the gardens.
Falstaff has propositioned more than one lady and when they find out they scheme together to get their playful revenge.
This leads to a Brian Rix style farce where people hide from their pursuers behind screens and in laundry baskets. Falstaff gets a comeuppance of sorts and we all head outside for the long dining interval.
In the final act Falstaff needs a further lesson and this time it all has a Midsummer's Night Dream feel to it with the village children dressed as fairies. When the second bout of playful revenge is over Falstaff good humouredly takes the lesson and all ends well.
The music and singing matched the fun and tempo of the plot and the evening was terrifically entertaining.
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