Boo to you, too
Sir: Does Paul Johnson (And another thing, 19/26 December) consider it never appropriate to boo at the opera? Perhaps he has never seen a bad production or, at least, not realised he has. If so, he's not alone. British opera-goers are notoriously undiscriminating. Perhaps after paying £98 for an ordinary stalls seat at Covent Garden they are reluctant to admit not getting their money's worth. In Berlin, where the best seat costs a third of that, people have no such inhibitions. There it is quite common, particularly after premieres, for the rival booers and bravoers to try to outroar each Other for several minutes. How else is the Opera house to know if the people really liked it? In Milan, where they had to pay even more to see Pavarotti than we do, some clearly felt ripped off and let La Scala know. Bravo them! Let's have more of it here.
Benjamin Bradshaw
58A St Mark's Road, London W10
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