A great deal
of very informed reviewers, and well, normal people who quite frankly know much
more than I on the topic of Wagner, Opera, work, money and amount of people
required to set up a Wagnerian opera; have stated that Fulham Opera’s Der Ring
des Nibelungen is “audacious”, “big hearted” and “heroic”. I’m afraid they have
rather badly understated this dauntless challenge. They have badly understated
the manner in which Fulham Opera had brought this small part of this Epic Saga
to their most glorious audience.
To compare
Fulham Opera to that of the Homeric Epics; Naked Odysseus approaching the fair
maiden Nausicaa like a lion armed only with a moderately small branch to conceal his manhood. For that is
Fulham Opera, the bravery needed to put such an opera on with such new and
ambitious aims in itself can often lead to negativity; example being the almost
annual artistic controversy of Bayreuth. I do not believe that a Wagnerian
Opera has ever been performed to an audience with a single piano, a french horn
and a flute. When I had heard of this setup and saw the positive reviews I was
intrigued to see how this could possibly work. Wagner is renown for having some
of the largest orchestras. How could three individuals pull off a role which is
for such a large orchestra?
Then I
decided to go and find out for myself. The acoustics of the church hall
certainly provided everything which was necessary to spread the Wagnerian
tonality to the extent of consuming my very soul. The most impressive example
of the hall acoustics was for me the calls of the Woodbird, It certainly felt
that the sound was traveling through us across the Germanic Forest and back to
hit us a second time, never had “sound wave” been such a relevant term to the
experience which had bequeathed those fortunate enough to attend on Tuesday.
With the
performance of Fulham Opera’s Siegfried it has killed the once famous
reputation of Wagnerian Operas having physically repulsive beings to represent
those who are supposed to be “Über-Attractive”. Never has this been more true
than for the title role of Siegfried. The Royal Opera Performance which I went
to in 2012 featured Stefan Vinke who physically is not an ideal Siegfried, I
myself believed him to look somewhat like a 13th century tavern
keeper with his ample “beer-Belly”. This certainly can’t be said for Phillip
Modinos a man who is so fitting for the title role of Siegfried, seemed like
one of the very few operatic singers who is capable of pulling of the action
which is required as part of the epic battle between Siegfried and Fafnir, so
often in this opera do you see a pompously obese man waving a sword around like
child playing with a kite, finally at last we have seen a Siegfried which looks
believable holding a sword. To conclude Phillip Modinos was certainly deserving
of all the “Bravo’s” which were bestowed towards him on that fine evening. Though the whole cast is noticeable for their
excellent performance.
Now I wish
to speak on the negative parts of the production. That was the costume of Erda
and the prop’s of the Ring and the ghastly Tarnhelm. I question how Rhonda Browne was able to give
one of the greatest and emotional performances of the night, which was rewarded
with many “bravo’s”, looking like the Vicar of Dibley on a drunken toga themed
Hen Night. That abysmal costume combined with the all-powerful Ring (which
looked like it came from a fairy princess costume set) killed a very small
part of me. Then I saw the Tarnhelm… A Beige Baseball cap with strange shiny
balls placed onto it. Whoever was responsible for that idea needs to walk into
his/her glass door at some speed multiple times, that is not a Helmet of any
sort let alone the Tarnhelm, the helmet which has the power to turn one into a
Dragon. Siegfried is a part of the “RING CYCLE” therefore there needs to be a
ring worth fighting for. The All-powerful ring which was featured did not look
like it had the power to rule the World, but rather possess the power to maybe
rule my neighbours tree house.
To conclude
Fulham Opera did a fantastic performance of Siegfried which was worth my ticket
price. The costume was generally good, I certainly enjoyed the Amish theme and that of Wotan's Eye, the
work done by the cast, Ben Woodard and those two people on the instruments were
fantastic. For goodness sake get yourselves a proper Ring and Tarnhelm. Opera
is all about the spectacle, the pizzazz. When I go to an Opera I want to be
taken out of this sluggish and extremely dull world and be transported into a new
one. This performance of Siegfried did that up until after Fafner is slain and
Siegfried is carrying these shattering excuses of the Ring and the Tarnhelm.
