But as fun as the play was, the venue continues to disappoint. This time they had a seating problem. The first four rows are on hydraulics so they can be dropped, raised and moved side to side. Last night though, they were stuck in the down position, therefore not allowing them to be useful. So the patrons who have been coming long enough, or pay extra to get the good seats, were quite unhappy about being moved to the back of the orchestra, which also meant the Will Call ticket lines turned into angry patron problem resolution lines. So, first of all, just getting our tickets (and pre-paid parking pass for Rob waiting at the curb in the car) took much much longer than normal. In fact I got in the next line after waiting with Theo five places further back and got to a window before she did. The lady at the window seemed quite grateful to have one more ticket up front to help resolve the problem when we gave Alan's ticket back. Then the play was delayed by half an hour so they could reassign seats, deal with refunds, and the justifiably angry patrons. Oh, and remember that the seats aren't terribly comfortable to begin with, so an extra half hour in them was not like an extra half hour in my LazyBoy at home. So we also got let out an additional half hour late, so home closer to midnight than normal. Yet more of this not being a favorable venue, and our next play is at Sydney Harmon Hall again. sigh.

Next season they better let us choose between the venues, because we become less and less impressed with the new one the more and more we use it. I'd heard that some were complaining about not being able to find the bathrooms at SHH, and I confess I haven't yet tried to track them down. It is irritating beyond measure that we have to go up stairs/elevator in order to come down stairs to our seats, when we can leave through an exit on the same level as our seats that comes back out through the main area. Oh, and there is no free row to cross to the other side of the theater if you accidentally come in the wrong side as your seat numbers, so you are forced to climb over all your fellow patrons in your row to get to the other side.