Spatial metaphors in <i>Parsifal</i> by R. Wagner directed by S. Langridge
The article examines the spatial solution in the production of Richard Wagner’s musical drama Parsifal , directed by S. Langridge at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London in 2013. The space is a projection of musical time as well as a metaphor of ethical conflict. Spatial leitmotifs of the performance line up in semantic series: a) forest / nature / universe; b) cube / Grail cover / hospital ward; c) Grail / repeatability of the ritual / suffering; d) mask / wound / physicality. The opposition “ritual / existential experience”, which underlies the performance is also expressed by spatial means. Thus, the narrative and metaphorical plans for the performance are in constant interaction, which corresponds to the dramaturgy of the Wagnerian opera with its close connection of the narrative and the symbolic.