Wagner: Siegfried ***
Opera North, Royal Festival Hall, 1st July 2016
While the Welsh were merrily slaying Belgians in Euro 2016, one dragon was on the receiving end at the Royal Festival Hall. In the third instalment of Opera North’s Ring Cycle, the impetuous Siegfried – raised by the dwarf, Mime, to know no fear – enters the dragon’s lair and slays Fafner, who guards the Nibelung gold. A slumbering crocodile filled the central panel of Peter Mumford’s video screens. Lars Cleveman’s Siegfried stabbed Mats Almgren’s Fafner with an invisible sword from the other side of the stage, the latter unfurling his red pocket handkerchief and letting it drift floorwards.
Richard Roberts (Mime) and Lars Cleveman (Siegfried)
© Clive Barda
Read the full review on Bachtrack.