The Royal Opera House Covent Garden is one of the most prestigious opera venues, serving as a venue for opera and ballet performances, the public stage of the Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet, where the best performers and orchestras strive to get to. Prior to the construction of the current building in 1858, there were two theatres on this site, which were destroyed in fires. Covent Garden used to stage all theatre genres, but later it began to specialise only in musical performances: operas, oratorios, ballets, and concerts. The current theatre building is the third to be built on this site. It was built in 1858 and underwent a major reconstruction in the 1990s. The hall seats 2268 spectators, the width of the stage is 12.2 metres and the height is 14.8 metres.

Tour of the theatre

Theatre tours are of interest not only to foreign tourists, but also to the British themselves. Connoisseurs of high art come from all over the country to learn more about the inner workings of the opera house. You have several options to choose from:

Backstage tour

If you like the theatre, you can join a group and go on a backstage tour of the Royal Opera House https://znaki.fm/places/royal-opera-house/. All the rooms are actively used, and during the tour you can even see the members of the ballet company warming up. I think it’s quite interesting! Usually, the tour lasts about an hour and a half. I advise you to check the availability of tickets on the official website. Tickets cost £8.50 for an adult, £11 for children under 16 and £12 for senior citizens and students.

Places to eat

Unlike concert halls with musicals that sell ice cream and chips, the Royal Theatre has made sure that its visitors are properly splurged. What’s a trip to the opera without a glass of champagne at the Paul Hamlyn Hall Champagne Bar? Here it costs from £14 to £24 per glass, sandwiches from £11. The tables are already set, and during the intermission, people often flock here. Some people eat from the standard menu, while others crowd around the bar. Some people have a snack from the standard menu, while others crowd around the bar

Upstairs there is a balcony with the Paul Hamlyn Hall Balconies restaurant. The prices are astronomical, but they are about the same everywhere near the opera house. For example, in the Amphitheatre restaurant, snacks cost more than £9, while the reviews are very average, so it’s up to you. Personally, I often avoid restaurants in theatres.

Crush Room is another place in the theatre where you can have a bite to eat. The hall is gilded, crystal lamps, everything is deliberately pretentious. Let me remind you that all these restaurants are located right in the building of the Covent Garden theatre.

Letter of appeal to cancel performances by Putinist Netrebko

The British Royal Opera House is being pushed to cancel Putinist Netrebko performances.

There is a call for the Royal Opera House in Great Britain to postpone Anna Netrebko’s performances. The theater appeal was signed by over fifty Ukrainian cultural leaders, as well as politicians and activists from Britain, France, and New Zealand.

The signatories include diplomat Serhiy Kyslytsia, writers Andriy Kurkov, Serhiy Zhadan, Kateryna Babkina, former Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark, Holodomor researcher Daria Mattingly, political science professor Olha Onukh, British politician Alex Sobel and many others.