Author: Jos Hermans
Romeo Castellucci's visual theater is a cryptic Wunderkammer. It is never narrative nor illustrative. It does not even seek to communicate meaning but to have an immediate, emotional impact on the viewer. Not infrequently, it produces stunning images, often entangled in inextricable riddles. The wizard of Cesena is sometimes compared to David Lynch, and quite rightly so: what one cannot understand (and does not even need to understand) can nevertheless provoke a strong emotional reaction, even leave an indelible impression. It makes no sense, therefore, to view Castellucci's theater differently than its creator intended.
With Das Rheingold, Castellucci proves that he is more than the postmodern quack for whom his detractors hold him. He does not deconstruct anything; in fact, he delivers one of the most textually faithful readings of the work that has already been seen. So this time no "rebus theater" with extreme riddles begging to be solved but a reading that exchanges the cerebral for the sensuousness of a theater à la Jan Fabre.
Castellucci, originally a visual artist, is not an actor's director. This means that the action on stage will never captivate through the movement dramaturgy of the characters but only through their interaction with the visual environment. The risk of boredom then quickly lurks around the corner. The good news is that he has solved this in an exemplary manner with a number of tricks that work well. He has doubled the Rhine Daughters with three dancers performing simple choreographic movements (choreography: Cindy van Acker) while immobilizing Alberich by chaining him to a suspended beam, a not unfitting metaphor for the burden he carries of his repulsiveness. His latex costume leaves no doubt about that. He immobilizes the giants on a pedestal while temporarily letting playbacking children take over from the gods on stage. Loge is full of jokes and tricks. He appears as a Prometheus with a flame in the palm of his hand which then turns out to be a prosthetic arm. He breaks the fourth wall with winks to the audience and entertains with magic tricks. The arsenal of his pranks includes pouring black ink on the iconic portraits of helmeted Wagner divas Birgit Nilsson and Astrid Varnay, a no-holds-barred critique of the literal, illustrative theater of the Wagner tradition against which the Castellucci formula vehemently opposes and which could easily be understood as a form of blasphemy. "Only with the brilliant visions of Adolphe Appia did Wagner's theater reach its unique potential for the first time," the director says in the program booklet.
He also quotes from his own work : black ink was an attribute associated with sin in "Moses und Aron." Gold is another recurring pigment. In Salome it was a symbol of biblical decadence. Here it is the great signifier of the whole of the Ring: "gold absorbs sexual desire and all other desires." And Eros does not play hide-and-seek in Castellucci's work. The half-naked warriors of beauty in Tannhäuser were far more erotic than the stale Venusberg choreography you usually get to see. And so the Rhine-daughters are naked, their skin rubbed with gold paint: "I find it extraordinary that Wagner places the beginning of his great story at the zero point. The first energy that appears is sexual energy."
The second scene shows the gods out of balance, amid Hellenistic bas-reliefs. The bulbous, comical crowns on their heads could have been by Jan Fabre as could the teeming sea of humans at their feet. One can perceive social criticism in them. Better imagine the gods are out of balance because of the impending dispute with the giants.
Mythology is often linked by Castellucci to technology. In Nibelheim, it is a machine, folding gold bars into rings, that shapes Castellucci's idea of the industrial revolution. The Ring is a ubiquitous symbol. Alberich wears one around his neck as a Tarn helmet. The Ring as a symbol makes its entrance in a brief prologue where it is one of many artifacts Castellucci has already descended from the stage tower during his theatrical career .
The first transformation scene drowns in a cloud of fog; the second is a real transformation, one in which Alberich sheds his latex costume and transforms into the mouthy, dark double of the supreme god. It's a strong scene, and Alberich's nudity intensifies the humiliation. His torture by the gods in priestly robes also makes Alberich a very physical role for Scott Hendricks. By Loge, he is showered with black ink to become Schwarz-Alberich. After cursing the Ring, he plasters Wotan's left eye shut with the black substance. The story of the world ash tree is cut short. For now, the spear plays no role in Wotan's movement dramaturgy.
Rheingold ends in utter nihilism. Backwards, with arms outstretched as if it were the collective suicide of a religious sect, the gods plunge one by one into a black hole. The stunning aspect of this is that it fits the music of the "Einzug der Götter" surprisingly well. Loge's prophecy ("Ihrem Ende eilen sie zu") is thus very radically illustrated. It also completely closes the prologue to Wagner's tetralogy and sharpens the appetite for Die Walküre which can begin in January with a full tabula rasa.
Gabor Bretz did not disappoint in the crucial role of Wotan although Castellucci gave him little profile as "herrischer Gott." His beautifully timbreed, well-projecting youthful bass bodes well for the heavy work that awaits him in Die Walküre. This Wotan was a great improvement over his Heinrich in Lohengrin (2018). Scott Hendrickx's debut as Alberich was also very successful. His timing and sense of dramatic emphasis was perfect. Wilhelm Schwinghammer and especially Ante Jerkunica were fine giants. They looked so related that the director made them playback each other. Nicky Spence sings Loge mostly in a warm conversational tone, sometimes with a lot of voice, always with excellent diction of German. He already proved that he has a knack for languages in Janacek. Marie-Nicole Lemieux did not always sound convincing. As a new-born Wagner soprano, she will have to come up with more to prove herself in Die Walküre. Rhinemaidens Eleonore Maguerre, Jelena Kordic, Christel Loetzsch performed unevenly, sometimes with unpleasant vibrato.
There are just over 80 musicians in the orchestra pit of The Monnaie. Alain Altinoglu has reduced the strings and harps, leaving the wind section complete. The stream was so absorbing that I only listened to the orchestra with half an ear. The soloists were never overblown but as scorching as in Covent Garden's cinema-relay recently, the orchestra has not sounded in my home theater.
So the question is: can you save The Ring with only visual theater? Both Robert Wilson and Achim Freyer have tried it and failed. Will it work if your name is Castellucci?
Watch the show at RTBF Auvio or from november 20 on the website of La Monnaie.