Well, I suppose I could say that ‘I had the experience but missed the meaning’. Although I knew this was essentially based on the Freischutz story (the marksman with the magic bullets – an old folk tale from Germany while watching, it was almost totally baffling and unclear. The performances were wonderfully vigorous and varied but in terms of storytelling, for me, it did not work at all. Visually it was pretty spectacular with marvellous stagecraft (I have never seen so much foam used on one stage – and not once, but twice) but about halfway through I was getting irritated and feeling that all this was self-indulgent; the performers were clearly having a marvelous time but for me in the audience…
However, slightly oddly, the final scene did begin to work and communicate dramatically. I am not sure why – it was somewhat less frenetic to what had preceded it – and I had a sense of emotional commitment in terms of what was happening on stage.
So, fascinating to see and I am very glad that I did but…