Hors d’Oeuvre in Horsley: Tash Siddiqui smacks her lips as Grange Park Opera’s ‘Ring’ cycle launches in style

Review of Das Rheingold, directed Edwards, conducted Sever, Grange Park Opera, West Horsley, Surrey, 2026.

November 2026, Volume 20, Number 3, 74–7.

‘Meaningful, personal relationships’ proclaims an advert in the 2026 Grange Park Opera programme. ‘Our lawyers are here to guide you on the creation, management and devolution of your private capital.’ Your critic fondly imagines that this is the work of an advertising copywriter with a sense of humour and a novel insight into the plot of Das Rheingold. All that stealing and lamenting, cursing and killing – how much more sensible if the Rhinemaidens, dwarves, gods and giants simply sit back and leave their lawyers to sort out the whole bloody mess. And Fafner, in his reincarnation as the very epitome of a rich layabout in the second act of Siegfried, could surely do with some guidance on wealth management.