Discussion:
Why can't we do this with the Ring?
(too old to reply)
Mike Scott Rohan
2017-06-29 12:09:38 UTC
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Bert Coules
2017-07-03 17:55:51 UTC
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Mike Scott Rohan asked, subjectively,

Why can't we do this with the Ring?

There have been steps in that direction: various productions have, with
varying degrees of success, given us projections, athletic and balletic cast
doubles and extras, atmospheric lighting, the occasional spectacular visual
effect and the like. Even as far back as the Schneider-Siemssen Ring and
the first ENO cycle some elements of the sort were tentatively in place.

But what no one single production has managed so far, I think, is to take
the next creative step and mount a Ring where the visual side is given the
sort of central consideration that the Tempest in your link seems to have
given it; where the look of the show is (almost) the entirety of what the
show is about and all the other elements relate to it. The Valencia Ring
came close, perhaps.

Bert
REP
2017-07-06 23:28:57 UTC
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Post by Bert Coules
But what no one single production has managed so far, I think, is to take
the next creative step and mount a Ring where the visual side is given the
sort of central consideration that the Tempest in your link seems to have
given it; where the look of the show is (almost) the entirety of what the
show is about and all the other elements relate to it. The Valencia Ring
came close, perhaps.
I'm not sure how you gather that the other elements were secondary to the visuals. A production can be top-notch in every area: direction, costuming, scenery, acting, singing, etc. Just because the visuals are astounding doesn't mean that anything else was a secondary consideration.

REP
Bert Coules
2017-07-10 15:18:58 UTC
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Post by REP
I'm not sure how you gather that the other
elements were secondary to the visuals.
That isn't what I said and not what I intended to convey; apologies, if
that's what came across.
C.Z.
2017-07-06 04:44:14 UTC
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Post by Mike Scott Rohan
http://youtu.be/BZKtQAIE4ew
Depends on who 'we' is. Is that video from a stage play or a film? Certainly The Ring is a very fertile field for a film, but I'm not sure who or what organization would be willing to undertake such a mammoth effort, with what reward likely in sight, perhaps not even a break-even? Still, it would be great to see it done.
Bert Coules
2017-07-06 09:13:58 UTC
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Post by C.Z.
Is that video from a stage play or a film?
It's a trailer for a stage production by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Richard Partridge
2017-07-06 19:48:04 UTC
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Post by C.Z.
Post by Mike Scott Rohan
http://youtu.be/BZKtQAIE4ew
Depends on who 'we' is. Is that video from a stage play or a film? Certainly
The Ring is a very fertile field for a film, but I'm not sure who or what
organization would be willing to undertake such a mammoth effort, with what
reward likely in sight, perhaps not even a break-even? Still, it would be
great to see it done.
It would be great to see it done well. But it might not be. Look at what
happened to Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings." They stripped out everything
that made the books magnificent works or art and left us with three
children's movies.

Dick Partridge
Mike Scott Rohan
2017-07-07 17:57:52 UTC
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Post by Richard Partridge
Post by C.Z.
Post by Mike Scott Rohan
http://youtu.be/BZKtQAIE4ew
Depends on who 'we' is. Is that video from a stage play or a film? Certainly
The Ring is a very fertile field for a film, but I'm not sure who or what
organization would be willing to undertake such a mammoth effort, with what
reward likely in sight, perhaps not even a break-even? Still, it would be
great to see it done.
It would be great to see it done well. But it might not be. Look at what
happened to Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings." They stripped out everything
that made the books magnificent works or art and left us with three
children's movies.
Dick Partridge
Not even that, indeed; three video-game derivatives. But that hasn't happened here, has it? This is The Tempest in all its power, with a superb actor in Simon Russell Beale as Prospero (He's also an excellent singer, incidentally, who's made a TV series on church music). Technology well harnessed is at anyone's service. What went wrong with the LOTR films was their shabby director and scriptwriter. But Greg Doran, the RSC's director, is altogether a different animal. He's done here very much what his Shakespearian precursor Sir Peter Hall was trying to do with his Ring at Bayreuth. If only we could reply on Doran ding this again...

Cheers,

Mike
Mike Scott Rohan
2017-07-07 17:24:40 UTC
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Post by C.Z.
Post by Mike Scott Rohan
http://youtu.be/BZKtQAIE4ew
Depends on who 'we' is. Is that video from a stage play or a film? Certainly The Ring is a very fertile field for a film, but I'm not sure who or what organization would be willing to undertake such a mammoth effort, with what reward likely in sight, perhaps not even a break-even? Still, it would be great to see it done.
That was a live production, several nights a week and matinees, just as you see it, by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Which is publicly funded, like Covent Garden, and doesn't have to break even as such (although it makes profits from popular productions, musicals and so on). And now this technology has been developed, it could easily be adapted to other productions, without vast costs. It's far ahead of even the kind of thing Fura dels Baus did for the Valencia/Houston Ring.

But, more to the point, it is used to create an authentic and unapologetically romantic atmosphere which would integrate with Wagner's music and create something much closer to the stage pictures he imagined than has ever been done before. All that's required is the will.

Cheers,

Mike
jo'
2017-07-12 11:20:43 UTC
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I saw this production in HD at the cinema, and my reaction was to ask myself the same question as Mike posed. How amazing could a Ring be, using this kind of imagination and technology? Of course it would be wildly expensive, but loads of money is spent on Ring productions anyway, and most of those are not worth looking at. The Met's 'plank' production has some lovely moments, but much of its promise is unfulfilled. The Valencia Ring is fun to look at, as long as you don't get seasick from the constant quick changes of camera angle and you can bear to look at the frightful costumes.

No production, though, however brilliantly conceived, will be worth looking at unless we can get some performers who can actually sing the music.

J

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