The space inside the Roman Arena is huge. In ancient times the Arena could accommodate 30,000 people and did, with people coming from far and wide. Today, due to the size of the stage, and also safety considerations, the seating has been reduced to take half that number.
The seats on the floor of the Arena are the most expensive and carry a dress code, but possibly due to the temperature, or living in more relaxed times, there were only a couple of men in black tie, most of the rest simply opting for smart trousers and long-sleeved shirts. A number of ladies were in long dresses, however formally, or informally, their partners were dressed.
The cheapest seats are the stone steps, which are the top rows of the Arena. These are un-numbered, and so people are warned to arrive early to select a good spot (the seats on the top row, apparently, as these have a stone back you can lean up against). The steps are of course hard and uncomfortable, but you can bring a cushion, or hire one for €3.
The seats in between the stalls and the stone steps are where we were sitting. We could reserve our seats at the time of booking, and we were delighted with our view, but be warned, the seats are not padded so a cushion is still a good idea.
Sorry, no pictures of the actual performance as they were not allowed.
Officially, you are not permitted to bring food or drink into the Arena, but the security staff were allowing people to enter with a 500ml bottle of water each. This is not a problem due to the number of vendors passing through the auditorium during each interval shouting their wares, ‘Ice-cream, white wine, red wine, beer, water …’. (Think of Victorian flower sellers on the streets of London).
The stage is massive. Behind the curtains in the picture is a two-storey country house, with stairs that people could go up and down, and there was still enough space in front for a carriage pulled by two horses to enter one side, and exit the other. In some scenes we think there must have been at least eighty people on stage – quite a spectacle.
On our entry we were each handed a tiny candle (think of birthday cake candles). I think the idea is that everyone lights them at the start of the performance, and the effect is magical (I’ve seen pictures) but this didn’t happen when we were there, possibly because it was still too light, or perhaps it was that it was still too oppressively hot.
And the singing? I enjoyed it, but I think I’m more of a Gilbert and Sullivan fan myself although Mark was very impressed.
Tortoise Travel 