This weekend started with a bang when we went to see Salome at the Berlin Staatsoper and I have my first experience of being in a audience that has booed a performance. Immediately after the final chord there were a few people that booed however these few were quickly drowned out by a chorus of Enthusiastic whistles and bravos. The main boos (from I would guess 1/3 of the full house) were reserved to the Lady playing the role of Herodias. I did think she was pretty average but I felt really bad for her, I'm guessing she didn't feel to crash hot about it either as she didn't come out with the rest of the cast for the second curtain call. I thought in general that the production and all of the singing (with the exception of Betty Boo) was fantastic though.
After the culture came some culture-shock. My new friends from school and I went to a club/bar called White Trash Fast Food. It is a really cool bar in an old Chinese restaurant. Upstairs they were playing everything from Run DMC and Salt n Pepper to Blink 182 and Greenday and had quite an eclectic mix of punters and healthy dance floor. Downstairs in the basement were a mass of sweaty long haired, black clad heavy metal enthusiasts doing their best to dislodge a vertebrae in their neck.
Sunday I met my one of my friends and we had some lunch and then went to this enormous flea market in a park next to one of the few remaining pieces of the Berlin Wall. The market was huge and was like the Glebe markets and the camberwell markets got married and had seven children. CRAZY. It also has a few beer garden areas and while there we heard an Australian guy who performs on his own and uses only his voice and a slide trumpet. - He was quite amazing the weird things he could do with his voice. He would sing/hum/yodel/beat box a phrase and record it and play it on a loop. Then he'd layer heaps of other layers on top and eventually when the backing was all there would sing a song to it. Really cool.
On the way home my friend was feeling faint and we stopped for a rest. He looked really pale and just went I suggested he should sit on the ground he started to have a seizure. I helped him to the ground and then held his head so it didn't smack on the concrete and a passer by called an Ambulance. He eventually came around and the ambulance came and sorely tested my German medical vocab and my Charades skills and we went to the hospital. Turns out that this is the first time its happened to him - he's staying at the hospital overnight and maybe tomorrow so they can run test and make sure hes OK. When I left him he seemed back to his normal self albeit feeling worried and a bit sorry for himself. I will go and visit him tomorrow morning and take him an English magazine or two.
After that drama I went to the Komische Oper's performance of La Traviata (in German). I HATED it. There was some great singing but the production was the most nonsensical thing I have ever seen. I have seen it before, sung 2 small roles and been in the Chorus in two seasons and i still had trouble following what was going on. I thought I was in for a second booing session (One I would have been sorely tempted to join in on) but I was astonished that not one boo could be heard. What sort of topsy turvey town is this???
Now I'm home tucked into bed after doing a bit of homework for class tomorrow. I'm going to sleep much better than a baby tonight!
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