Day 35: The Theatre

After walking around the palace today, I decided I had to at least try to get tickets to a show.  I can't leave Russia without having at least tried to get tickets to a show at one of these incredible and ancient historical theatres.  I walked into the Alexandrinsky Theatre two hours before curtain and asked for a ticket assuming my chances were slim to none.  Well I got one for tonight, for 4 bucks.  That's right, 4 smackeroos.

I had a drink before heading to the theatre.  After talking to the bartender I learned something really interesting about St. Petersburg.  In summer, sometime at night, the bridges go up for the boats and ships to go through and they don't come down until early the next morning.  There are multiple rivers that run through St. Petersburg.  This means, if you are stuck on the wrong side of the river when the bridges go up, you are SOL.  There is no way to get to the other side of the river.  You have to stay where you are until the bridges go back down early in the morning.  If you're out late, you're staying out late.  This also means the bars stay open all night long to accommodate.  Perhaps St. Petersburg alone pays a huge contribution to the alcohol consumption statistics in Russia.

Later on, I walked into what I swear was the front of this theatre.  If could not have looked more 'front-of-theatre' like.  Yet somehow, somehow, I went into the wrong enterance, thus entering into a maze of confusion.  I amazingly enough figured out where my seat was despite not once encountering any staff whatsoever.  No one checked my ticket.  No one interacted with me.  I didn't even set my eyes upon a single person who works there.  I could have walked in and saw that show for free.  Absolutely could have.

This show, I don't know how to describe it.  The set was awesome.  It was a plexiglass LED-lite floor made of 8X8 squares that elevated 8 feet up and down allowing actors to rise from underneath the stage onto the stage in these see-through boxes.  It was such a strange show, something out of the mind of David Lynch.  I loved it.  I couldn't understand a damn word, but I loved it.  I got the main idea.  It was awesome just to be in that theatre.  And the best part of the whole thing was that my ticket, again just to reiterate, cost 4 bucks.