Esther at Kurium

Last week was rather strange, and very quiet. Richard and Tim drove every day to Kurium for Esther setup and rehearsals (and the musical itself Friday - Sunday), and returned late at night. Never before midnight. On Saturday morning our latest visitor from the UK arrived, so that afternoon we all went to Kurium so we could actually see the show. We got there mid-afternoon, so were able to have a a look around first; our friend had never been to Cyprus before, and Kurium is quite an interesting site from the archaeological point of view.

The amphitheatre is a lovely place for theatre, looking as it does over nearby hills towards the sea. We were very impressed with the set, too, which looked most realistic despite being built out of polystyrene and wood, with loudspeakers hidden inside:


Tim's main job was ensuring a good quality sound recording, but he also helped with the setup and mixing of the sound. Each day the equipment had to be packed away at night, and then unpacked and set up again in preparation:


Richard's main job was filming on all three nights of the performance, for a production that should eventually go out on local TV as well as being made into a DVD. Some of his PA equipment was also used, and he too helped in the setting up of cables, speakers, microphones and more.


The musical itself was due to start at 8pm, and (given that this is Cyprus, and nothing starts when it's supposed to ...) it was almost on time. The production was very high quality. It was written by people in Limassol a few years ago, expanding the Biblical story of Esther into a two-hour musical. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it was excellent. For much of it I could even forget about the discomfort of sitting on ancient stone seats... even with cushions it's not exactly comfortable.


The cast was pretty big, and it was nice to see one or two people we know in it. There must have been well over a thousand people in the audience.