Last night we went to the old village of La Bastide d'Armagnac to watch a performance of the Opera at the Windows. This takes place in the "Place Royale" in the centre of the village, a stunning site for such a show. For a period of 10 days professional and amateur musicians, singers and actors get together to produce the show which takes place for just 2 performances. The theme is somewhat mysterious but the basis of the show was explained afterwards by the producer. A long time ago the surface of the" place royale" was of hard sand and the villagers gathered there to play quilles and boules . When the square was paved (although it is now not an even surface so it must have been done over a century ago) it was forbidden by the local council to be used for the games. From this little bit of history the show was based on the word "interdit" (forbidden). Somewhere along the line the story of Snow White came into the show! I think it was because they were trying to imagine a world with no such word as forbidden, a fairy tale world.
There were several nests of house martins directly under on of the balconies and despite all the noise going on around they continued to fly into their nests to feed their young adding an extra "song" to the show!
Despite the complications of the "plot" it was an amazing evening with the hard work of all the participants being fully appreciated by the large crowd.
Video below.
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