Director’s Note (written 25 Aug 2026):
I have always been drawn to the epic form.
An “epic” is a long narrative poem, novel, or work that focuses on the heroic deeds of legendary figures. The most famous epics have been passed down verbally for centuries before being written down. As we hand over stories, we learn who we are, why we exist, and who we hope to be. The epic is thus a form that transcends space and time. It holds the psychology of who we are, our psyche.
What makes Siegfried a special epic is that it traces the becoming of a hero. Siegfried is a man-child whose interregnum moment is the learning of fear. In this staging, I have found the birth of the psyche. The mind is a beautiful enigma composed of material and ephemeral. The orchestra is the central grey matter, forming the substrate of all that will happen and be perceived. Out of it fire neurons — sparks of light, creating being and doing. The maestro’s baton conducts a resonance.
In praise of Wagner’s music, Swiss psychologist Carl Jung has referred to it as speaking to our ”collective unconscious”, a universal experience that evokes memories ingrained in all that makes us human.
Wagner’s music is highly symbolic. In the meticulous musical physics that he manipulates to weave the world of Siegfried, we can find the full meaning of the word “psyche” — mind, body, soul. And so, if you wish: like me, you can find inspiration in the basic Jungian Archetypes, those universal, primordial predispositions that organise, direct, and inform human thought and behavior. But the human experience is much more complex than the Archetypes might suggest. Chaos is needed to give life, and try as it might, the human desire to bring order and function will eventually tire out. This is where I have met the limits of staging Wagner with Jung. But this is where you, our audience, can play your part. What do you hear? What do you see? If you listen with your psyche, what are the stories that resonate?
It is hard to imagine, but the stories we tell today may well be passed down for centuries to come. I invite you, as you listen to the music, to find the epics that you hold in your psyche, and to discover those which you need to pass down.
| Carl Jung’s started with these five basic archetypes, theorising them as primordial predispositions of human thought and behavior: The Self: The unifying archetype representing the totality and balance of the conscious and unconscious mind The Persona: The mask or image we present to the world to adapt to society. The Shadow: The repressed, darker, or unknown aspects of the psyche that we often hide or deny. The Anima and the Animus: The unconscious feminine aspects within the male psyche (Anima), and the masculine aspects within the female psyche (Animus). Stevens, Anthony (2006). The Handbook of Jungian Psychology: Theory, Practice and Applications. New York: Routledge. pp. 76, 84, 85) |
