Richard Wagner - Parsifal
Royal Opera House, 2026
Jakub Hrůša, Evgeny Titov, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Ekaterina Gubanova, Christian Gerhaher, Brindley Sherratt, Mark Stone, James Platt, Ryan Vaughan Davies, Jack Sandison, Elizabeth Karani, Lily Mo Browne, Giorgi Guliashvili, Emyr Lloyd Jones, Chelsea Zurflüh, Rhian Lois, Sarah Richmond, Sarah Brady, Marianna Hovanisyan, Ellen Pearson, Nikola Printz
Covent Garden, London - 11th October 2026
Like any great work of art - and this is one of the greatest - Parsifal is an experience that constantly renews itself and reveals new aspects about life in accordance with the times. The very nature of its composition and drama means it can also be a mystifying experience, but even if you can't quite grasp the intentions of which aspect of Wagner's expansive worldview a director will focus on, you can still gain everything you need to know from the music itself. The new Royal Opera House production at Covent Garden directed by Evgeny Titov covers all the relevant reference points, finding an interpretation that touches on some of today's concerns, remaining faithful to the solemnity and reverence it deserves, before seemingly attempting to throw that all away in the closing moments of the opera.
Without being overly radical, the production tellingly introduces technology as an aspect a little more than you typically find in Parsifal. Even productions set in the post-apocalyptic future tend to start at a place where we have already reached that point and we are left with a ruined society. That does seem to be partly the consideration here - we are plunged back into a dark world by the time we get to Act III - where if we haven't reached that point at the start of the opera, we are clearly heading in that direction. I'm going to drop the expected contemporary buzzwords 'Late-stage capitalism' and the acronym 'AI' at this point and not dwell on those concepts much further, as these issues are not over-emphasised and the focus is rightly on the recognition that the opera is more concerned with the human condition. It is certainly something that comes to mind however and relevant when viewing the opera's theme of striving for knowledge and how to use it wisely, and the devastating consequences of losing out human values and connections in the process.
That's not a bad theme to find within Parsifal's deeply felt meditation on the human condition, but without having to overstate the case, Act I initially just shows the Knights of the Grail monitoring the approaches to Montsalvat on CCTV cameras. Living isolated from the rest of the world in their retreat, the esquires reaction to Kundry shows no sense of true human understanding for her suffering or condition despite Gurnemanz's guidance. They are going to need someone with a deeper experience and understanding of what it means to be truly human, protect the Grail (a symbol of our humanity?) and thereby save the world from the dangers it faces. Their king Amfortas isn't able to continue to offer the sustenance that faith in the power of the Grail alone offers them. To do that they need a pure fool, someone who is a clean slate who can start to rebuild and redeem a society that has lost its way. That, of course, is Parsifal.
That's a very much encapsulated summary of the subject and theme of Parsifal, but necessarily so since the themes are developed much more meaningfully in the music than in the narrative, although obviously the libretto has considerable wisdom to impart on the journey to enlightenment and redemption. If that is indeed the purpose of the journey, and it seems to be the path taken in Evgeny Titov's production, at least up until the final moments of Act III. But leaving that aside for the moment, there was much to admire in this spellbinding and often breathtaking account of this new production at Covent Garden.
There were no major departures from characterisation and intent in Act I. The overture seemed a little too stop/start, but the pacing and moment of reflective pauses soon fed into the flow of Act I. That was matched by the set designs of Etienne Pluss, the stone pillars of the underground bunker slowly shifting with you scarcely being aware of it, not so much to reflect different parts of the castle as much as placing you within that mystical place where the music magically converts Time into Space. Taking the lead in this act, Brindley Sherratt was excellent as Gurnemanz, showing no sign of being his unwell until it caught up with him in Act III; Christian Gerhaher was a shuffling, bent over in agony Amfortas, his typically clear and resonant singing seeming to come from that painful place. Under the musical direction of Jakub Hrůša, it was simply a magnificent account in that flow and gradual build towards the unveiling of the Grail. In that long first Act, every moment counts and Hrůša let the music run its natural course.
