Villach

After spending the first half of the week in a different town every night we arive in Villach where we will spend nearly a week. As much fun as touring is, nothing beats being able to properly unpack your suitcase and settle down for a few days. 

Villach is a small town in the mountains and is popular in the summer as it is surrounded by beautiful lakes and ski resorts. We drive for several hours through the mountains and arrive at our base, the ‘Romantik Hotel Post’ in the evening. 

Villach is a strange town insomuch as it doesn’t do what it says on the tin. Though in the mountains in the Austrian district on Carinthia, the ancient village does not resemble Austria and certainly doesn’t not feel anything like a Village. 

The centrepiece of Villach is its large Cathedral that dominates the landscape, this is surrounded by a number of old stone buildings, (one of which being our hotel) leading on to the high street. 

Carinthia is a very right wing part of Austria and as such I expected tradition; but as soon as you arrive you are confronted with an H & M and a Mcdonalds so you are soon aware that tradition is something that does not define Villach. 

Going out, Villach seems even more like Reading. The few small bars and clubs and rammed with skin head boys wearing D12 caps and hoodies, and girls with dyed blond hair and hoop ear rings. Last night we went to a club called 'Lets Dance!' (we were almost the only ones who danced.) 

The club came to a stand still when two meatheads decided to have a fight, and in true Western style even the DJ stopped the music to take in the show.  

The bars play a mixture of German pop and 80’s English classics, and boy did we sing along!

 

We performed the show on day one three times to audiences of over 350 each time. These were by far the best shows that we have done to date and we all felt a real buzz after doing them. 

Lady luck really did seem to be on our side and even the technical glitches, of which there were many, seemed to add to the shows success.  

During the main argument scene the CD player jumped wildly, making the usual background of Bach sound like a contemporary theatre sound effect. Even my fake mobile phone, which angers the character of Dad in the same scene, seemed to want to increase its part by going off a few extra opportune times.