Michael van der Aa's multi-medium opera Sunken Garden had its world première in seven performances in the Barbican Theatre, borrowed for the purpose from the English National Opera, in the second half of April; I went late in the run, encouraged by the reviews of the opening nights by my confrères and -sœurs, who were all-a-quiver at the use of 3-D projection in the production – but it's not the first time I've wondered if I'd been in the same place as other reviewers: I was bored to tears and, having given it an optimistic hour's grace to establish its pace and purpose, spent the remaining hour waiting for it to come to an end.