Sleeping

I have a guilty secret to confess.

I fall asleep in operas. Occasionally I fall asleep in concerts.

I'm not too bad during films, not at the cinema, anyway. The only one I've fallen asleep in the cinema was, ironically, Insomnia. Jimmy snored all the way through Chicago at home.

Shakespeare has an almost clean sweep. I think I have slept during every Shakespeare play I have attended. I don't feel that I have lost anything as a result. The one I did not sleep through was a production by the Southend Shakespeare Players - or some such name. I went with my friend Helen-in-Essex, Clive, and Helen's little sister, Rachel. We went because Helen's former teacher was in it. It was in a field, somewhere near Rayleigh, IIRC. Maybe actually in Rayleigh. It was a glorious summer's Saturday evening. Well, it was when it started. It was a dull Autumnal Tuesday morning by the time it finished.

We were the only group in the entire audience without cushions and blankets. Oh, how we mocked them! They were old. We were young. What need did we have of blankets and cushions? Jeez, I had to stay awake, it was so uncomfortable. And I am not talking an hour and a half of discomfort, I am talking literally ten hours of bum aching, bone chilling discomfort. I forget what the play was about. I think it had a lot of errors in it. Apparently, it was a comedy. Shrugs (Please don't let my mother read this...)

An opera-goer confesses all

Guilt and shame – those daggers of self destruction. Once you're over them you'll find that nothing is as restful and conducive to revitalization as a sleep in the opera house. A proper operatic snooze is better than a day at a spa and cheaper as well. I might as well get it out in the open – I've been sleeping through operas for decades. I can hear you saying "So what's new? We could tell that by reading your reviews." But as we age we feel the need to confess our secrets

I once missed a ski trip when I broke my patella after falling out of my seat during Billy Budd. I had foolishly gone to the show by myself convinced I couldn't fall asleep during Britten and somehow thinking that because I wore my seat belt in my car that I'd be protected in the opera house should the unexpected happen.

And those of you who listened to the Singers' Round Table on Saturday's Met Broadcast will have heard Plácido say it's okay to fall asleep in operas - but only if there are no titles...