English National Opera (ENO) have announced that “anyone aged under 18 will get free tickets to ENO productions on Saturdays. The tickets will be for seats in the Balcony and be available for any or all of the 11 Saturday performances in the Spring 2019 season in the London Coliseum”.
It’s promoted as a scheme to “dramatically expand ENO’s audience engagement strategy and forms part of the company’s central mission to ensure the art form is accessible to everyone”.
Here’s the deal: “Children under the age of 16 will need to be accompanied by an adult. However, as part of the initiative, adults who pay full price for a balcony ticket can bring up to four children under 16 free of charge. Teachers bringing school groups can accompany up to 10 children under 16 and free of charge. Children aged 16 and 17 can be unaccompanied, and can book one ticket to each performance free of charge”.
Good news, right? It’ll be great if youngsters take advantage of this and get a first taste of opera that’s so positive that it sparks a lifelong interest.
The trouble is that the wrong experience could also put them off for life.
The first thing to note is that these are balcony tickets in a vast theatre. For their first experience of Opera the kids’ll be sat so far away from the action that it’ll take a lot of concentration to feel engaged by the singers, when they’ll struggle to make out facial expressions. It could make Opera feel more distant, in every sense, than ever.
The other issue is that some of the productions on offer are not suitable for a taster experience.
For instance Akhnaten (23 Feb, 2 Mar) with its sand script text set to a repetitive, minimalist score is honestly one of the most brain numbingly, soul crushingly boring pieces of theatre I’ve ever seen. Or certainly in the original production I saw. Maybe this current one is better but I doubt it would speak to kids.
No one’s seen Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel (30 Mar) yet but presumably your kids will need to be comfortable with the concept of prostitution and brutal sex killings.
The Merry Widow (9 Mar, 13 Apr) can be jolly but your kids would need to have a keen interest in middle aged people having affairs.
La bohème (2, 9 & 16 Feb) might do, with its romantic tale of student life... and death.
Probably your best bet is The Magic Flute (16 & 23 Mar, 6 Apr); it’s a long haul but with its folk tale characters and singing animals it might enthral the more focussed of your young friends.
This scheme has provided some much needed positive press for the current beleaguered management but my feeling is it’s a token gesture that hasn’t been thought through.
If ENO truly want to engage with the under 18s they need to make opera about subjects that’ll appeal to teenagers and give them seats much nearer the action.
Bookings for free tickets can be made via the ENO Box Office phone line 020 7845 9218.
