12:13pm Sunday 21st March 2010
By Guy Kilty
OPERA screenings have proved so popular at Blackburn's Vue Cinema that another 10 are being run this year.
Last year's two shows were said to have been a success, with both the young and old flocking to see the productions on the silver screen.
Now the cinema at the Peel Leisure and Retails Park, Lower Audley Street, is running an extended programme, starting tomorrow and Tuesday with Verdi's Falstaff recorded at last year's Glyndebourne Festival.
A different opera will then be shown for two days each month until Christmas.
Highlights include La Boheme in May, As You Like it in October and The Nutcracker in December.
Blackburn is one of 24 Vue venues involved in the scheme.
Nick Neal, marketing manager at Vue Cinema Blackburn, said watching the opera on the silver screen was a comfortable and inexpensive way to enjoy one of the world's finest art forms.
He said: "It went really well last year and, surprisingly, we had all ages in from 20 upwards.
"We are fully licensed so people can have a drink. And from April we will be doing a wine offer for the customers who come in for the opera.
"We have it on our digital screen so the picture and sound quality are really good.
"It's a cheaper alternative to going to the opera at a theatre.
"At only £10 for a standard ticket and £11 for the VIP treatment, opera at the cinema is definitely a cheaper option than going to one of the big cities."
Dot Haken of the Rossendale Amateur Operatic Society the ticket cost had proved popular with fans.
She said: "Opera is usually so expensive and often quite a long way away.
"With the best will in the world a lot of people can't afford £80 or £90 for a ticket plus the cost of getting to London or Manchester, so keeping it within people's price range has to be a good thing."
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