Dr. Atomic

In Which: Our Hero Travels To The Big Smoke To See An Opera, Drinks Too Much Gin, And Falls Asleep


This is the name of John Adams' recent opera. I went to see it last Wednesday, at the ENO headquaters on Trafalgar Square. I do not claim to be any kind of opera expert*, as I think will probably become apparent. Let me set the scene.

I started the afternoon with lunch at St John's, (marrow on toast, of course) with a nice bottle of 2004 Vin de Pays de l'Herault, surprisingly structured despite a combination of four years aging (none in oak), and a position relatively towards the bottom of the wine list. this was followed by an eccles cake and madeira, and subsequently by an eccles cake and a madeira.

I like Farringdon, architecturally, and for the fact that it is never too busy, despite being slap in the middle of London.

I made my way to the colliseum (as they say) met friends, ordered a gin, slept through most of the first half, got another gin, listened to the second half, went to the pub. A wholy acceptable afternoon I would say, and wholy deserving of the following comments:

1) John Adams's operas are strange because they tackle very wide political issues by examining, to an almost absurd level of detail, very specific

*There are six different kinds of Opera Expert