Die Walküre: Staatsoper Stuttgart (Zagrosek) (UK-import)
In Staatsoper Stuttgart's fantastical contemporary update of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, director Christof Nel creates characters that universalise the epic story based on Norweigan mythology and German poetry. In this story where gods, giants, dwarves, and humans vie for a special ring, made for the dwarf Alberich (though at the price of decrying all love), Jan-Hendrik Rootering plays an out-of-shape middle-aged Wotan, Renate Behle plays a rather masculine Brunnhilde, and the countless Valkyries take the form of badly-dressed teenagers.