{Erin Out and About}: So an opera singer walks into a pub...

Whether you love opera, hate opera, or just don't get the hype over Opera Winfrey *snigger* just hear me out.
Way back when I was in Uni I took a French History course. The teacher thought it would be fun to charter a bus down to TO and watch a matinee of a French opera. I figured when am I ever going to get a chance to go to an opera again in my life (I already knew I wasn't going to be enamored with it) and signed up. Today, I couldn't tell you which opera it was or who it was by, all I remember was there were screens with subtitles that I found distracting and it was long.
Present day: a friend asks if I'd like to join him to see an opera in a pub. Immediately I said I was in. I figured even if I hated it, it would make for a great memory.

The King's Head Theatre located at the back of the King's Head Pub in Islington was once used as a boxing ring and pool hall. The plot of land had been used as a public house since 1543 supposedly being a tavern where Henry VIII would stop in for a pint before visiting his mistress. The current building dates back to the 1860s. This place is seriously cool with lots of atmosphere.

We attended OperaUpClose's double bill of Dido and Aeneas and Young Wife.

Young Wife is an award winning contemporary Polish satire. All I'm going to say about this piece;

Henry Purcell's 15th century tragedy, Dido and Aeneas, based on the Aeneid (can I get a What! What! from my fellow Classics Geeks?) has been set in an American High School with a few added cheerleader cheers and the high school band playing the harpsichord. This was absolutely brilliant! I couldn't always understand the words being sung, but I got what was going on. The baddies were the best.

I honestly laughed out loud many times and even got teary in the end. It was just beautiful, man.

Once it was finished we all made our way back into the pub where there was a live band playing (the King's Head has live music most nights of the week). Even if you decide that I'm crazy and you'd never go see this, this pub is still worth a visit and whetting your whistle with a pint or two.