The length of the first Act is necessary as it is also instructive - a consideration that applies to the opera as a whole - in how knowledge and enlightenment cannot be gained swiftly. Parsifal has experienced a revelation in Act I but is unable to understand what he has witnessed. There are no shortcuts to wisdom, and over-reliance on technology to gain it excludes and misses out on the processes of human development and progression, the accumulation of experience, of making mistakes and establishing connections, of receiving wisdom and learning, and its application to human existence and experience. The opera itself is testament that true art has a part to play in that.
It's something that Klingsor, in his striving to make himself pure, takes extreme measures - shortcuts (a physical cut in his case) that have ended up embittering and twisting his humanity. His striving to be pure is based here on an array of screens where the technology has semi-animated classic paintings and bible illustrations - one of which evidently is that of Adam tempted by Eve into biting into the apple from the Tree of Knowledge (one of the central religious themes woven into the work). His ability to bring life to these moments through technology is impressive, but it is no substitute or quick shortcut to understanding the deeper message within them.
Consequently Klingsor makes much more of an impression than usual in Act II. Perhaps the nature of the role is more often misunderstood or misinterpreted so that - in my experience - it doesn't make as much of an impression as he perhaps should in this critical pivotal centre of the opera. Here however, in no small part down to an outstanding performance from Mark Stone, there is a more compassionate interpretation of Klingsor here. His initial good intentions and ideals have become twisted through his loss of humanity (represented physically in the reference to his auto-castration) and his flower maidens. Initially introduced as more innocent young children, they have grown up to become nothing more than automatons, their idea of love destructive rather than healing. Ekaterina Gubanova's Kundry also comes truly into force in this Act, as does Stanislas de Barbeyrac's Parsifal in his capturing the shock of enlightenment or at least of a direction found.
There is however still something missing in de Barbeyrac's earnest interpretation of Parsifal. It's true at this point that Parsifal has achieved understanding but is as yet unable to find a way of putting this to a meaningful purpose. That purpose, as suggested in this production, is to destroy the old ways - the Realm of the Grail and Klingor's both - to abandon the old rites and rituals, the world of men, technology and their order, and discover through love and compassion a way that the world can be healed and become a better place. Contrary to many interpretations of Parsifal that see the work as having a problem with women, or seeing women as a problem that prevents man from achieving a higher ideal, it's Kundry and a recognition of his mother's love that is the key to his transformation and his path to bring redemption to the world.
That is all beautifully enacted again in Act III within the shifting space of the realm of the Grail, now a shadow of its former self, which wasn't in great condition when Parsifal first arrived there, the remaining knights now tired shuffling figures worn out by their endeavours and failures. Sherratt’s struggle with a cold (announced before the start of the final Act) was starting to have an impact here. If you were inclined to be generous you could say it fitted with the declining conditions in Montsalvat, but no excuses were needed, as it was still a strong and authoritative performance. With everything musically and thematically in place, managing indeed to allow Wagner's masterwork to assert its own inner power, the production unforgivably falters in its final moments, playing out in a comic fashion with Amfortas becoming impatient with Parsifal's solemn orations and urgently pointing him in the direction of the wound in his side as if to say, get on with it, while Parsifal has to have a couple of goes before he gets there. It's almost as if they felt that it has all been too grave and solemn, and there is a need to lighten the mood a little. I can't imagine a more wrong headed idea, and I have seen some extreme turnarounds at the end of other productions Parsifal.
Perhaps not entirely convinced of Parsifal's role and Act III seeming to reduce Kundry to a background figure (it really doesn't), the director follows this misplaced moment by ending on a note of ambiguity rather than quiet triumphal release, having Parsifal clamber underneath the bier holding Titurel and Amfortas, now released from eternal pain in death. It's almost as if to say that if there is a need to wipe the slate clean and start again, Parsifal also needs to remove himself having fulfilled his role and purpose. Or alternatively, exhausted, overwhelmed by his long journey, he now in his enlightened state has to live with the knowledge of what has been wrought and the unknown that will take its place. What replaces it might not be ushering in of a brand new world of love, peace and redemption. It's perhaps not the end you would like to see for Parsifal, but it's right to end on an ambiguous note that invites you to think for yourself rather than falsely providing answers. We could have done without the comedy routine though.
