Critics and the present day Bayreuth audience are a fickle bunch it would seem. You see, despite the odd boo and some reports to the contrary, Frank Castorf's new Bayreuth Ring cycle had been, at least up until Siegfried, received positively. Critics and audience members especially seemed not to mind as Castorf turned Das Rheingold into a comic soap opera. But all of that changed with the third act of Siegfried. It seems that while people do not mind the Ring as sitcom they do not want copulating alligators, machine guns and Erda conducting fellatio on Wotan. Indeed, according to the German press, not only did this lead to much booing, and a few members of the audience walking out, but so shocked by the killing of Fafner with a rather loud machine gun, that one unfortunate audience member collapsed - we assume not because of "positive swooning" - and needed to be carried out of the theatre.
We await with interest the final instalment - especially as any renewal of the Wagner's contracts as Directors may rely heavily on this cycle being an overall success.
Our advice to Frank? It seems you should just carry on making the Ring a...well "Carry on Ringing"
People seem to love it. Might we suggest the following as research?
