Function Review: November 2002
Elke Neidhardt - Q&A session on the planning for the Adelaide
2004 Ring Cycle
On Sunday, 17 November, The Wagner Society was honoured to have the
Director of the first fully Australian produced, directed, designed
and largely sung Ring Cycle, Ms Elke Neidhardt to answer questions
from members about how the Ring Cycle was being planned and rehearsed.
For many members, including the editor, how an opera production is
conceived and brought to life on the stage is largely a mystery. Ms
Neidhardt provided the members at the function with a wealth of information
and views about opera direction in general and her approach to the
State Opera of South Australia's Ring Cycle, without divulging specifics
about the look or her interpretation. The following is an edited account
of the session.
Qn: How is Ms Neidhardt approaching the Ring Cycle?
Ans: The most important aim of producing operas is to keep such a
work alive. She cited Wagner's cry of "Schafft Neues!"-
"do new things!" as a cornerstone of the directorial school
in Germany. "Any art form cannot continue to reproduce the things
of times past. The Ring story is so amazing that it will last, but
we should not expect it to look the same."
The production team* met together for a week in a house in the Blue
Mountains and spent from 9:30AM to midnight brainstorming the work
and the production interpretation. However, after 4 days, the team
had only worked through Scene 1 of Das Rheingold! This is partly
explained by the fact that only Ms Neidhardt had actually seen a Ring
Cycle or heard all of a recording.
Ms Neidhardt, however, pointed out that there were advantages in
having an artistic team that had no preconceptions about a work of
art, since they are unlikely to be burdened by tradition, but are
able to bring a typical Australian freshness to the interpretation.
Ms Neidhardt has seen 6 different cycles and worked on the revivals
of four, giving her a significant background from which to tackle
the work. *Set Designer - Michael Scott-Mitchell, Lighting & Associate
Designer - Nick Schlieper, Costume Designer - Stephen Curtis The team
began by reading the Norse sagas and getting to know the characters,
then clearing up misconceptions in the team about the work.
Ms Neidhardt admitted to having a preference, if she were ever offered
the chance of directing a Ring Cycle, to take an environmentally-oriented
interpretation. Although also confessing to not being sure about how
much politics to highlight, Ms Neidhardt is sure that, as Wagner himself
intended, there would be a "tinge of humour" in her interpretation.
In discussing the matching of costumes to characters, Ms Neidhardt
skillfully avoided divulging the period in which her interpretation
is set, apart from confirming that it was not "primitive"
or "mediaeval", but "more or less modern".
Qn: How have you approached the Norse heritage in the Ring Cycle?
Ans: Ms Neidhardt said she wants to keep the emotional content of
the Norse Eddas as raw as possible as it is in the Ring Cycle because
"emotion doesn't age". Ms Neidhardt stimulated our curiosity
by saying that she had found her own way of presenting the redemption
aspect of the ending of the Ring Cycle and that she was going to keep
that, no matter what! However, she declined to elaborate despite questions
from the members.
Qn: For many members, the production process is a "closed book";
could Ms Neidhardt tell us a little about the production & rehearsal
processes?
Ans: Ms Neidhardt noted that she had been instrumental in putting
forward Asher Fisch as the conductor after seeing him conduct in Berlin.
(He also conducts the Tel Aviv Opera and the VolksOper Berlin.) It
is crucial to have a good "marriage" between conductor and
director and Mr Fisch has made "daring" suggestions that
have been taken into account in the production. There was a wide-ranging
[and clearly demanding Ed] audition process of listening to dozens
of singers.
In the rehearsal process, the singers have to arrive fully prepared
[ie to have memorised their part completely], ready work within a
simulated set. In directing the singers into the new interpretation
during the rehearsals, the director has some flexibility to take account
of singers' capabilities, but little sympathy in cases where singers
may not be inclined to try anything "new"!
Steven Philips, the general manager of the State Opera of South Australia,
is responsible for scheduling all the rehearsals: with Die Walküre
first in 2003 and then Das Rheingold also in 2003; then Siegfried
and Götterdämmerung in 2004, followed by the revising
of the first two operas. The scheduling is based on singers' contracts
to be available at the set times, but also takes into account the
frequency and order of the appearances of characters. For example,
Erda doesn't need to arrive for the first part of the rehearsals for
either Rheingold or Walküre, but Wotan does; Brünnhilde
doesn't need to show until Walküre and not again until
late in the Siegfried rehearsals.
