Sir, - The theatrical flop of the season has to be Joaquin Corte's at The Point. Enjoyment of the occasion was in inverse proportion to the advance hype.
The dancing, including that of the principal, was banal and repetitive, the choreography lacking inmagination. Items went on and on, at painful length. The components of flamenco, such as bulerias, fandangos and sevillanos, were lost as distinctive elements.
Imagine a flamenco troupe without colour! Instead of the brilliant rojo y amarillo we were entitled to expect, what did we get? Funereal black and shroud coloured brown, courtesy of an Italian, Armani.
The venue didn't help. Four of us paid £132 for seats in the seventh row, and we still couldn't see the dancers' feet. The beauty and pathos of the canto jondo was lost in the ear-splitting volume. And in other respects too, The Point proved to be user-unfriendly. At the bar, Murphy's stout was poured like lager into plastic cups; there was nowhere to sit . . . nothing even to lean against.
The evening was not a total terpsichorean failure, however.
When we got home, we put Riverdance on the video. -Yours, etc
Somerset Street,
Ringsend,
Dublin 4.