ENO has managed to scoop up a pile of publicity with its latest move, a live broadcast of its widely-panned new Lucrezia Borgia on Sky 3D TV tonight.
The idea of 3D TV is tempting. But it hasn't enjoyed a huge takeup to date, partly because of the cost, and partly because there's so little 3D programming currently available.
Here's the cost of watching the opera on Sky HD 3D:
- 3D TV - from £625
- 3D glasses - from £60 per viewer
- Sky TV pack including 3D channels - £52 per month (you have to buy all the other channels to get 3D)
- Sky+ HD box - free ( I should jolly well think so)
- HD pack - £10.25 per month
- bonus - all that technology will allow you to enjoy a few kids' movies and the odd sports match
Alternatively you could watch the opera live at the Coliseum tonight for what suddenly seems a bargain price: £21 to £85.
The ENO's John Berry apparently believes "the production is a further example of ENO’s ventures into unknown territory which he believes is attracting new audiences for opera. “There is so much here in which you can smell the personality of the organisation,” he says." (FT)
What sort of 'new audiences'? Premiership footballers and hedge fund managers? And what sort of 'smell'? My guess - it's the sort that makes you hold your nose.
