Pattern in the spotlight

I'd been looking forward to today for a few weeks. I guess you could say that I'm a bit of a Wagner fan (his Meistersinger von Nürenburg is my favourite opera, and I'm always ready to tell anyone who'll listen that I consider it the greatest of all operas). A few years ago I was lucky enough to get to Bayreuth, the theatre which Wagner himself designed and built, and where the famous Festival is held each year, and for which there's reputed to be a ten-year waiting list for tickets. Imagine my excitement, so, when I discovered that a live videocast was scheduled for this afternoon. I paid my 15 euro for the privilege as soon as I heard about it, and passed on the word to the guys in the Music Group (none of whom took the bait).

Curtain-up was at 3.00 pm, and I was settled down in from of the pooter fifteen minutes before that. The opera was Lohengrin. Mind you, Wagner would have been hard put to it to recognise what I saw today as the opera he wrote. Hans Neuenfels, the director, is well-known for his 'adventurous' ideas. This means that he pays little or no attention to the composer's stated wishes or to what's actually going on in the libretto. It's more important with directors of his ilk to re-imagine things, and re-interpret and bring up to date. I knew in advance to expect something weird, but I just couldn't stomach the nonsense that was coming from the stage in Bayreuth today. This review attempts to explain Mr Neuenfels's "vision", but I have to say it's high time somebody had the courage to remind the emperor that he isn't wearing any clothes.

I hate to admit it, but I only got as far as the start of the second act and gave up at that stage. Perhaps I'll re-visit it at some stage during the on-demand opportunity. Perhaps. I blipped a few of the strangest first-act moments, but decided against inflicting anything on unsuspecting blippers. Instead, here's what it looked like when I turned my back on the screen (well, after a bit of processing – the wallpaper on this wall is much more subtle than this suggests).