Aida at Aspendos from Alanya Marina

The set for Aida is staged in front of the stunning backdrop of the ancient and well preserved tall stage building behind it. Unfortunately this cannot be seen in the photograph.


Friday 12 June

The big day has arrived and tonight we are to travel by bus from Alanya Marina, to the ancient theatre of Aspendos, where we will see the Ankara Opera Company perform the opera Aida.

It is to start at 9.30 pm but we leave early from the marina - 6.00 pm - in order to get good seating on arrival. This strategy pays off as we are in the theatre early and settle down to enjoy our picnic dinner and glass of wine. The surroundings are magnificent, it is a very hot day, cooling down now and the light fades slowly to an Arabian Nights blue sky as the stars come out.

That is.... both the stars in the sky and also the full cast of the show to come who wander out on to the stage in casual dress and perform their warmup rituals.

We are entranced by the performance of the lead soprano who is world class, and the pure spectacle of this magnificent show. It does not finish until 1.30 am!!! The photos say it all... and Richard has his say as well: We loved Aida and the experience was magical, especially the venue of course and we went with a great crowd from the marina so it was a great night out. The lead tenor however was a great disappointment. He was very short, rotund to the n'th degreee, looked like a giant beer barrel with arms, all of which could have been overlooked if he had a good voice - which he didn't!! In contrast, the leading lady, Aida, was world class in all respects......, although there was nothing in the programme to tell us much about her. She was superb - tall, elegant, great actress and superb voice. The contrast especially during the love scenes (almost the whole of the third act) was not well received by the audience. At the final curtain the tenor was booed! However apart from that it was a great show and we felt well worth the effort and expense as we actually stayed over for an extra week in Alanya to see it.



Just a little more information on the Aspendos Theatre: Seating capacity 15,000, this theatre was built by the famous architect Zenon during the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius 2nd Century AD. It is considered to be one of the best preserved ancient theatres, due to the fact that it has remained constantly in use over the centuries and has been renovated and maintained well. It was even used for a time as a Caravanserai during Seljuk times.