Keith Warner’s production for the Royal Opera of Wagner’s Ring dates from 2004, was first revived in 2007, then in 2012, and is back for four more cycles spanning October. The first ends tomorrow, and the magisterial creation’s further revolutions take us to a Götterdämmerung on November 2.
The early-afternoon starts, the six-and-more-hour stretches, the physical as well intellectual commitment required of the audience never seem to put anyone off. The whole run, priced from £1,200 for the stalls to £52 for standing in the slips, quickly sold out. Das Rheingold immediately made it clear why this should be.
Clear, that is, in absolute darkness. The music-drama, and the “festival play” of which this is the “preliminary evening”, begins at the bottom of the Rhine