My Weekend

 I spent the weekend down in Bavaria....at Platting.  Every four years....they have a fest which is dedicated to the legend of Gudrun (mythical story/poem).  Things get shutdown and there's a huge fest area set up in the main part of the town, with a stage area dedicated to their rendition of story of Kriemhild.   So we had tickets and I sat through the 'play'.

My observations?

1.  This is a legend of sorts.....written for the period of about 453.  On some parts of the story, it might hold a bit of truth....the dragon stuff?  No.  But that's the way that legends work.

2.  There's probably 40 speaking parts to the 'play'....with another eighty-odd people in the background.  

3.  For reference, there's been two attempts to tell the story via movies.  The first was a silent-film.   The second was a mid-1960s attempt....which was called the 'Niebelungen'.....which came out in two parts.  

At that point, roughly 8-million DM's was spent on the production, and it was deemed a highly successful movie, but dumped upon by critics.  

4.  My basic description of the legend?  There's a whole lot of soap-opera-like chatter about Kings, Queens, relationships, threats, and some dragon which has to be slain (for the good of the kingdom).  Toward the last fifteen minutes....lot of killing going, with about half of the background actors 'dead' on the stage.  High point for me....the moment that the four red-headed witches enter and do their spell upon folks.  

It's just a pretty long and difficult story to tell upon a stage.  I'd almost rank this as a 'Lord of the Rings' type story, and it's worthily of being made into a movie but once you throw in the dragon....folks would get all enchanted or weepy-eyed to have the dragon in a third of the scenes, and that just doesn't fit with the whole story itself.  

Next attempt at the play in the town?  Not until 2026.  For some of the locals who got picked for parts?  This is the 'legend' of their lives, and they probably will be forever remembered as such-and-such character.  

My only negative about this episode?  The show started at 9 PM....with a pause in the middle....ending around 11:45 PM.  With hotels in town maxed out, we were staying at some town about 16 km away....so with the single remaining train ride....we didn't get back until 1:30 AM.