Adapted by Graham Vick and Jonathan Dove
Orchestrated by Jonathan Dove
Director – Julia Burbach
Set and Costume Design – Bettina John
Musical Director – Peter Selwyn
Lighting Designer – Robert Price
Assistant Director – Lysanne Can Overbeek
CAST
Paul Carey Jones – Wotan
Claire Barnett-Jones – Fricka / Wellgunde
Gareth Brynmor John – Donner
Seth Carico – Alberich
Kiandra Howarth – Freia/Woglinde
Angharad Lyddon – Flosshilde
Philip Sheffield – Loge
Andrew Tipple – Fasolt
Marianne Vidal – Fricka/ Wellgunde
Harriet Williams – Erda
Dingle Yandell – Fafner
Jonathan Dove‘s acclaimed Rheingold orchestration was performed here in London for the first time since its premiere in the 1990s, with 18 live musicians from the Orpheus Sinfonia and an exceptional cast of singers, many of whom were giving role debuts.
“A key to any performance of the Ring is the director’s conception of who these people are, is this straight story telling about Germanic/Norse gods, a take down of capitalism or what? Bettina John’s imaginative set linked the balcony to the main playing area by a staircase made of ‘cardboard boxes’, with elements of the Ring’s iconography drawn on them, and on the floor. This meant that the work opened with what should have been the climax, the vision of the newly created Valhalla (drawn onto boxes piled high on the balcony). The idea of creating it out of the detritus around us, seemed to be central; Burbach’s programme note says ‘the story is triggered by a man stepping into a space that looks like something one might find in a Dalston back alley’. ” (Rober Hugill)
