Self-loathing blends with love at Bayreuth ‘Tristan und Isolde’ by director Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson

Associated Press

BAYREUTH, Germany (AP) — Icelandic director Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson’s production of “Tristan und Isolde” at the Bayreuth Festival is becomes a psychoanalytic examination of self-loathing and burdensome expectations. Arnarsson’s staging, starring Andreas Schager and Camilla Nylund and conducted by Semyon Bychkov, opened July 25 in a run of seven performances through Aug. 26. Video from opening night can be streamed on Stage+. The intellectually dense production with sets by Vytautas Narbutas and costumes by Sibylle Wallum is so layered with symbolism that a study guide would be helpful.