In the end it was the expected rough wind that the Austrian young director Valentine Black blew in the face after the end of the new “Ring des Nibelungen” in the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on Friday evening. With the sometimes strong “Götterdämmerung” the 33-year-old theater maker completed his reinterpretation of the Wagner tetralogy.
Reinterpretation is to be understood here in the literal sense. Schwarz broke down the mythical events surrounding the power of gods and humans into a human family saga in the style of epic streaming series. Dwarves, dragons, bears, invisibility cloaks, or mighty rings had no place. The festival audience booed for minutes, which Bravos could not counter with isolated attempts.
This is the end of the new “Ring” in Bayreuth, which in its radical nature is perhaps the first real “Ring” of the 21st century. Previously, Frank Castorf had delivered a late work on the fall of communism and its predecessor Tankred Dorst primarily illuminated the mystical aspect.
Schwarz’ merit is the illumination of characters that are otherwise underexposed in the tetralogy and the smaller distance to the figures. The penalty is a certain one-dimensional reading that simply ignored many of the work’s philosophical aspects and mythological layers altogether.
Source: Nachrichten
