The German lighting designer Urs Schönebaum, a frequent collaborator with Robert Wilson, is liable for Act II. Right here, Schönebaum makes use of lighting results and a darkish palette to dramatize the conflicts between Wotan, the chief of the gods; his outraged spouse, Fricka; and his beloved however defiant daughter Brünnhilde. Schönebaum stated that “lighting is a part of the set,” and has give you what Gerlach known as “a refined visible strategy” that’s real looking in contrast with the opposite two contributions.
The German artist Ulla von Brandenburg, who relies in Paris, is the inventive power behind Act III, wherein Brünnhilde’s Valkyrie sisters attempt to shield her from Wotan’s wrath. Von Brandenburg, identified for utilizing vibrant textiles in her movies and installations, has created multicolored, ever-shifting units long-established out of the identical painted cotton that she has used for the costumes.
Stuttgart has an enormous off-site rehearsal facility, geared up with two halls the identical scale as its theater’s essential stage. Schönebaum, whose act requires exceptionally exact lighting, needed to divide up essential entry to the true stage with the opposite groups, resulting in a schedule that he known as “extraordinarily tight.”
Brian Mulligan, the American baritone singing Wotan, seems in two of the three acts, and consequently had round 15 shoe, wig and costume fittings. (He stated a fraction of that might be nearer to the norm.) Even Schoner, who settled on dividing up “Walküre” in fall 2020, admitted it was a problem choreographing a curtain name that might accommodate the three groups.
Goran Juric, the Croatian bass who sings Hunding, Sieglinde’s brutish husband, nervous that the night is perhaps “sort of schizophrenic for the viewers.” That concern additionally arose among the many firm’s administration. Siegmund’s sword is a crucial prop in all three acts, and early within the planning, Gerlach recommended that the identical sword stay as a sort of Wagnerian leitmotif via the night; that concept was rejected. However, he stated in an interview not lengthy after the primary gown rehearsal, continuities have emerged “with out being deliberate by us.”