Ms Neidhardt noted that on 12 December 2002 the production team would
present the set and costume designs to the Opera Company of South
Australia for costing and, the "inevitable" cutting back!
[Members wish Ms Neidhardt and her team well in getting the best deal
from the management!]
Qn: How do you juggle Wagner's specific stage directions and the
broad sweep of your interpretation?
Ans: Ms Neidhardt always starts with the stage directions, but she
noted that Wagner's are often quite erratic: some are very detailed,
other are implied. But no-one in Germany would follow the stage directions
as this is considered to be too "old-fashioned". The designer
is also taking the stage directions as his starting point, but with
the intention of creating spectacles with fire and water when needed.
However, as much as Ms Neidhardt and her team admire and understand
the need of their German colleagues to "go as far as they can",
her team is guided by the stage directions, interpreting the scenic
demands made by Wagner in a way that is true both to the stage directions
and to our times.
In this context, Ms Neidhardt piqued our curiosity again by admitting
that the presentation of the dragon is one of the big secrets and
she is sure it will be very exciting. The production will have real
magic fire, real water, a real Valhalla and Rainbow Bridge and Valhalla
will be consumed by fire. The Valkyries will be very exciting and
their presentation is another of the big secrets of this production.
They will be humorous and very raunchy!
Qn: How does the interpretation handle the magic elements in the
Ring Cycle?
Ans: We have to acknowledge that the magic is part of the fairytale
heritage of the work, but we can also say that Alberich's magic is
clearly not very good because both Wotan and Loge laugh out loud as
Alberich turns himself into the toad and the dragon. On the other
hand, the Tarnhelm is hard to deal with because we can't resort to
presenting it yet again as a golden "rag" hanging over Alberich's
and Siegfried's faces. Ms Neidhardt believes she has found a good
solution!
Qn: Does the director have to compromise on the stage movement of
characters if it becomes clear that a singer is not capable of carrying
it out?
Ans: A director is constantly compromising! But Wagner wanted good
actors as well as singers and we have good actors for our Ring Cycle.
If singers absolutely cannot do something, rather than just don't
want to try, then a good director will try to adapt the concept. Ms
Neidhardt noted that ideal singer/ actor is Poul ??? Elming, whom
she directed for the Adelaide Parsifal in 2001. Mr Elming had
told her that he came to every new production as if it were his first,
otherwise he would go mad!
Qn: Who have been the main influences on your directing style and
in what ways?
Ans: Ms Neidhardt said that they were Harry Kupfer, Götz Friedrich
and Willie Bekker?[check], all of whom she had assisted at
some time. Assisting good directors is the only way to learn this
trade as an entire process, with part of the experience being to take
over one of their productions for the rest of a run or for a revival.
While Herr Kupfer is "old-fashioned", because one can still
understand his productions, the Otto Schenk (producer) and Günther
Schneider-Siemssen (set designer) production of the Ring Cycle at
the Metropolitan Opera New York does not leave anything for the audience
to do; everything is spelled out and the production is so descriptive.
Although, Ms Neidhardt conceded, it is fun to see one production that
does as much as possible of what Wagner wanted.
Qn: How does a director bring a production to life, especially if
many in the audience are busy reading the surtitles to follow the
story?
Ans: Ms Neidhardt acknowledged having to read much about Wagner,
but commented that at the end one has to work with the text. The production
does not necessarily have to reflect Wagner's experience and times.
But the music is always the first element and tells her what to do
- the text is secondary (often the text is not very good grammatically!).
Qn: How hard is it to maintain a consistency of concept for the whole
production?
Ans: It is very important for example with the set which will have
one main set into which other elements, tailored to a particular scene,
will slot in and out as the scenes change. These will make it very
clear, for example, who are the celestials, if we are under water,
that Erda's element is the earth etc.
Qn: How relevant is the Ring Cycle to the 21st Century?
Ans: The relevance is in the material and the members' presence at
this talk attests to this relevance - and it will remain so. Theatre
has to "get under your skin" and make you think. Wagner
will not lose his relevance. Niebelheim for Ms Neidhardt is a disturbing
image; it can be seen as equivalent to child labour and in the Adelaide
production it will be very claustrophobic and frightening.
Qn: When will you feel comfortable that it will all work?
Ans: At the last dress rehearsal! Until then it is a work in progress
during which changes can be made, although she will minimise the changes
the closer the final dress rehearsal comes.
[November 2002 - Ed]
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