Der Ring des Nibelungen
A rectification of Wagner’s legendary opera
Stories Wagner left out get a place after all in this multi-voiced adaptation of Der Ring des Nibelungen by Schauspielhaus Zürich.
Is it still possible to stage Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen without addressing themes like racism, gender and identity? Not just like that, the German writer Necati Öziri and director Christopher Rüping feel. Wagner’s opera, which is about the hunger for power and a ring with magical powers, draws a distinction between different kinds of creatures and thus excuses unequal treatment.
Festival Holland Festival
Run time 210 minutes, incl. intermission
Genre Music Theater
Language German
Surtitles Dutch, English
But neither is it an option to ignore the work, with its globally utilised music, centuries-old mythic tales and seducing praise of nature. This would be to wrongly deny the influence the separate parts - Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung – had on many artists the last one hundred and fifty years.
-|- So Rüping and Öziri made a powerful, extravagant adaptation. Öziri calls it a ‘rectification’ himself and together they give a place to the voices and stories Wagner left out. Together with musician and poet Black Cracker and an orchestra of individual musicians, they turn the dead white composer’s magnum opus into a new, multi-voiced theatrical extravaganza for the 21st century.
Credits
cast Maja Beckmann, Black Cracker, Nils Kahnwald, Benjamin Lillie, Wiebke Mollenhauer, Matthias Neukirch, Necati Öziri, Steven Sowah, Yodit Tarikwa direction Christopher Rüping set design Jonathan Mertz costumes Lene Schwind Ulf Brauner, Miriam Schliehe, Naïma Alissa Trabelsi, Sonja Hildebrandt, Karl Dietrich, Katja Weppler music Black Cracker, Jonas Holle, Born in Flamez, Gil Schneider, Isa GT, Ixa Psybourg, Legion Seven, Leo Luchini, Philipp Hülsenbeck, Simonne Jones lights Gerhard Patzelt video Emma Lou Hermann dramaturgy Katinka Deecke audience development Silvan Gisler production assistance Leila Vidal-Sephiha, Josephine Scheibe intern production Rosa ntern costume Valeria Ballek inspection Dayen Tuskan translation Anna Galt rehearsal translations Alain Angehrn, Lux Züst translation surtitles Sinikka Weber surtitle operator Panthea with support byFörder Circle Schauspielhaus, Schauspielhaus Zürich text Necati Öziriinternational affairs Sonja Hildebrand
About Holland Festival
Holland Festival is the largest international performing arts festival of the Netherlands and one of the oldest festivals of Europe. The festival was established in 1947 and will celebrate its 75-year anniversary in 2022.
It takes places every year, In June, in and around Amsterdam, at various locations, both indoors and outdoors, both large-scale and intimate, both online and offline.