Christine wrote:philipchevron wrote:I can never see "Rigoletto" without thinking of my dear father who, for my 10th Birthday, took me to see it at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin in 1967.
And what did your ten-year-old self make of it? My own kids revolt at the very idea but I think I shall have to bribe / beat them to go to at least something child-friendly like Aida or Carmen. They were, after all, forced to go see The Pogues but all ended up enjoying that experience.
I can't say this 10 year old was wildly grateful at the time. This was before the days of English surtitles and I began to wonder when my Dad would next take me to something in English [in those days, there was still an Irish-language pantomime at the Abbey, and that had been our previous excursion]. But my old man had a great faith in theatre. While I had not the slightest idea that he had expended the equivalent of an entire week's paycheck on the pair of Rigoletto tickets, my Dad felt sure, I realise, that he had his man, so he swallowed the temporary hurt of rejection in favour of the longer term good. Many years later, as his health failed, I took the greatest pleasure in bringing him and my mother to the opera seasons at the Gaiety. Though unspoken, he knew it was my way of saying thanks.
And the Irish panto? Well, I never did quite fall for Abbey Theatre Irish over the years. However, in Fernandó Agus And Ríon Og" I had the pleasure of seeing work, for the first but not last time, the greatest Actor of the 20th Century. Donal McCann.
The other odd thing I remember about the Rigoletto is how my Dad took it upon himself to explain "La Donna E Mobile" to me. All major staging posts in my life as my Dad's son seem now to have coincided with trips the theatre - even the Birds and the Bees.
Well, then it counts as educational and is A Positive Thing. Perhaps I should point out that there is some sort of orgy in the first scene of this 
