I have read that Belfast's Grand Opera House has experienced "a difficult time" and suffered "a shortfall of 50% in sponsorship funding. We had to look at our internal costs and make really difficult decisions."
I haven't been to the opera house for almost six months, when there was a production of Gilbert and Sullivan.
If I indulge in a pre-theatre snifter, I invariably head to the Europa Hotel's Piano Bar which I find more conducive than the opera house extension.
There has been no grand opera in the theatre, to the best of my knowledge, since then.
I have had a look at their new website and, indeed, readers shall be unsurprised to learn that I preferred the previous one. Is this the result of another cost-cutting measure? How is the renovated website improved by trendier fonts and colours?
The Grand Opera House is essentially a Victorian theatre, with Victorian - and even Edwardian - décor and plasterwork. Any website and letter-heading ought to reflect and celebrate such sumptuous surroundings and grandeur, to my mind at least.
Timothy Belmont designed his own website - within limitations - making use of fonts and colours which reflect my ethos and beliefs; using the Edwardian Script sparingly. I hope that traditional fonts and quiet colours reflect traditional, classic values.
Blatant advertising is loud and vulgar, utterly inappropriate; however, I suppose we must accept it, given that the sponsors demand it.
I invite the Management of the theatre to respond.
3 comments :
I've nothing against their modern extension really, but I do wish they would occasionally (even a few times a year) have a proper opera, instead of the usual populist musicals!
W.
Absolutely, W. At least it provides the GOH with much-needed extra space.
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