No 1 Ladies' Opera House is open

| Friday April 25, 2008 00:00

Meals offered include, in the morning, Alexander McCall Smith's favourite breakfast, Mr J L B Matekoni's breakfast, Mma Makutsi's pancakes with a Mma Ramotswe's pot of bush tea. In the afternoon dishes like a Speedy Motors trusted lunch or an Angelika Orford special are on offer. They are well cooked by John and Alphonce, served by Smokey the waiter and with Vivian for backup.

The No 1 Ladies' Opera House is the brainchild of David Slater, formally of Maitisong and Alexander McCall Smith, formerly of the University of Botswana, but now a professor emeritus at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where he was teaching medical ethics until the success of his over 55 books changed his life. He is best known for his series of novels, 'The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency', that have sold 15 million copies in 44 languages; and now the TV movie and forthcoming series of the same name.

Those familiar with McCall Smith's series '44 Scotland Street' may recognize the artist of the new signs pointing the way to the No 1 Ladies' Opera House, as they are by Iain McIntosh who illustrated the novels that appeared originally in the daily Scotsman in Edinburgh. Kgale Siding used to be a recruiting centre for mineworkers going to South Africa. The nearest neighbour in the complex is the Botswana Society, now 40-years old.
At the No 1 Ladies' Opera House it is planned to have monthly musical events and biannual operatic productions for one week in late June and another in December-following the equinoxes. They will provide a stage for some of the grand voices that have been found in Botswana who are able to sing opera and act out the dramas. The only drawback is that the space for the audience is limited to around 60, and maybe more outside in the garden under the leadwood trees?

Unusual opera houses may be found around the world. On the Canary Islands off West Africa at Las Palmas there is a full opera house where visiting companies perform, like the Opera Orchestra of New York. On the upper Amazon River at Manaus, Brazil, an opera house was built by rubber barons, a feature of the film by Werner Herzog, 'Fitzcarraldo'. On the small island of Gozo off Malta there are two opera houses for only 30,000 people. So why not a No 1 Ladies' Opera House for Gaborone with its 250,000 people?