Royal opera house woes continue

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The BBC's John McIntyre Reports "It has been dogged by technical problems" real 28k

Wednesday, 19 January, 2000, 14:27 GMT New hitches hit Royal Opera House

The House has lost #243,115 through cancellations

The newly rebuilt Royal Opera House has suffered a further setback with the cancellation of another performance, the ninth since it reopened in December.

The House said the Wednesday matinee performance of Sir Harrison Birtwistle's opera Gawain for special schools was scrapped due to "continuing problems" with new software used to change stage scenery.

#214m has been spent on the revamp

A spokeman said the incident was regrettable, adding that the schools had received refunds for tickets and expenses.

But he was unable to say when the problems might be resolved, as new hitches kept cropping up: "The problems arise when they arise. We are not able to forsee them."

The problems are seen as a blow to the House's goal to become "the people's opera" - improving access and offering educational work - supported by an increase in its government grant from #16m to #20m.

'Subsidised audiences'

The cancellation has reopened the debate on state subsidies for the arts. The artistic director of the London's Globe Theatre, which has just announced an #800,000 profit, has called for them to end.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/newsid_610000/610134.stm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), January 19, 2000


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