We had only just become Charlie when Opera Vlaanderen’s Parsifal director Susanne Kennedy asked us all to become Parsifal. Perhaps this is the same thing, because Kennedy’s interpretation of Parsifal is brimming with Christian symbolism, even though she and her partner, set designer Markus Selg, seem to embrace a broader pantheistic idea of spirituality. In other words, the spiritual core of this Parsifal remains intact. Anyone who doesn’t find that innovative has probably been living on another planet for the past two decades. In-house dramaturge Piet Devolder made no secret of his enthusiasm for this unexpected change of direction during his introduction. He had just written a monograph on Parsifal, a slim volume held together with the program booklet by an artful elastic band. But that does not mean Parsifal is rescued.
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