Box of Delights

I love ballet. I love it moe than I did when I was a kid, because in those days I'd be watching a soloist and thinking, 'I want to be her'. Now that I know I never will be her, and I'm happy not to be, I can just delight in the dance.

Something that Northern Ballet do brilliantly is taking well known stories from other sources and making a ballet from them. The last thing I saw them do was Wuthering Heights, and they regularly do Christmas Carol. Yesterday, Lady Sunshine and I went to see Madam Butterfly.

I had a surprise for Lady Sunshine.

When I looked at the theatre seating plan there was the usual range of prices - at the high end there's Dress Circle and Front Stalls for which you pay the equivalent of a tank of petrol and month's mortgage, down to a few quid if you don't mind curling up on a shelf. But it's surprising how reasonably priced a box is. This is because the boxes may have a 'restricted view' - but compared with what else was available and affordable, and bearing mind that I have always, always, always wanted to sit in a box at the theatre, ever since I was a little girl and we called them the ashtrays, I bought two seats in a box.

It turned out that Lady Sunshine had never been in a box, either, and she was very excited about it. Well, I can recommend it. There was just a tiny space to one side of the stage that we couldn't easily see, and the beauty of a box is that you can move your chair if you want a better view. You're not behind anyone tall, or beside anyone who whispers through the performance or smells of garlic. The ballet was just beautiful. Truly a box of delights. We'll do that again.