I.

Mime: A minor person who meddles with high politics, yet he has a really potent weapon up his sleeve. He is a Mr Nobody – engulfed in the global power game and armed with a nuclear missile – who wants his share of the pie.

When Wotan pays a visit, it’s like watching a lopsided political showdown between Mr Nobody and Bill Clinton. Mime has no reference point beyond the knowledge he already possesses. He loves his books, manuscripts, and plans, which he constantly refines. This is his way of keeping everything under control.

Siegfried is far to “great” for him. Siegfried is a restless teenager. It would be interesting to see if we could create a balance between them as they alternate between seeking mutual contact and misunderstanding each other, switching between communicating and being obstinate – to narrow in on a single-father-with-teen family dynamic; to focus on a small setting, e.g. the dinner table or the classroom.

Mime fails in his paternal duty of offering sexual guidance since he doesn’t want to tell Siegfried about women or anything else that may cause him to stray away. When Mime conveys the concept of fear then Siegfried, who is 18 years old and charged with surging hormone levels, thinks Mime is talking of sex. Siegfried is really interested in learning about fear and in preparation he forges a sizable sword!

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II.

Grumpy old men. Wotan and Alberich argue, just for good old times’ sake. Does Wotan have an alcohol problem? Wotan is barred from getting involved, which is why he calls himself “The Wanderer”. We take his word for it and try to portray him as a friendly guy on a nature walk carrying a hat and a vacuum flask. To be on the safe side, Wotan lives up to all expectations of being completely harmless. At Neidhöle he pretends to be a tourist.

Siegfried is a poetical soul – perhaps even an artist at heart – who through manipulation has become a warrior. There’s an element of Hair over this 1968 setting. Fafner as Siegfried’s Vietnam; Fafner as an environmental culprit at loggerheads with hippie Siegfried. The truth of Siegfried’s calling would have been revealed had he not been exploited by, among others, Mime and Wotan. He is an artistic soul, a poet, a visual artist.

It’s a frightening thought that you may inadvertently express your inner thoughts without having control over the situation. It would be exciting if we were to let Mime discover on his own account what is to happen during the scene without him being able to keep it a secret. All in all a wonderful scene.

Still struggling with the bird. I’ll be amazed if we succeed in finding the right bird. Will it do what we expect of it? How tame will it be? What if it doesn’t fly ahead to show Siegfried the way when we want it to? The bird is Brünnhilde’s message in a bottle.

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III.

Finally Wotan can retire and pursue true love – the woman he could never have. As president he couldn’t abandon Fricka. Now he arrives to finally celebrate with Erda. But he sees is own age reflected in her waning frailty and fatigue. Wotan must finally face his own mortality; just as he did the first time he met Erda and experienced first love. Perhaps only love can teach us of our own mortality, about loss...

Why is it so difficult to let go? Why do the greatest artists and statesmen not let us retain a dignified image of themselves, reflecting the way they were at the pinnacle of their power? Why do former leaders, despite their retirement, still haunt the corridors of power? Why do artists never retire? Why is it so damn difficult to let go of the reigns of power despite the fact – or perhaps precisely because – you have nurtured a successor? Why does Wotan not let us remember him as a great leader? Why does he have to humiliate himself in the canteen, drowning himself in beer while seeking to exert undue power over the up-and-coming generation? What kind of gruesome mechanism is it by which greatness dismantles itself?

Brünnhilde and Siegfried. Beautiful! Everything went according to plan. Difficult. She must learn the facts of life. She must learn about female sexuality. They must both overcome their fear of giving themselves to each other. He lacks the capacity to understand what she is going through. She, on the other hand, starts to understand what it takes to be fully human: both happiness and sorrow. They cast their inhibitions overboard by daring to exhibit their vulnerability and by daring to laugh at themselves. Brünnhilde says: Let’s... “lachend zu Grunde geh’n”. Great, but also easy enough to say. Unfortunately, she is later made to eat her words. I doubt whether she will really laugh when she faces her own annihilation in the next opera. Their relationship is doomed from the outset. Siegfried didn’t choose her; he didn’t have a choice. What will happen when he, at the age of 18, is to take on the world? Or the first time a tinted blonde shows interest in him, when he discovers that he really does have a choice?

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