Qype: The Little Theatre Cinema in Bath

Bath – Nightlife – Cinemas

Last year, we went to André Rieu’s Homecoming Concert, in Maastricht. We couldn’t go this year, owing to another commitment. But, thanks to an organisation called Cinema Live (www.cinemalive.com ) we were able to see it more or less as it happened.

What they do is transmit concerts and events live via satellite to cinemas throughout the world. The nearest one to us was the delightfully compact Little Theatre cinema in Bath.

I don’t think the concert was, actually, ‘live’ … but, if it wasn’t, it was recorded fairly recently. A clue was that André seemed to introduce each number in English. Last year, as might be expected from a Dutchman addressing a Dutch audience, he spoke in Dutch. So, had it been pre-recorded, or was someone doing some really good real-time dubbing?

There were far fewer people … the cinema was only about a quarter full
The announcements were in English (I was expecting sub-titles at best);
we got close-ups and distant shots that just wouldn’t have been possible if we’d actually been there (although these are on the DVD we usually buy afterwards)
and the seats were much more comfortable.

On the minus side, Bath is not really the place I want to visit at the height of the tourist season. However, we did enjoy the concert, but agreed it wasn’t quite like actually being there (we didn’t do a river cruise, or visit the St. Pietersberg caves) although it fell short by only the tiniest margin. Maybe if, sometime, they did it in 3D?

Check out my review of The Little Theatre Cinema – I am nomadkeith – on Qype