Stefan Vinkje, as Siegfried, and the Rhinemaidens in Gotterdammerung, the fourth opera in the Ring cycle. Picture: Jeff Busby Source: Supplied
EMBARKING on a Ring cycle is like boarding a long-distance train. You know you are in for an exhilarating ride - in this case, 16 hours of German opera - and you know what you are likely to see and hear. But if the destination is predetermined, the journey is not.
Every four-act Ring is different from the next and Opera Australia's first-ever production of Richard Wagner's monumental "music drama" (known formally as Der Ring Des Nibelungen) takes audiences on a journey that is surprising, thrilling and profound.
Director Neil Armfield made his intentions clear from the very start, stating that he wanted to "render a world that connects to our own'' and not surrender to "seductions of effect". True to his word, the Ring he has devised is not overly flamboyant, despite the early appearance of showgirl Rhinemaidens in the first opera, Das Rheingold . Yes, there is a giant carpark ramp in act two of Die Walkure (the second opera) with taxidermied animals thrust through its hollowed centre. But more often than not, Armfield and set designer Robert Cousins clear the decks and foreground character ahead of razzle dazzle.
Not wanting to literally depict events described in Wagner's fable, the creative team here also come up with ingenious Australian answers. In this Ring, "the depths of the Rhine" feels more like an afternoon by the beach, a "forest cave" in Siegfried (the third opera) resembles a shabby bedsit and the Gibichung Hall in Gotterdammerung (the fourth opera) resembles a plastic-sided wedding marquee.
Were traditionalists appalled? Possibly. The sight of that bedsit, with its saggy couch and microwave oven, must have had a few of them choking on their Minties. My reservations were more to do with changes of tone that occasionally jarred and worked against a gathering sense of dramatic unity.
The Ring - first performed in the 1870s - is essentially about power and the price we pay for blindly pursuing it. Armfield never loses sight of this, in my view, and succeeds brilliantly in humanising the gods and monsters of Wagner's imagination. In this, he is superbly served his performers.
Susan Bullock's brooding Brunnhilde and Terje Stensvold's towering Wotan/Wanderer are pillars of vocal and dramatic strength. So is Stefan Vinke, as Siegfried, whose glowing tenor never once faltered across four hours of singing. Vinke's ecstatic duet with Bullock in the third act of Siegfried is one of the high points of this Ring, but standout performances emerge from quieter corners as well.
I will not quickly forget Deborah Humble's deeply affecting Erda, or Jud Arthur's bloodied dragon, or Warwick Fyfe's Golem-like Alberich. Fyfe is a revelation, scuttling across the stage like a spider and embodying the greed which animates Wagner's moral tale.
The Melbourne Ring Orchestra, under the baton of Pietari Inkinen, is simply marvellous and drew out a multitude of colours across the four nights.
No opera is complete, of course, without an audience and, by the time we reached Wagner's Twilight of the Gods, there was almost a party atmosphere in the stalls. You get to know your neighbours in the course of a Ring. You get to chat and share a drink, just as you do on a train.
And when this giant locomotive finally grinds to a halt, you breathe a sigh of relief ... and think about starting the journey all over again.
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The Melbourne Ring Cycle 2013
Opera Australia
State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne, until December 13
Rating: ★★★★½
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