Sydney Festival @ The Opera House

You can't go to The Opera House in Sydney dressed casually, in spite of Sydneysiders laid back attitude to dress code. So I slipped a skirt and heels on for the first time in months. As we made our way along Circular Quay the setting sun turned the Opera House golden. This evening light filtered inside and bathed us all with its warm glow while we took in the interior structure of Australia's icon.

We had come to see the first night of The Stomp Company's Lost and Found Orchestra and now I will look at my supermarket shopping trolley, vacuum cleaner and traffic cones in a new light. Quite apart from the strange instruments utilised one piece had the players flying through the air to each hit their chimes hanging high in space over the stage exactly in time, rather like a mad Swiss clock. I felt that there were nods to Morris dancers who also bash their staves rhythmically, if not quite so fast, and to the Spanish custom of Santa Semana parades with a drum and marching providing the strong beat. They had the whole audience spellbound and at the end the place erupted, everyone, including the Orchestra and on stage singers, clapped like fury and the audience stomped their feet in appreciation until an encore was forthcoming.