Sir – As enthusiastic opera lovers, my wife and I attended a new opera on tour at the Oxford Playhouse on Sunday. Letters Of A Love Betrayed is a new work composed by Eleanor Alberga and well presented by Music Theatre Wales, commissioned by the Genesis Foundation and the Royal Opera House and partly funded by the Arts Council.

The evening proved to be an enjoyable experience, however our enjoyment was diminished by the sense we both felt of being ripped off by the Oxford Playhouse. I suppose it would have been more acceptable had the performance been a sell out and the tickets had been in great demand, however, the theatre was probably two thirds empty. There must be an argument to suggest that ticket prices should be at least consistent with the other tour venues for this production, especially as a Sunday evening isn’t exactly the most popular time to attract a decent size audience to the theatre. The best tickets were being sold for £22, very similar to the world premiere of this show at the Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House.

The Oxford Playhouse can hardly boast anything remotely comparable to the marvellous Linbury? The other tour venues for this production were much more attuned to attracting an opera audience to a new work, the highest price being just £15, many were less!

To cap it all we were charged £6.40 for two simple orange juices and lemonades in the interval — we reckon that’s something like a 400 per cent mark up!

Music Theatre Wales and similar companies that are presenting contemporary opera should be encouraged as it is not easy to get the public to try something new, bad pricing and poor programming and timing inevitably leads to poor audiences.

Surely one of the main aims of the Arts Council grants are to ensure greater accessibility and look to widen the appeal of innovative opera?

Mike Woodward, Sunningwell