With Götterdämmerung there is the everyday sinister magnificence of Daniel Sumegi’s Hagen, which works potently and with great virtuosity.
Daniel Sumegi augments his role as Fasolt reincarnated as the equally threatening if more hardened Hagen; his marvellously rich bass booms threat and evil into every corner of the auditorium.
Set and costume designer Zoe Atkinson, together with director Matthew Lutton, describe this as a space where light and life are absent, a nocturnal subconscious prison. The almost barren set was punctuated by a huge staircase and very little else but a few shabby looking rehearsal room and school chairs. My initial curiosity about the incongruous nature of the chairs and the three modern branded water bottles set around the stage was cleared up by Lutton: “the whole production is filtered through Elektra’s eyes and anything or anyone she has no emotional connection with is dealt with perfunctorily and plainly”.
Set and costume designer Zoe Atkinson, together with director Matthew Lutton, describe this as a space where light and life are absent, a nocturnal subconscious prison. The almost barren set was punctuated by a huge staircase and very little else but a few shabby looking rehearsal room and school chairs. My initial curiosity about the incongruous nature of the chairs and the three modern branded water bottles set around the stage was cleared up by Lutton: “the whole production is filtered through Elektra’s eyes and anything or anyone she has no emotional connection with is dealt with perfunctorily and plainly”.