Wednesday, May 28, 2008

KG2 Graduation in the Opera House!

It all started when my sister invited me to the graduation party of her son (KG2!!!) and I had the shock of my life when I asked her where it will be held, the answer was " The small hall, Cairo Opera House" I had to ask her several times and I even made her double check with the school that the party will be there and there it was. I went -extremely biased against the whole idea- and the evening was really disastrous. First of all, the parents were not allowed free entry, they had to buy tickets for 50 LE each! Then the entering scene was horrible, parents coming with children and babies who were fighting with the Staff as the Opera House regulations state that no children below 7 years old are allowed to enter (actually the oldest kid in the graduation party would never be more than 6!!!) After a lot of fighting, the parents forced themselves in, with no tickets or seats reserved, fights started among parents and with the Opera House staff, the performance started 45 minutes late, the theatre was not prepared at all, babies were crying all the time, Cameras were smuggled into the theatre against the approval of the staff as it is also against the Opera House regulations, most of the people were standing and taking photos of their children while waving and screaming... I think I have to stop myself as I can be going for the next 3 hours. Now and to add to all of this, the school headmistress expressed her deep happiness for having the graduation ceremony in the small hall and promised the audience to have it next year in the main hall. Now my question, should the opera house be a place for such events? Should regulations be that flexible that they can be deviated in such a vulgar way? Is it all about making money? Would the Opera House -a gift from Japan that the Egyptian government did not pay a single penny to establish- be added to the endless list of falling icons, losing its meaning and be a source of money? I was really so furious with what happened that I had to leave before the end of the show (I really don't know what to call it) feeling very sorry for what is happening to one of my very few favorite places in this suffocating town. They can't build an Opera House and even when they have one as a gift they can't keep it, the first was burned down and the second is turning into club, I wonder what's next... But there is always a silver lining to the cloud, guys, why don't we add the Opera House theatres to the list of places where we can have Birthdays and proms, if they host KG2 graduation ceremony they definitely wouldn't mind any other sort of events, as long as you pay the money ! The country is moving!!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

although i share with u ur anger for the opera i disagree with linking it to the country and its status, do not mix things

Lasto-adri *Blue* said...

This is insane!

Unknown said...

Meto, you forgot to mention that you left an incredible evening, with one of your dear friends singing to a small bunch of avid readers within a cozy atmosphere in Maadi in order to attend the graduation cermony :):)

But of course graduating from KG2 is a memory to remember in that case (someone please tell that to the babies when they grow up! they might never enter that same opera house ever again!!!!!!)

Anonymous said...

real black comedy