“We’re probably doing a few things that nobody ever thought anyone would ever do.” It’s certainly a tight fit, with the conductor (the internationally renowned Wagner expert Anthony Negus for the first two cycles, and David Kram for the final one) surrounded by the Melbourne Opera Orchestra in crowded configurations. “I’m not going to say it’s the most luxuriously spaced orchestra pit,” Amos concedes, with a wry wince. Rheinmaidens Rebecca Rashleigh (Woglinde), Naomi Flatman (Wellgunde) and Karen Van Spall (Flosshilde), below the sway pole performers. Any theatre that produces a Ring has to be able to accommodate the 90-odd musicians Wagner demands, which is the reason Sydney has never been able to stage one. Wagner revolutionised the orchestra for his Ring Cycle, sometimes inventing new instruments such as the Wagner tuba (which makes a sound somewhere between a french horn and a trombone), sometimes incorporating objects like the anvils that appear in the first opera, Das Rheingold. The size of the orchestra pit is equally important. It isn’t exactly minimalist, although Chaundy manages to show surprising directorial restraint in a show that often inspires profligacy. There is a ring of fire in one key scene of Die Walküre, and later in the cycle there is a dragon slaying, a great flood and an apocalyptic immolation that consumes the heroine. Chaundy opens hers with two aerial artists suspended on poles, Rhinemaidens in one opera and Valkyries in the next. Wagner cared deeply about the Ring Cycle’s design elements and the text calls for several high-impact coups de théâtre. Rebecca Rashleigh (a Rhinemaiden, Woglinde) warms up in a backstage practice room with head of music Raymond Lawrence. Andrew Bailey’s monumental set – with its massive hydraulic platform, towering flats, 450 rigged lights and elaborate props – takes four semi-trailers to shift. There is, however, a slight catch: “We don’t have the same capacity backstage, so the sets have to be shipped off to a depo between each opera.” Given the production’s specs, this is a wearying thought. “It was the size of the stage and our scenery capacity that secured the production for us,” says Bendigo’s manager of venues and events, Julie Amos. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning The massive Ulumbarra theatre, where the Ring Cycle is being performed, was converted from the old Sandhurst gaol in 2015 – the stage is only 25cm shy of Melbourne’s cavernous State theatre. The 500-seat proscenium arch Capital theatre turns 150 this year, but it’s really been the Bendigo Art Gallery and its winter blockbuster exhibitions that have put the town on the national tourism map. Photograph: Steve Womersley/The Guardianīendigo has spent more than a decade building the cultural cachet needed to pull off an event of this magnitude. A Ring Cycle installation by Bendigo artist Steven Stanley can be found greeting arrivals in Rosalind Park Piazza.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |